Thousands of miles away from dorm rooms and air-conditioned classrooms, some students’ families are displaced from their homes from last month’s monsoon flooding in Pakistan.
Louisiana students are no strangers to floods, but now Pakistani students are asking local students to give aid for damage caused by a flood that left more than 20 million displaced and more than 2,000 dead.
Chemical engineering sophomore Adnan Bashar said he has a large family, and all of them have been badly affected by the floods.
Some of the problems his family has faced are lack of clean water and food, displacement and lack of telephone contact. The floodwaters have also washed away millions of acres of crops and destroyed villages, roads and bridges.
In the village where Bashar was raised, about 50 homes have been destroyed. Bashar said Pakistan does not receive enough attention because of the image of terrorism associated with the country.
“The media doesn’t give too much attention because they think we’re the worst people in the world,” Bashar said.
The United States has provided $261 million in support, but petroleum engineering junior Hasnain Mujahid said the media and national support haven’t been enough.
Mujahid said his grandparents had never seen flooding this bad.
Born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan, Mujahid is familiar with the common monsoon floods, but the river banks broke and caused displacement larger than Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami combined.
Mujahid said his grandmother’s home only had a foot of water — much less damage than most of the poorer homes in the low-lying areas of the country.
“Before we rebuild in those places, we have to clean up. It’s more or less like [Hurricane] Katrina,” he said.
Mujahid and other students through the Muslim Student Association have been selling bracelets in Free Speech Plaza to raise money and awareness for Pakistan.
The bracelets are $2, and the MSA will continue to sell them tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mujahid said they have earned $569 since they started selling them Friday.
“We really, really appreciate the turn out and the generosity showed by the students and faculty,” Mujahid said.
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Contact Catherine Threlkeld at [email protected]