Friday, 7 December 2007

Day 9, Saturday

We departed from Dhaka on Thursday night and travelled to Pirojpur with Mr. Shah Chowdhury, who works on RIC’s education programme and John Cobb, the photographer. After several hours on the road and a couple of hours ferry ride, we arrived late in the evening at a government guesthouse and met with Mr. Sheikh Moinur Rahman, the internal auditor, who briefed us and then we planned out the field trip.

When we arrived at our accommodation, I was given the VIP suite, which had the only working electric light in the entire building and I shared it with the mother of all cockroaches!

The next day was an early start and we headed out to RIC’s office to meet the team. The office was a hive of activity. Staff have been working around the clock to receive goods, prepare relief packs, verify beneficiary lists and organise distributions. Staff from the Dhaka office have been coming down on rotation to oversee and support the local team. Some colleagues have gone without sufficient sleep for two weeks running.

We drove to Nazirpur to see three back to back distributions of the Help the Aged/HelpAge International relief packs and DFID funded blankets. By the time we reached the RIC office, people were already lining up outside, patiently waiting for the distribution to begin. It was immediately apparent that the operation is well organised. Behind the office was a warehouse/store. Relief items were brought to the front for distribution by ‘human chain’. More than 1300 packs were distributed in total.

The process is quite comprehensive. Older People’s Associations in the area were involved in identifying the most vulnerable Older Person headed households in collaboration with RIC staff. These lists were crosschecked and approved by the local authorities.

Beneficiaries were given tokens and told the date, time and venue of the distributions. Those older people who were frail or had mobility problems brought younger family members or friends along to carry the relief items and were served at the head of the queue. Each person had to present his or her token and then signed for the relief, usually by fingerprint and then he or she received the goods and left for home. The oldest lady I saw was 105 years old!

The first two distributions went really smoothly and quickly. The third one, which took place later in the afternoon became a bit more rowdy. Word had spread that a distribution was going down and of course many people in need turned up. RIC staff and the local authorities handled the situation well. This illustrates the challenge of ‘targeting’ vulnerable groups when everyone is in dire need of basic assistance. I have often experienced similar situations in other emergencies.

One of the reasons here is that Pirojpur district is underserved which is why the Help the Aged/HelpAge International relief packs were particularly welcome and timely.

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Click Play to see pictures of RIC Staff distribute blankets and relief packs

Monday, 3 December 2007

Day 7, Wednesday, Midnight.

It was midnight in Dhaka and the plane carrying the consignment of relief goods had finally arrived. Haseeb Khan and I were there along with the British High Commissioner, Mr Anwar Choudhury, a Bangladeshi Government Minister and officials from DFID, CARE and Save the Children.

Several journalists were present; I think mostly Bangladeshi TV
stations and newspapers. After several shots of us in front of the plane while the plane was unloaded, (over 43,000 blankets and 24,000 jerrycans....a lot of bales and boxes), there was a TV interview. DFID invited me to do a 'piece to camera' on behalf of all the NGOs present.

I spoke about HelpAge International, Help the Aged, our strong local partner the Resource Integration Centre, RIC's staff and field teams; explained when we would pick up the items today by truck and distribute in Pirojpur and Bagerhat; highlighted older people issues in this emergency, particularly with the onset of winter. The blankets that arrived today will definitely help a lot of older people suffering from age related illnesses like arthritis. I also mentioned the positive role the Older People’s Associations are playing in the relief phase in identifying the most vulnerable older people headed families in close collaboration with the local authorities and other agencies.

By 1.00am it was over.

The guys at RIC immediately started packing the consignment we received tonight. Meanwhile, another consignment of food relief was ready to deliver. The food items will ensure that 5000 families in the pirojpur district (which saw more than 350 dead and 900 injured) will now be able to eat three times a day for a week.

The cyclone completely destroyed their seasonal crop of 'aman' rice so for the next few months they will get no food. It is very important that we support those affected by the cyclone during this time.


Coming Soon! Read about the actual distributions and see photos of how HelpAge International, RIC and Help the Aged are making a difference.

Please support us by donating to the DEC Appeal.