Refugees

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by hilzoy

From the UNHCR:

"The number of people who have fled the fighting in northwest Pakistan this month and been registered or recorded by authorities reached 670,906 on Wednesday, up from just over half a million the day before.

The majority of those registered by Pakistani authorities with the assistance of UNHCR are staying in the homes of friends and relatives or camping out in the open; a fraction of the total – 79,842 – are now living in camps."

Here's the story of a barber from Barikot in Swat:

"A few months back his business closed down as shaving was declared an unacceptable business. He had no intention of leaving Barikot.

But as the military action started and the firing of guns grew louder – along with the shrieks and howls of terrified people – it became impossible for him and his family to live there any longer.

Children had become hysterical – crying endlessly – and everyone was in a trauma not knowing when the shells would hit them.

Like many others, he decided on the spur of the moment to leave as he could not take it anymore."

These people badly need help: many of them fled with nothing, and while those in refugee camps are probably the worst off, those who have relatives to stay with also need help. (Click here to read about a security guard who supports his wife and three children on $153/month, and who is presently housing and feeding twenty relatives, with more probably on the way.) They've suffered through the Taliban; now their homes are in the middle of a war zone. As Ahsan at Five Rupees says:

"The people living in these areas have been through absolute hell for over a year now, as the Taliban encroached upon their land, slowly took over, extended their brutal form of "government", and are now being driven out by the Pakistani military. Again, to reiterate, they never asked for any of this."

You can help them out via the UNHCR, Oxfam, Save the Children, and other organizations. I think it's especially important since we are not exactly uninvolved in this war. Thanks.

14 thoughts on “Refugees”

  1. You should post this on a right leaning website if you’re really trying to get donations. Left leaners generally expect the government to do it.

  2. But d’d’d’dave do you think that righties would be likely to contribute to UNHCR, Oxfam, or Save the Children? Now if we wanted to send bibles to Pakistan they might be worth turning to.

  5. Yes 243. Righties are prone to contributing to hunger, poverty, refugee, health, development and educational initiatives.
    Many are even willing to send bibles too if that’s what you want. (Try finding a lefty agency that’ll offer that option). You may not be aware that the so-called religious right is only a subset of the right, albeit a vocal one.
    UNHCR does not have a reputation of being especially efficient with the money they receive.

  6. You should post this on a right leaning website if you’re really trying to get donations.
    But d’d’d’dave, dear, obviously Hilzoy expects you, out of your much-vaunted great wealth and self-declared generosity as a “right leaner”, to make a real difference.

  8. “Righties are prone to contributing to hunger, poverty, refugee, health, development and educational initiatives.”
    d’d’d’dave, I’m curious if you have or can find any stats on that type of giving broken down by political leanings. I googled a bit and there is some sort of study showing that conservatives give more to charities, but I didn’t find the study, and I’m a bit leery of the results given that charitable orgs in this country include religious organizations, which may indeed may do some good works but also includes paying for the facilities, personnel and non-overtly charitable activities of the organization.
    “Many are even willing to send bibles too if that’s what you want. (Try finding a lefty agency that’ll offer that option).”
    From a quick google: Not sure how lefty it is (it is secular), but it would appear that http://www.prisonbooks.org/ would accept bibles for distribution would you care to donate some.
    “You may not be aware that the so-called religious right is only a subset of the right, albeit a vocal one.”
    I thought I was aware of that. 😉 I would be interested to know if the religious right wasn’t the more “charitable” of the various right wing factions. I don’t know, but if you have any light to cast here I’m honestly curious.

  10. I will. Will you?
    Standing order already set up. More than one, in fact. Can’t and won’t prove this by showing you my bank account, but I’ve noticed that the people who make a big deal about how much more generous “their sort of people” are than those other sort of people over there, are not usually the ones who are big givers. (From my own personal observations when out collecting for Oxfam, the ones who give aren’t usually the big-talking conservative business types, as you’ve claimed yourself to be…)
    After all, people who are really getting satisfaction out of generosity, are not people who need to make a big deal out of how generous they are.

  11. Left leaners generally expect the government to do it.
    Well, yes I do, since the government created this unholy mess in the first place and a 97 billion war funding bill has just gotten through congress, I do expect them to come up with the money to help the refugees, which would amount to chump change. You can call me a heartless sob, if it makes you happy, I really don’t care.

  13. Reading about the suffering of others does put our current economic plight in perspective. I think I’d like to donate to OxFarm.
    Does anyone have any ideas of how to drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan? For the life of me, I cannot fathom any current group more evil; committing horrible acts in the name of allah or god.

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