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PAKISTAN- Everything in the area was levelled to the ground by the October 2005 earthquake: since then, people has been living in shacks made of metal sheet, exposed to the cold weather

With the donations collected during the Pastoral visit, 300 houses and 2 schools are being built for the victims of the earthquake in Balakot. Father Pistolato (Caritas) has travelled the earthquake-hit region: “The population is grateful to the Church of Venice”.
 

The foundations are already visible and the first walls are being erected. The 300 houses that the Patriarchate of Venice and Caritas are building in the earthquake-hit areas of Pakistan are about to become a reality. Father Dino Pistolato, director of the diocesan Caritas, was able to witness this progress during his recent visit to the areas  hit by the 2005 earthquake.

A year and a half ago, in October 2005, a devastating earthquake levelled to the ground Balakot and neighbouring villages, in the diocese of Islamabad. Immediately afterwards, the Venetian diocese sent its first relief aid. Subsequently, the Patriarch of Venice decided to earmark all donations collected during the Pastoral visit for the construction of 300 houses and two school buildings in Pakistan. “Today the population of that area – says Father Pistolato – is still living in metal sheet-made shacks. Their living conditions are extremely difficult, due to the very harsh climate”. Hence the need to put the people in more solid and long-lasting shelters. The donations collected so far, amounting to approx. 60,000 Euros, have already being spent and the first houses are nearing completion. “In one room on the ground floor of many of these buildings, a shop or a small workshop will be opened so to ensure employment and some income-generation”.

On the other hand, the two schools will be constructed for the pupils and students that are currently attending classes in the corrugated iron shacks. And new gender-specific vocational courses, like dressmaking and others, could be activated.

Also, additional relied aid was distributed during Father Pistolato’s visit to Pakistan: “We distributed clothes, particularly wind-cheaters, to protect the Balakot people from cold. We have given food aid to a small Christian community in Kashmir. I was moved by this particular encounter – remembers Father Pistolato. If elsewhere, due to security reasons, we could not even display any religious symbol, there we prayed all together  and they asked me to bless them.”

The presence of the Venice Patriarchate and of Caritas - which cooperates with the local association “All Pakistan Minorities Alliance” (APMA) – in a largely Muslim country both peculiar and meaningful. “The local Christians are greatly motivated in giving a proof of faith to the poorer and the most needy families. “APMA”, the association with which we are cooperating – says the director of Caritas – brings together the different Christians denominations, but also the Buddhists and the Hindus: all minorities within Pakistan that in this way have found a way to establish dialogue. Our main driving force, which we share with the Islamabad bishop, Father Lobo, is to make people see that the Chuch is attentive to everybody’s needs”.
Serena Spinazzi Lucchesi

Le offerte alla nostra iniziativa per il Pakistan, possono essere versate nelle sedi della Caritas Venezia, oppure presso: