Page 38 - Presbyterian Connection

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PRESBYTERIAN
SPRING 2023
presbyterian.ca
Connection
PRESBYTERIAN WORLD SERVICE & DEVELOPMENT
Pakistan Travel Notes
reliant on weather patterns. (See “Where Climate Change Takes Away Life and Pride” on page 39 for more details on the project.)
In the afternoon, we visited a women’s artisan group. They have been developing their skills and business for the past seven years. Many are now earning a good income from their work. They were proud to say that they can now pay for their children’s studies. They also have financial autonomy to decide on how to spend their money without need- ing their husband’s permission. Men are supportive as well, as they can see the benefits to the household of the women earning more money now. It has obvious- ly been a positive development in their lives. These women will coach the newly formed artisans group we’d met earlier to help them improve their skills, organ- ize to market their products, and earn income from their trade.
On our way back, we stopped to visit a Hindu temple. It is a pil- grimage site at cer tain times of the year, but today there were only three people inside. The ceiling of the temple had beautiful mosaics made of cut mirrors in various col- ours that had been cut into pyra- mid shapes. I sat and prayed for a few minutes, thanked God for the day and asked for blessings for the people we had met.
PWS&D is working with Cana- dian Foodgrains Bank to provide food to populations affected by floods in Pakistan. We were able to scale up our response signifi- cantly, thanks to funds provided by many other churches at the Foodgrains Bank, as well as the Humanitarian Coalition and the Government of Canada.
By Guy Smagghe, PWS&D Director
Pakistan was greatly affected by the climate emergency between June and October 2022 when 30% of the country was flooded. In late November 2022, I traveled to the areas in Sindh province with PWS&D’s partner, Commu- nity World Service Asia (CWSA), who led us to affected communi- ties. Here are some of my experi- ences as recorded on the trip.
We spent the morning at a mobile clinic site in the area affected by floods, about one hour away from Umerkot in the direction towards Mirpur Khas. A police escort led the way, making sure we were safe, but also that we were going where we said we would go.
When we arrived at the site
there were two sizable temporary shelters set up with large tarps held in place by bamboo poles. A large group of men was in the first, and a large group of women in the second. The men’s shelter was perfectly situated to provide full shade, while a consider- able area of the women’s was exposed to the sun. (Hopefully they set it up differently the next time.) Each group was learning basic health information. Literacy rates are quite low in the area, so printed handouts included both writing and drawings so all could understand.
In between the two shelters was the mobile clinic—the size of a medium RV. As a result of the flood waters, many people were experiencing diarrhea and skin infections. Malnutrition is also
Visiting a women’s artisan group on a recent monitoring visit.
A mobile clinic provides medical care following devastating flooding in 2022.
prevalent as people have little ac- cess to protein sources. Inside the clinic was Dr. Amna and her assistant who is in charge of dis- tributing the medicines. We were impressed that CWSA managed to secure a woman doctor who has been working six days per week for the last two months in the mo- bile clinic. Women doctors are in short supply, and this is a great asset to the project. Thanking her for her service, we left quickly, not wanting to use up too much of the doctor’s precious time.
Next, we went to the adjacent village, which had been destroyed by the monsoon floods when wa- ter rose waist-high and eroded the mud walls of houses. People who were evacuated have since returned and are living in tents or under tarps. Living conditions looked extremely basic, but one shelter had a small solar panel by which to charge cell phones and provide some light at night. Life is slowly normalizing but there is a long way to go.
Community members are all farm workers for a wealthy land- owner who resides in the United States. We were told that he
funded a water filtration system at a nearby school, which was also built with his support. The sur- rounding population can access the school and the clean drink- ing water between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day.
We visited the water treatment facility and it looked much like the reverse osmosis filtration system we’d seen in another village—a state-of-the-art system. We de- cided to try the water. While it tasted saltier than what we are used to, it was clean and safe. Women came with their clay jars and plastic jerry cans to carry wa- ter to their nearby homes. We’d heard of cases of child mortality in the area due to worsening diar- rhea. With this system, the hope is that incidences of diarrhea will decrease significantly.
In another area badly affected by the floods, we’re preparing to provide six months’ worth of food assistance. Before the floods, we had provided food assistance in the area to help people cope with persistent drought conditions. The project also helps to develop alternative livelihood options, which unlike agriculture, are less
The Impact of Climate Change in Guatemala
Victoria Aguilon Crisostomo is a member of an agroecological group in the community of Taltimiche, Comitancillo, San Marcos. PHOTO CREDIT: AMMID
By Germán Méndez Bernardo, Erwin Manuel Orozco Fuentes and Rubén Feliciano Pérez, staff members at AMMID
Guatemala is one of the countries most affected by climate change worldwide, according to the Unit- ed Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Those living in Guatemala are es- pecially vulnerable due to poverty, compounded by the low capacity of the government to provide dig- nified living conditions.
Guatemala’s geographic lo- cation between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans puts the country at great risk for climate disas-
ters. It is increasingly common for the population to face hydro- meteorological events, such as droughts, floods and storms. During the last two decades, those living in Guatemala have faced more than 15 extreme storms, four intense periods of drought, and unusual variations in the distribution of rainfall pe- riods. They have also faced ex- treme temperatures linked to La Niña and El Niño. Each of these events is directly related to glob- al warming.
In these same 20 years, due to climate change, the country has experienced losses of more than 35 billion quetzals [over six
billion Canadian dollars], impact- ing more than 1.4 million people directly. Losses and damage caused by climate change are felt disproportionately by the poorest regions—in particular, rural areas inhabited by Indigenous peoples.
Unfair exposure to risk is a vio- lation of individual and collective human rights. With low resilience and little support from the Guate- malan government, many peas- ants and workers have lost their crops year after year. In the face of economic ruin, they have often abandoned their land and migrat- ed to the United States, Canada
and other countries.
Continued on page 39