Feeding Two Hundred Hungry Mouths on Three and a Half Dollars a Day!

Jallad Khan, 34, is a short strongly-built man who works in a roof tile making factory in the remote North Western Pakistani hill town of Topi whose brick kilns, flour mills and ubiquitous shops are surrounded by tobacco and sunflower fields. One day, a little over a month ago, Jallad was hunched over a steel mould pouring concrete when his cell phone rang: It was his brother with a message that was to initiate a profound change over the coming months. Owing to the military operation against Taliban militants in nearby Buner, Jallad’s brother — with a wife and five children in tow -- was coming down to live with Jallad. In the coming month, as the population of Topi increased to over one hundred and forty thousand with refugees fleeing the war zone, Jallad, originally from Chamla Village in Buner, received similar calls from two other brothers, a sister, uncles, aunts and cousins. In no time he had a little over two hundred relatives who were relying on him for food and shelter having fled their homes hurriedly with just the clothes on their backs.

With his meager salary of one hundred dollars a month, it would take a miracle to avert human tragedy. After all, he was just one example of many -- as international and national aid and charity organizations scrambled to accommodate a deluge of some three million displaced people. Perhaps because Jallad’s heart and resolve were so much larger than his pocket, that miracle did happen! The factory owner shut down part of the factory and made the space available — accommodating thirty five. A real estate friend of the owner made three houses available for three months sheltering another sixty. Jalad’s own two room apartment was packed with twenty women and children, while the men slept outside on the Verandah or lawn.

Inspired by the ebullient tile maker, the townspeople of Topi opened up their hearts and wallets as food, bedding, mosquito nets, and some cash poured in. Though their environment was Spartan, all two hundred were being clothed and fed. Much more aid and help would be needed though.

Abdul RehmanAbdul Rehman is Jallad’s maternal grandfather’s brother. A wiry old man with spectacles and flowing white beard he has a most gentle demeanor; one feels spiritually uplifted in his presence: “We are farmers and not rich. I brought seven thousand rupees (about ninety dollars) with me and that has already run out. At my age I feel pain when I lie down on this thin sheet on the concrete floor. Some bedding would be good.” When I ask him how was life with the Taliban before the military operation, he answers with equanimity:

“We do not know where these so-called Taliban came from. Their dialect of Pushto was different from ours. Some say they were Mehsuds from Waziristan. One of them was friends with Rajab Zaman in our village. Initially about four of the Taliban came and stayed at Rajab’s house. Next they recruited the thugs and criminals in our village and surrounding villages. That is why many of these people wrap scarves around their faces — they are criminals who do not want to be recognized. They said that we could not listen to music or dance and that girls would need to wear head-to-toe Burkaas. They said they would slaughter whoever went against them. They certainly knew nothing about Islam; their injunctions, their whole approach were un-Islamic. But we were afraid of them and had to listen to them. One of the chieftains raised a force of some fifty villagers to fight them, but they attacked his house in the night and slaughtered him and his family. After that all resistance to them died down.”

Jallad of course listens to similar tales of woe from his displaced close and distant relatives all the time. But he does not get angry, rather he is imbued with a zeal to look after them and that is his only mission, his only thought. Asked if he ever wavered in the face of such a huge responsibility, he answers easily: “In the Pukhtun culture, guests are sacrosanct. We would rather not eat ourselves or else sleep in the street than not be good hosts.” He is right. In the Eighties the Pukhtuns in Pakistan split their homes in two and housed a family each fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In the aftermath of the devastating 2005 North Pakistan earthquake, one foreign disaster expert stated: “In the 70 disaster sites internationally that I have visited to date, the roads were clogged with people fleeing the scene of the calamity; in this case roads were clogged with people fleeing to the disaster scene.” Pakistanis seem to rise and unite in times of challenge.

The USA, an ally of Pakistan, has also chipped in -- considering that Pakistan’s War against terrorists benefits and helps protect the entire civilized World. Secretary of State Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton announced the setting up of a special donation program for Pakistan’s Internally Displaced People (IDP). Mobile and Cell Phone users in the USA can easily donate five dollars to the relief effort by simply dialing and sending 20222.

That would be the best way to participate in the miracle wrought by Jallad Khan and a few generous souls in Topi, Pakistan!