Today, after twelve months of flooding, hundreds of affected families continue to live in the IDP’s (Internally Displaced Person) Relief camps i.e. Chawal Godam, Razziqabad, Musharf Colony and Urban City in Karachi.

These families are homeless and destitute due to the terrible flood of 2010 that broke the embankments of the Indus in Sindh. The floodwater rushed through their villages, sweeping away their homes, their possessions and their livelihoods. They came to the relief camps with only the clothes on their back.

Under their Disaster Management Program, Caritas Pakistan Karachi is actively involved in helping these families survive, by providing them with food hampers, hygienic kits, kitchen utensils, thatched shelters and mosquito nets.

The Livelihood Program coordinator, Mr. Mansha Noor, states that the main objective of the International Kitchen Gardening Day was to train IDP’s women in building their own small vegetable gardens for their self-consumption.

The facilitator said, “Through the Gardening Program we were able to empower the IDP’S women by teaching them to avoid the use of chemicals and grow organic food. The aim of the Kitchen Gardening International Day was to promote the production of healthy vegetables for self-consumption and eat chemical-free vegetable so as to improve the health and nutrition of those who cannot afford pricey basic commodities.”

In a message, Mr. Dominic Gill, Executive Secretary of Caritas Pakistan Karachi said that Caritas Karachi is working hard with flood victims to help them live with dignity and respect and help them go home. He said that it is a matter of survival for the affected families to eat healthy and nutritious food. Gardening at home will enable them to eat chemical free vegetables, which will improve their families’ health and nutrition as well as reduce their daily and monthly expenses.

On behalf of the IDP’s women, Ms. Haseena thanked Caritas Karachi and its Livelihood Program for their cooperation and support and celebrated the International Kitchen Gardening Day.

Last but not least Mr. Mansha Noor thanked Mr. Khuda Ganuj for his cooperation and support to successfully organize the International Kitchen Gardening Day Program with IDP’S women at the Relief Camp.

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The following is a testimonial from Ms. Gulnaz Joseph, a resident of Saif-ul-Murry Goth, Pakistan, detailing how personally cultivated produce has improved her and her family’s health and quality of life. This interview has been transcribed by Mansha Noor, a focal person in the livelihood program of Caritas Pakistan Karachi.

My name is Gulnaz and I have passed matriculation. I have four children and they all go to school. Both of we do jobs. We are the residing here in Saif-ul-Murry Goth for last five years.

We were very fond of cultivating vegetables and we used to cultivate the vegetable at our home, but we used to shy. The people used to say that they work so hard and earn enough money but still they cannot buy the vegetables from the market.

• Photo courtesy of the author.•

When Caritas Pakistan Karachi started their kitchen gardening program in Saif-ul-Murry Goth and organized the Training of Trainer (TOT) on Kitchen gardening in February 2010, I am became aware and got training about who to grow various vegetables and home for self-consumption and theses vegetables are chemical-free, which improved our health and nutrition. My interest have been increased more to cultivate the various vegetables at home.

We both of us after the job we dig the soil and taker of the cultivated vegetables. We use the water of washed pots, utensils and clothes for growing vegetables and we suggest to other people also use the same water in a better way.

• Photo courtesy of the author.•

Those who used to laugh at us now they are ahead of us in cultivating the vegetables. Once a week we surely cook our home made vegetables which are free from chemical and improved our health and Nutrition. This reduces our monthly expenses which we used to spend for buying vegetables from market. Our tenant also takes vegetables twice a week from us for cooking.
I am personally very thankful for Caritas Pakistan Karachi and its Livelihood Program, we especially thank animator, Javed Iqbal who provided an opportunity to learn the benefits of kitchen gardening and to make aware about the hazards of the chemical vegetables. Kitchen gardening training helped us a lot. We have enough spaces to grow the vegetables but we were lacking the knowledge, methods and techniques to grow the vegetables at home.