think globally, act globally!
by julie savage parker

The last time Lauren Ingram Mueenuddin was in Western North Carolina, she was headed for the Outward Bound program at Warren Wilson College.

Outward Bound's mission is "to inspire character development and self-discovery in people of all ages and walks of life through challenge and adventure, and to impel them to achieve more than they ever thought possible, to show compassion for others and to actively engage in creating a better world."

Lauren is now (as she has been all her life) putting that mission into practice. Officially, she is currently consulting with PSI (www.psi.org), a Washington -based non-profit through Greenstar Social Marketing, a Pakistan-based group that delivers health services to women and PSI Safe Water services.

Her husband, Dr. Tamur Mueenuddin (right), Medical Officer in Islamabad, is currently assigned as a UNICEF emergency relief coordinator in Menshera, Pakistan. Since the moment of the earthquake October 8th, Tamur and Lauren have been devoting all of their time and resources to see to the most urgent needs of those left homeless after the earthquake. There are up to three million people with little food or shelter as the harsh Himalayan winter approaches. (For scale, 1076 were killed in New Orleans; an estimated 73,000 died in the earthquake in Pakistan.)
The relief effort has now become a family affair. Lauren's father, Jim Ingram, is coordinating the website, blog, and fundraising in the States while Lauren's mother (my cousin Katherine Ingram), has gone to Pakistan to care for the three boys (left) and to do whatever she can to help in the relief effort. Me, I'm just dogsitting Katherine and Jim's beloved Beau while they turn their full attention to doing whatever they can to help. My small part is to create a series of intensely personal articles in WNC WOMAN on the aftermath of the earthquake as seen through the eyes of Tamur, Lauren, Katherine (right, in rose), and my cousin Ben as they "achieve more than they ever thought possible, to show compassion for others and to actively engage in creating a better world". We start this month with emails from Lauren.

After spending the first week in the earthquake zone working to help coordinate some of the initial aid arriving in the area, I went up some ten days later with my three children to Mansehra, the small city near the earthquake epicenter, the site of one of the humanitarian hubs set up by the UN and NGOs, to spend the Eid holidays (the holiday that ends the month of fasting during Ramadan). I found it difficult, as many people in Pakistan did, to try to spend a festive Eid while so many people were in such desperate need. We drove to the mountains and arrived with our vehicle laden with gifts for children (coloring books, pencils, toys, candies) spending our days distributing the gifts in the camps. I debated whether it was a good idea to bring my children, who are so young, (11, 7 and 3) to an area of such devastation, but I think I made the right decision because the boys rose to the occasion.The night before Eid, we made our way through a dark, cold, camp, home to some 2000 people, to distribute mendhi and churrian (henna that girls use to paint their hands and bangles for their arms) to the women and children. There is no fire allowed in the camp, neither for light or warmth. There had been a tent fire just a few days before. Two children were critically injured and evacuated out by helicopter.So we moved from tent to tent by lantern light, calling into the dark for women and children to come out. Tent after tent, faces peered out, dark, dirty, tired faces, quietly gathering the gifts. Some of the people asked us to move on, in no mood for celebrations of any kind.All three boys were very courageous, stepping over open, dark, watery pits, braving the fierce embraces of distraught men and women, consoling and listening to people’s stories. The two older boys were very poised, obviously moved by the scene. They did display some anxiety however, evidenced by their clutching at the corner of my dress as we walked to keep me close. The little one, Liam, a great lover of small babies, determinedly entered each tent looking for the little ones, pulling the shawls off of women’s backs, looking for babies hidden beneath. He kissed each of them long and tenderly. Our military escorts were horrified, warning me that letting my boys get so close to the people would expose them to scabies, lice and other disease.(They were right about lice because, the whole house has contracted lice. We are now boiling clothes and bed sheets, and washing hair repeatedly with caustic solutions.)But hell, who cares! This is early training for the heart.We spent the next day in Balakot, the once beautiful mountain town, surrounded by high mountains and a crashing river, now a scene of utter ruin, literally flattened by the quake. We sat on the river bank, amidst the rubble and garbage and the persistent smell of death, with families who had set up camp next to their ruined homes, and next to the graves of their family members.The sounds of mourning were still all around us, as parents threw themselves on top of shallow dirt mounds, grieving their children who had been buried 8 and 9 to a grave.But of course, these people of such great warmth, courage and hospitality served us sweet, milky tea and biscuits, fom their meagre rations, as we talked of ways to rebuild.
Lauren

BONUS:

My cousin Ben MacDonald, 22, of Raeford, NC, quickly accepted an invitation to travel to Pakistan and work with Lauren in relief efforts after the massive earthquake in its northern territories. He cajoled the University of North Carolina in Asheville, NC, to accept his trip as the last requirement for his degree, sub-let his apartment, said goodbye to friends, and took off.

EMAIL FROM BEN, TWO DAYS BEFORE THANKSGIVING:
...you can’t fathom what I’ve seen...I can’t fathom it... My heart aches constantly...Today, I went back to the children's hospital and took my guitar...(this will become a daily routine)..it really seemed to warm the place up a bit...but damn...I just don't even understand it...I spent some time with one little girl today...she was maybe 3-4 years old with powerful dark eyes...both of her legs had been amputated. Her uncle was staying at her bedside because everyone in her immediate family had been killed..mother,father, all of her brothers and sisters...and now she doesn’t even have a home to return to. It’s a really absurd thought, but her injuries may a blessing in a sense, because she will have to spend 6 months in the hospital, and thus won’t be subjected to the harsh elements in her home up north. That’s just one story, but everyone there has similar stories....
It’s so hard not to get overwhelmed. The amount of suffering is immeasurable. We desperately need more money, too...so if you know anyone who might be willing to contribute, please, please, urge them to do so.

Also, I’d like to tell you about our other outing today. Katherine, Hamid and I met a family that had been recommended to us by the people in charge of the relief effort in ISB. Aparently, this family had decided to leave their homeland up north and move to ISB for the winter...We have found that most people are reluctant to relocate like this, because they are extremely connected to their homelands, and if they leave, they risk losing any claim to their family’s land during the restoration phase. Thus, most people have decided to stay up north and weather the winter. This family, however, was an exception, and decided to seek refuge in ISB. They sent the men ahead to find loging (they rented a small, single room in Pindi), but they had absolutley nothing to furnish the place with....no blankets, no beds, no pots to cook in..nothing to nourish the needs of a 17 member (mostly children) family. So, we went with them to the market and used about $300 from the fund to purchase them some essentials...specifically blankets, mattresses, and cookware...enough supplies to fill a small Suzuki...enough to get them off to a start anyway.

Lauren is exausted...I can tell that she is frustrated and torn by the demands of family life and the desire to be out in the field...I cannot speak highly enough of her and of Tamur. When Tamur came back to visit, you could tell that his mind was elsewhere...he came back to see his children, but I think he felt guilty to come...I don’t want put words in his mouth, but I know that the gravity of this situation is weighing heavily on both of them.

Katherine and I are really having to use a strategy of trial and error in figuring out how to best use the remaining funds we have left...Everything that we have done so far is extremely necessary, but now that we have used over 1/2 of the fund, we feel an ever-pressing need to reach as many people up north as possible. Therefore, I think that we’re going to use the rest of our funds for taking truckloads of supplies up north....we have a small window of opportunity with winter setting in, and I think we really need to just make a mad dash to help as many people, especially women and children, as possible. We are, of course, asking for Lauren and Tamur’s advice with each decision that we make, and I think that everyone is in agreement at this point on the course of our future action. I don’t know what we’ll do when we run out of money...for now, though, I think that’s pretty much our plan.

MORE NEXT MONTH