Human Resilience Project- Looking Back

Looking Back

A quick reminder of how bad it really was; 

Pakistan saw one of the worst flooding in over 80 years in that geographical pocket. More than 9 thousand villages were washed away entirely. The havoc caused was considerably worse  and catastrophic than flash floods. Water stayed for about 45 days in quite a few locations completely destroying the crops, crippling their agriculture based economy. More than 2 million people were displaced and thousands died.

In Peru, the calamity was shocking but the scale was not as severe as Pakistan, Haiti, Japan. However, thousands of families were displaced and acres of cropland were destroyed in Ica and Cusco.  Any comparisons would not be fair. They did not attract international media’s sympathy as much as they should have and the speed at which they got help was quite slow and it remains to be seen if they did get adequate help or not.  

Haiti needs no introduction. The world rocked and wept with Haiti as the buildings collapsed changing their skyline and their lives- trapping and killing hundreds of thousands. Help poured in but got hampered in the face of damaged infrastructure; corruption and then Cholera epidemic broke out.  3 million people were affected. The final death toll is suspected to be much higher than the Haitian governments’ figures of 316, 000. 

The question remains: What is the situation now after a year has passed?



 March 2011;
My commitment to make this project happen    = Check!
Contacts made in the aforementioned countries = Nada!


I set forth to correct this imbalance.



I had to quickly decide; how to go about achieving this arduous task. Do I go by myself and just rely on the availability of volunteers or contact the reliable organisations, already involved in philanthropic work on the ground?!


I chose the latter.

More to follow!




www.beakayani.co.uk


https://www.facebook.com/bea.kayani#!/pages/Bea-Kayani-Art-Photography/137557889644774

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I am interested in sharing ideas so feel free to write to me and get involved in this project for humanity.

Pictures source; Reuters

Human Resilience Project- Bringing light to forgotten sorrows

First Post

         Whilst, sitting in my comfy abode in Zurich, Switzerland, 
as I was going through the devastating images of carnage and destruction in Japan-the sheer scale of which was incomparable,  a niggling thought occurred to me.


What happened to all those people who were affected by natural disasters the year before?

The media scrutiny had moved on. Their local government's focus had moved on. As luck would have it, most areas were also poverty-stricken in the third-world countries where corruption was rife. NGOs had their hands full with the unrelenting global disasters that showed no signs of subsiding. Who was helping the people who were left behind even after no one was interested in helping them anymore? Had it turned into a silent tragedy, where no one heard their sighs anymore?  Most of the people had already generously spared whatever they could to help out of their hard-earned money. So who would help them now?! Didn't they still need help? What had been done? More importantly, what could still be done?! A lot of questions raised in my mind, were there any tangible answers? 

I had to see for myself!


Places that immediately came to my mind were Pakistan (1/5th of the country was submerged), Haiti and Peru. Peru was not even covered properly by the media. I happened to know the scale of misery through a friend who had his farm there. 

The list, however, is not comprehensive by any means and I am open to adding other places resources permitting.


I began contacting friends and presented the following idea;


I would visit the natural-disasters-affected-areas. Utilise my photographic skills to document the rehabilitation process, capture life and people. Focus on the resilience of human spirit to bounce back to life.

Highlight the efforts of generous souls involved in helping the rehabilitation process when everyone else has moved on. 


Raise awareness through exhibitions around the world. All profits of any revenue generated through the sales of my prints and exhibitions would be allocated to those communities in need. 

Welcome anyone who wants to join hands to accomplish this daunting task.


Some of my friends came forward with generous offers to help in whatever capacity they could on the ground and afterward when I had some material in my hand. Full of encouragement and hope to bring whatever positivity I could to those areas, I commenced "The Human Resilience Project".  What kind of help?! That remained to be seen.


The journey of a thousand steps thus began.

More to follow!




www.beakayani.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/bea.kayani#!/pages/Bea-Kayani-Art-Photography/137557889644774

http://twitter.com/#!/BeaKayani


Please "Follow" the blog and "subscribe" to stay updated. Join hands to make a difference!
I am interested in sharing ideas so feel free to write to me.