H.anding O.ver P.ositive E.nergy

Wanna UPSIZE your POSITIVE quotient?

2006-04-27T17:27:00.000+05:00

H.O.P.E. is shifted to http://upsizethehope.blogspot.com

Every 'FRIDAY' will bring new hope in your life with a brand new article inshallah.

We are heading towards the next level and your support is all we need, and maybe you also need us ;)

If you have linked it before, then please update/change the link. If you haven't then banner info is here: http://upsizethehope.blogspot.com/2006/01/help-us-in-spreading-message.html

WHAT IF!!

2006-03-30T19:22:00.000+05:00

A mother's thoughts about her teenage son who died somewhere up north of Pakistan in the fierce earthquake, at his funeral.

What if…

You could see through my eyes
You could hear through my ears
You could feel what I touch
You could smell through my nose

You could draw what I would dream
You could remove what I fear
You could reap what I weep
You could blink when I think

You could dance when I smiled
You could frown when I swore
You could find when I got lost
You could dive when I would drown

But...

You do beat in my heart
You do float in my veins
You did play in my lawn
You did die in my arms

…

Talha Masood
November 14, 2005
5:28 am

HOPE gets recognition

2006-01-13T22:26:00.000+05:00

H.O.P.E. makes its way to January 2006 issue of Spider Magazine. My Thanks to all the readers, article contributors and donors who helped this blog through its short journey. Special thanks to Hafsa Ahsan.

H.O.P.E. blog will continue to serve souls and enthusiasm of all those who aspire for the betterment.

We will be coming back soon with a fresh perspective, new look and a broad horizon to upsize your positivity.

Till then be positive and keep donating!!

Two Girls Died In Tent Fire

2005-12-25T14:19:00.000+05:00

MUZAFFARABAD, Dec 24: Two minor girls, who had survived the devastating October earthquake, died in a blaze in their flimsy tent in a mountain village near here, police and residents said on Saturday. The casualties occurred in the village of Rajpehan, some 30 kilometres southwest of Muzaffarabad, on Friday night.

A local journalist told Dawn that the impoverished tent caught fire from a candle which the inmates had left burning as they went into sleep.

The tent was reduced to ashes as the blaze flared due to a heap of dry grass dumped close to it, he said.

As a result, Saima, 5, and Amna, 2, died and their mother Fatima, wife of Akbar, suffered serious burn wounds and was airlifted to a Kharian hospital on Saturday, he said.

Police officer Syed Zahoor Gillani confirmed the incident.

“Yes there have been two deaths in that village caused by the blaze,” he said.

The Oct 8 earthquake killed around 70,000 people and left more than 3.5 million homeless most of which live in flimsy tents or temporary shelters.

As night temperatures start dropping below freezing point, many survivors defy warning by aid agencies not to burn fire inside their tents as it can endanger their lives.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said two days ago it would start training the survivors to make safe fires in their tents to avoid deadly accidents.

The agency would train people how to dig pits for a fire inside their tents, surround it with bricks and set up a chimney. It would provide sand-filled buckets to be used as fire extinguisher, said a UNHCR official.

Sooner or later we all have to die, but this is no excuse. It is not late yet, 'Donate Here' or 'Contribute for Free here'.

Logging under the rubble

2005-11-29T18:48:00.000+05:00

Two weeks passed when a rescue team started removing the rubble of a primary school amid strong winds, cold and rain. Obviously it was too late and what they found inside were twenty girl students in dirt and all dead. With fear struck faces and holding tight to each other in twos and threes. They must have faced death for so many days before their lives finally ended in darkness. No one cared to come on time.

Taj, a nine years old girl was found holding a pencil and note book in her hands, with her innocent eyes wide open staring in the void. Her father shrieked as he found his little angel lying dead and stiff cold, all dusty.

All this time since she got trapped under that narrow triangle made by the fallen roof and walls of her class room , she didnt let go of her notebook and pencil and kept writing, and in that communicating with her mom and dad, all her lines begining with Mama or Papa.

But she didnt have any idea of what actually had happened, so she wrote to her dad in that homework book that someone has bombed their school, which made their classroom shake wildly at first, which made them hit and fall on each other, and then another explosion made the roof come down on her fellows. After which it was all foggy with dust.

For the first day, her log was coherent and with the date on top. But later, she scribbled her notes whenever it was enough light for her to jot down and whichever page opened in front of her, and whenever she came out of uncousciousness.

To her dad she writes:

"Papa, our teacher had just finished checking the homework of a few girls, but our classroom suddenly started shaking because some terrorist threw a bomb on our school. We fell on each other. We didnt even get back up when there was an explosion and two beams from the roof came down and with them the whole roof. It fell in such a way that it made our room into a triangle, with beams and the roof. When the dust settled, I saw Asifa, Jannat and Noor pressed under a beam and shouting in pain.Our teacher and the rest of tried hard to move it but it didnt, at all. Then they became still in a few moments. As they went quiet we all started crying and shouting in fear. Our teacher Mariam tried to calm us down and was reciting the Kalima loud. But another huge peice of roof fell on her and she was gone. Due to dust, fear and darkness we all became uncounsious. And then it was complete dark"

These are the last of her ordered notes. Scattered scribblings and fuzzy sentences make up the later part of her log. Now she writes without a date, and writes only when she is back to her consciousness and finds enough light to write on any page she sees.

"Papa, I dont know how I woke up. It was may be the pain, hunger or the sharp ray of light that fell on my eyes. I got up to sit. Everyone around me was laying unconscious and senseless. I started shivering so badly in horror. I called out Saba, Naheed, Yasmeen, but no one even moved, they were so cold.

"Papa, I started crying so much, and from out of nowhere Nazia came and clung with me, i got scared, and i shouted "Who"?, "Me Nazia".

"Papa I m so hungry, there is no water, then we started crying together, huddled with each other.

Now, Taj started writing in very short lines.

Papa, Nazia is so quied, she doesnt cry at all.

Papa, she doesnt talk.

Papa, I am so scared.

Mama, give me bread, give me water.

Papa, Mama, it is so cold.

Mama, my leg is getting stiff.

Papa Papa, Mama Mama

Mama, Who took my blanket

Papa, my stomach.

Mama dont you know, I need a blanket?

Mama where are you, where are you?

And then there is just a line stretching across her notebook, she could write no more. She held her copy till the end, and this is all what her father has of her now, who told how he had taught her to write a story, when she asked for it a year or so ago. He had told her to write just as an incident happens in front of her eyes, so she used to write a real story everyday of what she used to see around.

And she had a story to tell when she was dying too, no amount of words can ever tell her pain. Thousands other kids like her lost their lives in their very schools. They couldnt be reached because of the haphazard aid and rescue efforts. Wailing parents could do nothing with bare hands. But they kept clinging to the broken schools in a disoriented state, with their ears on fallen walls, to hear one word from inside. But most still can't even have their children's dead bodies, because this is all that they want now so they can see them, touch them and bury them with their own hands.

Time wasted is the time wasted. Though most from around the country have played their part, but there are more people left to be cared than those have been reached and helped. All because of being disorganized on the overall, and not being prepared even on the basic level.

We ask Allah to ease their pains, and give peace to the departed souls. Aameen.

Shared by: B

How to manage a Trauma Patient?

2005-11-14T20:23:00.000+05:00

The article is featured here. It is a general awareness topic so people can know the basic life saving methods. Please give it a read.

Salute to Pakistani Media

2005-11-07T16:57:00.000+05:00

The thing I liked about this Eid was that Geo TV and Ary Digital Channel did a great job by celebrating this eid with earthquake victims especially kids. Those celebrities atleast succeeded in bringing smiles over the faces of innocent kids by playing, singing and giving them eidi/gifts. Kudos to you!!

Research

2005-11-03T15:03:00.000+05:00

After the recent earthquakes in Pakistan, I heard TV opinions of different people and read articles. With them I am able to draw some intresting conclusions:

Why Earthquakes Come?

Earth releases its energy in many ways. One of its most dangerous and unpredictable way is earthquakes.

On the ground we are standing, below it are plates called tectonic plates. Every regio in the earth is on some plate. Some continents have same plates, some have different. Oceans are on plates as well.These plates move and because of their motions they develop energy in them and
they release it when it becomes too much either in the form of volcano or earthquake or in some other form.

Formation of Earth on Different Plates:

The World Today:

The picture above tells the formation of today's world on plates. I would say you open the picture while reading the material in this section.

The meeting point (indicated by the red lines) of different plates lie in three main categories. They are Constructive, Destructive and Conservative.

At Constructive Margins:
Where two plates are met by constructive line shown in the picture, then these two plates are going away from each other. The sea floor is spreading, allowing semi-molten rock to well up b/w the two diverging plates. E.g, as you can see in the picture,there is a constructive
meeting point b/w the Europe and North America, So the mid-Atlantic Europe and North American are being forced apart at 2 cm a year.

At Destructive Margins:
Destructive Margins occur when plates are forced together. When two continent plates collide, giant mountain ranges are thrust up. E.g, as a result of collision of Eurassian plate and Indo Plate , we see a great Himalyan Range, similarly Alps in Europe by the collision of Eurassian an African Plate. When an oceanic plate collides with a continental plate, part of its load of crust is subducted or carried down, into the mantle beneath the more buoyant continental crust. When two oceanic plates collide, a volcanic island such as Marianas Islands in Pacific is formed. Due to collision of plates , earthquakes can occur here, e.g Pakistan's recent quake that was felt in India because of the same reason that we both share the destructive meeting point of plates of Eurassian and Indo-Australian Plate.

At Conservative Margins:
Here no new crust is generated neither destroyed but there can be disastrous earthquake. They take place by the sliding of the plates together. If you see the picture again what line is going through possibly Iran and Pakistan...its conservative line. e.g Iran disastrous earthquake that killed thousands of people.

World 130 Millions Year Ago:
The picture below shows the world 130 millions year before. Now isnt that amazing how the world changed and we have a completely different world today, thats because of the movement of the plates. If you remember the text above, i wrote north america and europe are seperating at 2cm/year speed. See this picture below , how they were 130 million year before. Now, they are apart at quite a considerable distance between them. So its the movement of the plates that should be taken seriously. We will see how the world will be in 250 Million years from now in next section.

World 250 Millions Years From Now:
Even now Africa is breaking up; the Mediterranean is closing; Western and Eastern Californica are sailing past each other. The earth's tectonic process continue inexorably, and by computer plotting from exisiting trends it is possible to predict the future and below is the future.

See above where the America, Australia, India, Pakistan, Africa are, they are just because of the movement of the plates. Todays world will be so different tomorrow.

Prediction of Earthquakes:

Human Way:

The most promising research on prediction of earthquake is on waves that are generated at the time of earthquake. There are two types of waves that are generated at the time of quake. One is P-Wave (Primary Wave) and the other is S-Wave (Secondary Wave). P-Wave are shock waves that travel like a bellow. S-Wave is the wave that is generated afterwards and cause ripple up and down. Research suggests that the speed at which the rock transmits P waves changes before the an earthquake strikes.

The P-Waves and S-Waves travel in direction that form a right angle triangle. The ratio of P-Wave and S-Wave is in b/w 1.24-1.34. However when an earthquake comes , this
ratio changes to a greater extent.

Scientists have also studied the length of time between major earthquake episodes. Violent earthquake sometime come in cycles at plate edges. Large earthquakes are likely to occur where they have happened 100 years or more ago. High risk area when this research was being done were told "Chile, California, Taiwan , Sumatra and Caribbean". So now we know where Tsunami hit, at the high risk area of Taiwan and Sumatra which the scientist predicted way back.

Animals Way:
Animals can predict earthquakes. Yes that is absolutely right. Animals behave differently when they sense earthquake is on the cards. For e.g A group of Elephants that were near the Tsunami hit area left the area before the Tsunami struck that area.How elephant knew about the earthquake? . The answer is elephant foot have sensors that can sense waves travelling beneath the earth and that helps them sensing about earthquake.

Future Predictions:
There are many more earthquakes still to come as you can see the world is completely different in future. For Pakistanis and Asians ,the news is not good thats what i think because if you see the current world (World today picture) , a conservative line goes through Iran and a destructive line goes from the northern parts of Pakistan , so because of the movement of the plates to bring the shape of the world 250 millions years from now, we can encounter more
earthquakes, the current earthquake is just one from the sequence that might hit the region in future..sorry to say that..but thats true, but the time is in millions so we shouldnt worry that much as we wont be living that much.

Same goes for the rest of the world. Earthquake wont stop coming but one should be careful while living in the areas of constructive, destructive and conservative meeting points of the plate because these points are mostly vulnerable to yield an earthquake.

Credits:
World Atlas for pictures and technical assistance
Dr. Shahid Masood's Views on News program.

All rights reserved by FM Productions.

Check this out!

2005-10-28T23:43:00.000+05:00

REAL HEROES OF PAKISTAN

Don't break this chain of HOPE so soon, keep spreading the word!!

Earthquake prediction simply impossible

2005-10-25T18:13:00.000+05:00

Rumour mills again got active on Sunday night after a 5.9 intensity aftershock jolted northern Pakistan that another major earthquake is imminent. Citizens of Islamabad and Karachi particularly bought the canard and spread so much scare that Meteorological Department Director-General Dr Qamaruzzaman Chaudhry had to appear on television to soothe their nerves.

“Never in history has a major earthquake been followed by another major earthquake,” he said.

Aftershocks do follow for weeks but they have a positive aspect, he said.

Some 900 minor and major aftershocks recorded since the October 8 earthquake establish that the energy underneath the epicentre of that quake was being released and not building up which in fact causes earthquakes, he explained.

Dr Qamaruzzaman noted that it took 100 years after the last major earthquake hit the region — the Kangra earthquake in 1905 — for sufficient energy to build up to cause the October 8 havoc.

Before that a high intensity earthquake to hit the region had occurred in 1555 AD, he added.

Despite these assertions by an expert, it is possible that some people may still be willing to lend their ears to baseless gossip that tends to strike fear in the hearts of common people.

It would be useful for gullible people to know that there exists no method, no instrumentation in the world to predict earthquakes.

Only amateurs, cranks and outright publicity seekers would indulge in wild predictions, and they would be all wrong, says Robert Geller, a professor at the Department of Earth and Planetary Physics, Tokyo University.

Other scientists including David Jackson, Yan Kegan and Francesco Mulargis are definite that no scientist has ever predicted a major earthquake. “They do not know now how (to predict), and they do not expect to know how at any time.”

Earthquake prediction is usually defined as the “specification of the time, location, and magnitude of a future earthquake within stated limits, and the prediction must be reliable and accurate”, scientists say.

And recent researches continue to assert that the belief that earthquakes could be predicted is entirely misplaced.

For large earthquakes to be pinpointed in advance it must be based on the study of unusual events.

According to a recent meeting of seismologists and earth scientists the Earth is in a state of self organized criticality where a small earthquake may perhaps graduate into a major one, but whether it would depend on a catalogue of details of happening at some distance from it.

In any case prediction of a specific large earthquake would require the unlikely capability of knowing all these factors with a degree of accuracy which is beyond any one’s ken at this precise moment.

Based on scientific researches we can say with a degree of certainty that no one can predict an individual earthquake.

By: Jonaid Iqbal
Courtesy: DAWN

Donate.. the work is not over yet; you can't leave that soon!!

2005-10-25T17:52:00.000+05:00

As time is passing by, the enthusiasm and spirit of nation and the world is getting feeble. According to astronomical and astrological readings/predictions, Pakistan will remain in danger zone till Febuarary 2006 and then things will get LITTLE better. I hope everthing gets fine soon but still think practically. If we as a nation, and world will stop donating at this crucial moment then how we would be able to complete the major phase of reconstruction and rehabilitation.

People you gotta think for the sake of humanity atleast, it doesn't matter whether you belong to a different country, race or religion, the only thing which can make a difference is your help and donations. If you can't afford much, just spare $/Rs.1 per day, which makes only $/Rs.30 per month that is alot of money. By considering this simple fact, we can collect billions of money for the rehab work.

Hey people wake up, Pakistan need you!

Related Links:
They still need us
Life goes on..

May chota sa aik baccha hoon

2005-10-24T07:33:00.000+05:00

(This is my latest 'Nazam' dedicated to all Kashmiri children suffered due to earthquake)

Yeh aaj achanak kia hua
Har nazara kiyon badal gaya
Har sahara kiyon bichar gaya
Who aik lamha aisa tha k sab kuch he to bikhar gaya
Aur who aik lamha bas meree aankho may he thehar gaya
May kaisay khauf say bhaga tha
May dora tha k apnee ammi key banhoon may,
Gaud may simat jaoon
Aur har khauf say, dukh say aur dard say nikal jaoon
Par ghar aaya to, na dar tha na deewar thee
Na us may rehnay wala koee makeen tha baqi
Haan bas hasrat-o-yaas-o-udaasee thee baqi
May khauf k maray dubka khara tha aur
hairat ka putla bana malbay may apnee ammi ko talashta tha
aur cheekh cheekh k pukar raha tha
ammi jaan, ab jaan kahoon ya bay jaan kahoon?
ammi jaan kia aap malbay k ander hain?
Ammi mujh ko daant he do
Par mujh ko tum awaz to do
Dekho mujh ko dar lagta hay
Ay kaash k yeh sab khawab sa ho
Aankh kholoon to, gaud ho, banhain ho, aur aapkee key piyaree batain ho
Par aisa kuch bhee ho na saka
Ab apnay nannay hathon say malbay ko hatana hay
Aur apnee ammi jaan ko shayad khud say he uthana hay
Aur phir apnay he haathon say unko matti may chupana hay
Dekho piyaree ammi jaan
“may chota sa aik baccha hoon
Aur kaam kar raha hoon baray baray”

Please go to ur mother and hug her and tell her that u love her. (u cant find the word descibing Ma ...isnt it)

Poem by Aamanna

After the disaster

2005-10-22T19:10:00.000+05:00

LET US ANALYZE OURSELVES:

How have I reacted in this present situation? With panic, despair and wailing or with dignity, patience and faith?

Do I only remember Allah when I face hardships or calamities and once it passes away, do I forget Him?

What positive change has come about in my life after this calamity?

Have I started to study what guidance Allah has sent for me in the Quran?

Has my pace in constructive activities (efforts towards personal reformation, hastening in good deeds) increased?

Do I still put off good deeds for the next day?

Have I stopped wasting my time? Have I left idleness, laziness and negligence?

Has there been any change in my routine so I can balance between world and religion?

Have I started worrying about fulfilling my obligations, acts of worship and responsibilities?

Have I left moral vices such as backbiting, lying, fighting and breaking trusts?

What have I done anything to help humanity affected by the earthquake?

What have I sacrificed to serve Allah's Deen?

Have I learned anything at all?

If death overtakes me today, am I ready to meet Allah Ta'ala?

IF WE CANNOT CHANGE OURSELVES, HOW CAN WE EXPECT THE CONDIONS OF THIS WORLD TO CHANGE?

Taken from a pamphlet and then edited.

PS: Orginally posted by B. Plenty more is in kitty but I waiting for the right time to post them. Do keep visiting and spreading the word!

LET THIS BE A START

2005-10-21T17:04:00.000+05:00

All of us Pakistanis are together helping our fellows in pain and endless troubles, and all of us are making use of all the ways in which we can lessen their pain even if we are having to sacrifice. I wish this spirit remains high and doesnt settle down in the next few days. Because no matter how much we do, they will need us much and for a long time.

And why do we forget, its not just now after the earthquake that we are seeing all this suffering. We are seeing it with our naked eyes and minds just because they've maximized enough to draw our attention. Most people in our country are already poor, there are homeless spending their days and nights in the open no matter how fierce the weather is.

There are foodless with big families, because they cant earn enough money, and many even commit suicide due to that.

There are those (actually most in our country) who dont have clean water to drink, because its all contaminated and causes death and disease. And when they get ill, they cant afford for themselves a proper treatment or even a simple medicine.

Infact, all the suffering that you are seeing now has been there already and on a much larger scale than this quake has caused. Other than the food and shelter missing, you can imagine all kinds of troubles in store for the poor and weak in our country and all over the Muslim world. Injustice, opression by the rich and poweful, cruelty shown to the women, and lack of all the basic facilities like education, jobs etc.

Isnt all that equally heart aching? we must remain sensitive to this, not showing apathy thinking we keep hearing about this all the time and its just too common.

So why shouldnt we keep together and united like this and like we have already tried our best to help the quake victims on our own. LETS CONTINUE THIS FOR ALWAYS, HELPING THE POOR and the NEEDY and THOSE in PAIN. Lets this be a start and make ourselves more organized so we can help properly.

Right now i m remided of a hadith, the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him said that anyone of you having an extra thing (that he doesnt use) he should give it to the other person (and not keep it to himself).

Who would remain poor if all of us did this.

Keep Sharing! :)

May Allah bless us all, aameen.

-B

Subscribe!

2005-10-20T22:37:00.000+05:00

Subscription Tool present on the sidebar is now working without any errors.

Hurry up! Push that button.

This is HOPE

2005-10-19T22:47:00.000+05:00

"Thank God, there was only one death in our family," says Mrs Aziz.

"My brother's wife - she was so incredibly pretty - was killed," and her brave attempt to hold back her tears fail.

"No, don't think I am a weak person. But when I think of her, I cannot help it."

It is this spirit that has perhaps helped this family more than anyone else.

-An extract from Minigma's Blog

What you can learn- Be patient and thankful in every situation because whatever He has planned for you is always for your betterment. Umeed ke dam per hai duniya qayam!

"Why should ALLAH punish you, if you are thankful and if you believe ? And ALLAH is Appreciating, All-Knowing"
[The Quraan:4:147]

So people take this incident as a test not punishment. More elaboration tomorrow.. so stick right here.

Two stories with a similar message

2005-10-18T04:06:00.000+05:00

Case 1:
During the rescue efforts, a team from Turkey found a two year old boy under debris after 5 days of actual calamity with help of modern cameras. The child was alive, responsive and was rescued. He was completely okay, mashallah se there wasn't even a single scratch over his body. When that innocent life was rescued and handed over to his father, applause came from every living person and you can see a magical glow and love on his face for his child. The moment at which all celebrated this success, forgetting their own sorrows for few minutes. When Allah is with you, don't worry because you are under safe hands!

Case 2:
AryOne interviewed this small girl who didn't had any idea where her family members were, her innocent words: "Zalzala aaya haina?! ..mera chota bhai haina, buhat serious hai, meri mumma haina woh hamare bighair nahi reh sakti thin"(Do you know that an earthquake has come?! My little brother you know; he's very serious. My mom, she couldn't live without us-when she was alive). This literally made me cry.

The point is life is so unpredictable. You don't know Godforbid when and how this can also happen with you. Show your love to your dear ones and never take things for granted. Today and always thank Allah for the blessing that He has bestowed upon you in the form of loving Parents.

Blog Meet-up!

2005-10-18T00:55:00.000+05:00

Fellow Bloggers,
We are planning to have our first major blog meet-up.
The details can be viewed here.
Please, announce this on your respective blogs to ensure maximum turn-out.
See ya! (literally!)
- Insiya.

Power of a single thought

2005-10-17T00:10:00.001+05:00

What happened, the tragedy is beyond the possibilities to express in words. We all have seen the scenes in news. The only difference perhaps we (who are in Pakistan or have relatives in those area) see is that the actual disaster is much greater then the one we see in news. I personally fear the actual death toll could be of 100 thousands people or more.

As I mentioned before, personally we felt it was not a time to wait and think what or how to help and just do what we can at that moment. The initial idea started to get some food and clothes at PAF Museum from the collections of few friends’ places and two days ago we end up getting three cars full of supplies there.

We heard the plea for medicine there and thought to get some medicine the next day and we end up collecting RS 117500/- in less then 24 hours. Yesterday we sent medicine/first aid of worth 90000 and around 225 "Kafans" for the dead. All in all, we end up having one pickup full of medical supplies, one car, and 7 more with clothes and food. And we still have more, which is left to be given today, hopefully. And not more then 15/20 friends and neighbors were involved in this tiny effort we were able to put on, all ordinary people.

The pickup that we hired for carrying the medicine, when they reached at the scene of PAF Museum, they refused to get their rent of the vehicle. When known the medicines were for the victims, we got it at the factory rate with not a penny's profit. While we were arranging the vehicle we placed the materials at the corner of the street, and guess what, people started to donate other stuff thinking it was a camp or something for the relief.

About the PAF relief effort which initially was started by Fakher-e-Alam at PAF Museum has turned out to be what is, the biggest ever relief effort I have seen live (if you have seen it in TV, trust me you have seen nothing) It is huge, unimaginably huge. Thousands of girls/guys/families are volunteering and all you see is the mountains of goods, all around you. No matter if you reach there at 2 AM you will need to go thru a huge cue of vehicles. Okay, that too can not be described in words.

Back to personal level, we still felt we can be utilized as manpower to help get that enormous aid as soon as possible to the needy. We personally felt (after looking at the thousands of volunteers at PAF) we are probably not needed there and we could find some other place which really is short in manpower. We end up signing at Ranger’s relief camp which is nearer to home, spent hours sorting the things and loaded 8 trucks with bare hands (okay now you know why my back hurts).

Just in a day, within the radius of a mile from where I live, 14 trucks were sent from the Ranger's camp, 6/7 from Al Akhtar trust, few from Ahsan-al-uloom and few from some political party’s camps. That is, just one mile radius of the city, I am sure every mile of the city and the country has done what it could. Let us all hope that the Aid actually reaches the needy and that too, on time.

Tomorrow, we have to collect 700 big hard board boxes that we will get and going to give those at PAF hopefully. Those will be used to pack some of the stuff, I have to manage & provide pick and drop to some lady doctors who have spoken to the officials and will help in sorting the medicine in the relief camps. Rest of the materials we have, had to give it away and then I am again going to labor at the Ranger’s camp.

The reason why I started to write this story half an hour ago was, that the day before yesterday me and my friend thought okay, lets meet in 30 mins and we can at least give some of our clothes at the PAF Museum, we thought it will probably be a handful bag with 10/15 pairs of clothes. That single thought between two people grew and managed to get around 150 thousands worth stuff and a manpower that can load 8 trucks in less then two hours and sort out the stuff for them. The single thought between two people. That a single thought between two people hopefully is going to grow tomorrow within our capacity.

Maybe...just maybe, if this post/writing can create a similar single thought.

And never underestimate yourself.

-Atif

Projecting a positive image

2005-10-16T18:30:00.000+05:00

8th October 2005, a day that no Pakistani will ever forget. The day when a massive earthquake hit Pakistan and caused an unimaginable destruction in most parts of the region. Many villages have completely vanished from the face of earth where majority is dead and millions of people have gone homeless. It is a testing time for our nation and the way people have responded to it is highly commendable. Every single person from children to adults has contributed enormously either physically, financially or by spreading the message and praying. The spirits are high which has been a rare thing in history of Pakistan. This moral fiber makes us all remember the 1965 war. The youth about whom our elders thought that they are irresponsible and useless, constitutes the major contribution to relief efforts. We have joined our hands and are united, we have come this far and have made ourselves proud but there should be a much wider approach towards projecting this phenomena.

While America is still searching for Osama, and trying to confirm the fact that is Osama dead in this earthquake or made it to rescue, we should take advantage of this situation and prove the world that what our nation in reality is all about. We should try to project a positive image of our country in front of the world and should show that people of this country are not terrorists and humanity is still alive in us - far better than them. Our media and people as whole should try to project the real Pakistan and the real Islam by making footage and writing articles about the amount of concern and courage that is evident in every gali and kucha of Pakistan.

As far as the spirit is concerned, this should continue. This is just a first step; a huge amount of work has to be done. The relief and charity work should carry on because it will take if not years then several months to rebuilt and rehab these damaged areas. A day should also be dedicated not to this incident but to the soul related to it which can serve as a wake up call whenever we tend to distract from the path. I believe, if our unity remains as it is right now - not only at toughest/sad moments but at happy ones too then without any doubt I can see Pakistan on the top of the world.

Help us in spreading the message!

2005-10-15T23:11:00.000+05:00

It would be highly appreciative, if you can use any of these images on your website to link us back:

Update the link to http://upsizethehope.blogspot.com

Thanks