Photo Share: Shenaz and her baby

Photo: Selena Marr

Selena Marr shares this photo of a young mother she met in October in Pakistan’s northwestern Nowshera district, where she was part of an IRC team assisting families who lost their homes to the worst flooding in the country’s history.  Here’s what she says:

Shenaz is 23 years old and has three children. Her baby was just eight days old when the floods hit. Shenaz fled with her family, holding the newborn and wading through waters that rose waist-high.

Now Shenaz and her family have returned to their village to find even more suffering. 

“Sleeping is difficult,” Shenaz says.  “We sleep in tents as our house was washed away.  Now my baby is covered in mosquito bites and I am worried for her.”   On average, ten people live in one tent -- sleeping on the floor, fearful of the snakes that are sometimes spotted in the village.

The IRC has provided Shenaz and her family with clean water, soap and other essentials to help them cope in the aftermath of the floods, but her needs are greater than we can meet at the moment. 

Shenaz’s older children cannot go back to school as their books were washed away and she and her husband, like all the other parents in the village, can no longer afford the monthly school fee of 400 rupees (about $4.50).

“Being a mother, what I want for the future is to rebuild our home and to send our children to school,” Shenaz says.  “That is all.”

How to Help

Make an urgent donation to the IRC and help deliver lifesaving water, shelter, sanitation, health care and other vital resources to the survivors of the Pakistan floods.