Khalsa Aid: Punjab Floods Appeal

[KHALSA AID]

Haiti – Punjab – Pakistan

Just to update everyone about the current International Humanitarian Aid projects launched by Khalsa Aid.

Pakistan

Recent floods in Pakistan have left 20 million people homeless. Many are facing a slow and painful death due to lack of clean water and food. UN General Secretary remarked on the floods:

"I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed today. In the past, I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this."

Khalsa Aid has of last week launched a huge project in Pakistan, to reach the most hard hit and hard to reach areas. While many Aid Organisations are struggling to deliver aid, local and long serving Khalsa Aid volunteer Tahir Mahmood in Islamabad is already providing aid to victims of the flood in the Mansera area (North West Frontier). Tahir was instrumental in 2009 in Khalsa Aid efforts to assist Sikh and Hindu refugees displaced in the Swat Valley conflict, as well as co-coordinating KA efforts in the Pakistan Earthquake 2005 project.

Punjab

Breaches along the embankment of the Ghaggar river flooded hundreds of villages in Punjab. Over 270 thousand acres alone have been damaged in districts of Patiala, Sangrur, Mohali, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga and Mansa.

Ravinder Singh, Khalsa Aid CEO and one of our most experienced volunteers has been in Punjab since the end of July. Working with local farmers unions, he has been travelling village to village in the Mansa area to assess the damage to identify those who need help most. Ravinder Singh reports from Punjab "it is very distressing to see how much the Punjabi farmers are suffering from the effects of the floods. It is worsened by the fact that although all international media is concentrating on Pakistan no one has considered the fate of these victims of the same floods. Furthermore, whilst the Pakistan government has made international pleas for support, the Punjab State government has made no such effort and is in effect devaluing the extent of the suffering of the Punjabi Farmers condemning them to struggle alone. We are working in Mansa, as there are no other aid agencies here, and these villagers have the highest rate of farmer suicides in Punjab."

More details will follow but Khalsa Aid plan to provide families with existing debt, and less than acres of land, along with emergency support, with the seeds of next years crop and fertiliser.

In 2008 floods hit Punjab, Bihar and neighbouring areas. Dozens of International Aid Agencies reached Bihar, yet Punjab was forgotten. Khalsa Aid reached Punjab then and is there now again. We urge all Sangat to remember the Punjabis in their time of need.

Haiti

The catastrophic earthquake that rocked Haiti just over 6 months ago killed 230,000,00, injured 300,000 and made 1,000,000 homeless. Billions of pounds was pledged by International Govts, yet only 2% of pledges have come through. As a result the process of rehabilitating the poorest country in the western hemisphere is still very much in process.

Khalsa Aid has been in Haiti since January 2010, launching a variety of projects including mobile medical clinics, providing hundred of thousands of litres of drinking water, food and other necessary provisions.

We are now in transition from emergency relief to more long-term projects, and over the past few months we have been working to protect and support the most vulnerable of the survivors, the orphans. Khalsa Aid volunteer Harpreet Singh Mann from Toronto, Canada is the latest to volunteer his time and travel to Haiti to help with ongoing projects. Harpreet has been in Haiti since the 7^th August and will spend three works visiting Khalsa Aid sponsored orphanages around Leogane to help with maintenance/general repairs as well as provide food, water and medicine as required.

How You Can Help:

Khalsa Aid is dependent on the generosity of the Sangat to carry out such vital Seva, to donate please click on the following link

http://www.justgiving.com/khalsaaid

Join our Mailing list

http://www.khalsaaid...ts/?p=subscribe

To receive updates on our projects as well as volunteering opportunities.

www.khalsaaid.org

UK Registered Charity (#1080374)

Ravinder Singh (in Punjab, India): +919780519299

Bal Sandhu

Mobile: +44 (0) 788 688 6081

E-mail: balsandhu@khalsaaid.org

Baljit Singh

Mobile: +44 (0) 795 8777 448

E-mail: baljitsingh@khalsaaid.org<BR style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR style="mso-special-character: line-break">

[Into the Light]

Its really good to see the amazing work Khalsa Aid is doing!

Have Khalsa Aid ever considered organising a charity run (10km etc) like all other big charitieis do. This way the profile of the charity is raised, is allows for Khalsa Aid to highlight the work done by Khalsa Aid a wider audience (incl non-Sikhs) and it allows for money to be raised that will go to projects run by Khalsa Aid?

You may already be doing this...if you are, can you please provide me with any info on your next event?

[malkeet]

Is there any opportunity for medical professionals to do seva for khalsa aid?

[sall]

WJKK WJKF

Excellent suggestion by " into the light" - the higher the profile the better, just imagine if there was a tee shirt from Khalsa aid with picutres of all it's charitable work and running with that on, for a local marathon or even a measly 5 or 10k run in london somewhere, for which many Sikhs including my self would love to partake in--- secondly our up coming teenagers would love it too.

[lsingh]

WJKK WJKF

Excellent suggestion by " into the light" - the higher the profile the better, just imagine if there was a tee shirt from Khalsa aid with picutres of all it's charitable work and running with that on, for a local marathon or even a measly 5 or 10k run in london somewhere, for which many Sikhs including my self would love to partake in--- secondly our up coming teenagers would love it too.

Any news on the plight of the Sikhs in Pakistan? I read one report that they had gathered at Punja Sahib, but had not got any help yet. I think this is where Khalsa aid can help as the Pakistan Govt cannot cope and Muslim charities probably won't help.

[Pyara]

The fact that Khalsa Aid exists as a charity is relatively unknown to a lot of the wider Sikh community. The suggestions above are important as we do need to do everything we can to raise the profile of Khalsa Aid in the community.

Perhaps when we (Sikhs/Sikh groups) do personal Charity events, we should highlight Khalsa Aid as our main charity. From fun runs to serious marothans, it's getting common to see Sikh participants but we don't seem to be endorsing the Sikh charities such as Khalsa Aid.

I was watching a live Islamic Aid appeal on one of the Sky muslim channels in relation to the Pakistan floods. In one night of the TV appeal they raised over £500,000 from the European viewers and they were expecting to run the live TV appeal every night.

Being the current pessimist I am, I wouldn't have much confidence in a Sikh Charity TV appeal raising anything of that amount. But if we focus on just one of our charities such as Khalsa Aid, we have a better chance of getting things moving. Personally....if you want to give daswand, put less in the Golak of the Committees and more in the Golak of the Sikh charities.

[K Singh 82]

I think having an annual Khalsa Aid charity run something like 10km is a really good idea. I know of quite a few people who would be interested in partaking in it.

[KHALSA AID]

Thank you for all the kind words of support everyone,

In regards to charity runs this is an excellent idea, to raise funds and awareness, however organising such an event is outside our experience.

Wherever any volunteers undertake events for KA we try to support as much as we can through exposure and branded clothing etc.

If anyone is interested please see the upcoming events which you can volunteer for:

Big Fun Run Derby 21/08/2010Derby, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run Norwich 22/08/2010Norwich, UKRun - 5KOpenStratford 10K 29/08/2010Stratford Upon Avon, UKRun - 10KOpenBig Fun Run Cardiff29/08/2010Cardiff, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run Leicester 05/09/2010Leicester, UKRun - 5KOpenGreat Yorkshire Run05/09/2010Sheffield, UKRun - 10KOpenJD Sports City of Salford 10K 05/09/2010Salford, UKRun - 10KOpenGreat Scottish Half Marathon05/09/2010Glasgow, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenGreat Scottish 10km 05/09/2010Glasgow, UKRun - 10KOpenBristol Half Marathon05/09/2010Bristol, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenWolverhampton Half Marathon 05/09/2010Wolverhampton, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenMiddlesbrough Tees Pride 10K05/09/2010Middlesbrough, UKRun - 10KOpenAdidas Women's 5K 05/09/2010London, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run Crystal Palace11/09/2010London, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run London - Crystal Park 11/09/2010London, UKRun - 5KOpenExperian Robin Hood Marathon 12/09/2010Nottingham, UKRun - MarathonOpenExperian Robin Hood Half Marathon 12/09/2010Nottingham, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenChippenham Half Marathon12/09/2010Chippenham, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenBig Fun Run Coventry 18/09/2010Coventry, UKRun - 5KOpenJunior Grear North Run18/09/2010Newcastle, UKRun - Other DistanceOpenBUPA Great North Run 19/09/2010Newcastle, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenBig Fun Run London - Victoria Park25/09/2010London, UKRun - 5KOpenWindsor Half Marathon 26/09/2010Windsor, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenNew Forest Half Marathon 26/09/2010Christchurch, UKRun - MarathonOpenBerlin Marathon 26/09/2010Berlin, UKRun - MarathonOpenRun to the Beat26/09/2010London, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenFolkestone Half Marathon 26/09/2010Folkestone, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenBig Fun Run Milton Keynes26/09/2010Milton Keynes, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run Watford 02/10/2010Watford, UKRun - 5KOpenEnglish Half Marathon03/10/2010Warrington, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenLoch Ness 5km 03/10/2010Inverness, UKRun - 5KOpenKilomathon Scotland03/10/2010Edinburgh, UKRun - Other DistanceOpenLoch Ness Marathon 03/10/2010Inverness, UKRun - MarathonOpenLoch Ness 10km03/10/2010Inverness, UKRun - 10KOpenThe Run, Northampton 03/10/2010Northampton, UKRun - 10KOpenAsics Liverpool 10km03/10/2010Liverpool, UKRun - 10KOpenBig Fun Run Southampton 09/10/2010Southampton, UKRun - 5KOpenBig Fun Run Maidstone10/10/2010Maidstone, UKRun - 5KOpenThe Perkins Great Eastern Run 10/10/2010Peterborough, UKRun - Half MarathonOpenNationwide Swindon Half10/10/2010Swindon, UKRun - Half MarathonOpen

[Guest fordcapri]

Can i ask why you are helping Pakistan ??

They would never help us.

Muslims come from the richest countries in the world look at the middle east and the oil they own, leave it them.

[guptkuri]

Can i ask why you are helping Pakistan ??

They would never help us.

Muslims come from the richest countries in the world look at the middle east and the oil they own, leave it them.

we are sikhs, we don't ask people what country, what religion and what they do or do not have before helping them.

And for your information there are Sikhs in Pakistan also.