In 2010, Pakistan experienced tremendous monsoon rains which resulted in heavy flooding in Pakistan that left about one-fifth of the country’s landmass submerged in water. World Renew enacted a large-scale response with its local partner, the Interfaith League Against Poverty (I-LAP). Four thousand families were provided with food, water, shelter, medical assistance and other emergency supplies. In the later phases of World Renews’ two-year response, farmlands were revived, goat herds were restocked, communal water pumps were constructed and homes were rebuilt for families most in need.

In 2010, Pakistan experienced tremendous monsoon rains which resulted in heavy flooding in Pakistan that left about one-fifth of the country’s landmass submerged in water. World Renew enacted a large-scale response with its local partner, the Interfaith League Against Poverty (I-LAP). Four thousand families were provided with food, water, shelter, medical assistance and other emergency supplies. In the later phases of World Renews’ two-year response, farmlands were revived, goat herds were restocked, communal water pumps were constructed and homes were rebuilt for families most in need.

Four years since that flood began, the opposite natural disaster has occurred. This time there has been very little or ill-timed monsoon rains, and this has led to extreme drought conditions. The southeast province of Sindh has been most affected, and particularly Tharparkar district. Tharparkar has received insufficient monsoon rain since November 2013, which has resulted in a severe shortage of food, fodder and water.

World Renew is responding, together with I-LAP. Through a project funded by the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, World Renew and I-LAP are by providing food assistance and livestock fodder to 4,290 families who have been severely impacted by the drought.  World Renew’s project will focus specifically on these underserved communities.

Senior Program Manager Grace Wiebe explains, “The project is focused on the remote and underserved sub-districts of Tharparkar that have a high percentage of minority groups.  These communities have minimal access to social services including healthcare. Many of these families are in villages that are deep in the desert and so they have received less attention from other disaster response agencies, in addition to the government.”

Through World Renew and ILAP, families will receive a food basket that contains: wheat flour, rice, lentils, cooking oil, energy biscuits, dates, salt, sugar and tea leaves.

In order to help people restore their livelihoods, World Renew will also provide fodder to keep livestock alive and healthy.

Please pray for the families struggling under drought conditions in Pakistan, for their improved health and for their livestock health. Please pray for timely monsoon rains that will allow families to replant their crops and resume their livestock-reading livelihoods once again.