10:20am Thursday 2nd September 2010
By James Rush
Young members of Bradford District Faiths Forum have appealed for “family packs” to be sent to Pakistan to help those affected by the floods.
The group came up with the idea after seeing shocking images of the devastation caused by the floods in the country.
The parcels will include high-energy foods and liquids to sustain a family or group of four for about two or three days.
The forum is now appealing for organisations, religious institutes and individuals to create a family pack, which includes items such as bottles of water, fruit juices, high energy biscuits, dates, antiseptic soap bars, mosquito repellent, paper cups and oral rehydration salts.
Marya Afsar, interfaith youth worker at Bradford District Faiths Forum, said: “When the flooding started in Pakistan we got the young people together and they said they wanted to do something.
“They had a number of ideas and they heard Pakistan International Airlines were sending parcels over for free. So we created these family packs. They wanted to create something that was affordable for people, so it comes to about £20.
“It’s for the most basic needs at this moment, which are food, clothing, water and medication.
“They wanted to create something that they could use straight away – a lot of money going over is for the future, to restore the villages, and they wanted to have an immediate impact in what they did.”
She said the project, which started three weeks ago, has so far collected 30 boxes and raised £1,000. It aims to collect 100 boxes before sending the parcels out to Pakistan next week.
BDDF, which can organise collection of the parcels, has also appealed for businesses to donate cardboard boxes to pack the food parcels in.
Nasar Fiaz, development co-ordinator at BDDF, said: “People are still in desperate need of support and we want to maintain the focus and the media coverage on the support and the various groups in Bradford that are helping towards the floods in Pakistan.
“We are probably on the tip of the iceberg in terms of realising how big the disaster is.”
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