Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu students and a group of rugby players are raising awareness about the summer floods.
Holding signs at the University of Massachusetts Student Union to advertise a Friday fund-raiser for victims of the floods in Pakistan are students Hetvi Patel, left, Jeffrey Haines, Ali Hayat and Maheen Iqbal at the universityâs Student Union. AMHERST – What do you get when you mix Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and a rugby team?
A lot of people helping those in need.
Muslim, Jewish, Christian and Hindu students and maybe 100 rugby players from the University of Massachusetts are raising money and awareness about the summer Pakistani floods. The floods may have receded from memory and attention, but the suffering they caused continues.
According to the United Nations, the floods have left 3 million people homeless and destroyed or damaged more than 450,000 homes. The effect is greater than the Sumatra tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake combined.
On Friday night, a Pakistani Cultural Night with dancing and Pakistani food will be held at 8 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom. The event is free to everyone, but donations will be accepted.
The students have also been selling wristbands for $2 each that read “2gether for Pakistan.” They’re hoping to sell one to every student, staff and faculty member on campus. They said $2 goes a long way in Pakistan – the exchange rate recently was nearly 86 rupees for every $1.
Erica Rothschild, a junior from New York, is active in Hillel, a Jewish campus organization, and in the Student Alliance for Israel.
“I was very excited to be involved,” she said. “I like learning about social movements in history that bring people together.” She’s amazed that “people don’t know about (the flood). It’s shocking,” she said. She’s been doing all she can to talk to people about what’s going on to help raise awareness and money.
Jeffrey Haines is a Bellingham senior and a member of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, a campus group seeking to advance God’s kingdom through whole life conversion to Jesus Christ. He’s also a resident assistant on campus and two of his co-workers are from Pakistan. When he heard about the floods he said he thought of a verse from Matthew 25. “The way you treat other people is the way you treat Christ himself.”
He asked himself, “how do I respond to Jesus.” The answer was to get involved. He said, “It’s been great to meet people from other groups, groups that I didn’t know existed.”
Mounica Manchiraju and Hetvi Patel are natives of India but they too wanted to help. India and Pakistan have been rivals since Britain partitioned the sub-continent in 1947. But both are members of the South Asian Student Association, which represents seven countries including Pakistan and that transcends any conflict. “It’s our responsibility to help,” Manchiraju said.
Then there are the rugby players. Adam Karp a sophomore from Newton is Jewish. He said he’s wanted to “get the rugby players involved in some sort of philanthropy.”
Rugby players are from all religions and have tons of friends so they’re a good group to help spread the word, he said. The players even have a sign-up sheet posted on their Facebook page for players to take a shift at the table that’s passing out information and selling the wristbands.
For Pakistan natives Ali Hayat, a member of the Muslim Student Association, and Maheen Iqbal, the cause is personal. Hayat is from Kurachi and while the city was not affected by the floods directly, there is a ripple effect because of how much land and food was lost.
He said students came together at the end of September to respond to the crisis. “We saw there was nothing being done about the floods. There is not enough awareness.” Yet he said, “this is the biggest humanitarian crises of this generation.”
They have been selling the wristbands for several weeks and have raised about $2,000. He said “it’s amazing to see the passion (and) support,” from all the different groups of people. “It’s touching”
“You’re away from Pakistan. You feel guilty, you’re not there (to help,)” said Iqbal, who’s from Islamabad. “ Working to raise money, “this is my way of helping.”
Anyone wanting to help or needs more information can send an e-mail to 2getherforpakistan@gmail.com.