As a child I was addicted to dolls and doll houses, my cousins weren't any different..... We would sit together hours making fabric dolls and would sew black eyes for them and sometimes put round mirrors for their faces. We would arrange weddings of our dolls and sing songs at the top our lungs.... In those days of dolls and In those days of childhood I had seen times changing, days came when dolls were snatched off my little friends and my cousins hands, days came when instead of doll weddings it was their weddings that we were singing to, and days came when they had kids in their hands playing dolls.....I have witnessed them sobbing at nights, I had seen innocent lips quivering with sadness, I have known what its like to be a child with burdons that are too heavy for those tiny shoulders.....

“I Search for Water”
A nomad in my own territory
The dust flies above, heat and sweat unbearably rapid, blisters formed beneath my feet, breathing…softly, harshly sometimes cant…a hoarse breathing….like a request, tongue dried and feathery, and the sun up on me: I SEARCH FOR WATER
Almost all the cultural and trad- itional fables have stories of water, rain, clouds and monsoon. Rivers are discussed in poetry; happy endings mean it “rained”. Stories my grandmother tells me of people praying, fasting and asking God for rain, for a drop of water and then it would rain, they would be happy and celebrate.
Songs from years ago would chant the hearty songs of ever joyous traditional singers, who would constantly repeat and I say repeat the incoming of clouds, the possibility of rain and then the celebration by wedding the daughters. The daughters, who with two braided heads would stare at the clouds rather shyly and with hearts pounding in their chests, Indeed Its not the rain only that they celebrated, it was the water, the drops of water that fall upon the thirsty lands and their crops danced green in the brightest of days and then is when a family was called prosperous, prospers enough to give back loans, wed their girls and to build their houses from new mud with the glint of red. Now when the still beautiful chanting from traditional songs urge us to dance with their beautiful beats, we don’t take time to ever halt and concentrate because in those hearty words is the reality of Balochistans future. A Climatically Challenged area where barren lands have already given up struggling to live and are Turing to desertification. The province is going to be and perhaps already is an exposed vulnerability in the face of Climate Change.
Balochistans traditional forms of livelihood and using of agricultural land have now slowly been changing, The two methods Khushkaba and Sailaba of agriculture are diverted, the usually making of bands to use up flood water for lands doesn’t work because floods have change course as now even the ingenious knowledge can’t predict from where the flesh floods would be attacking, once a blessing to the people of valleys in Baluchistan, mountains are now a danger of disaster them.
In all this we are aware that indigenous people are the first ones to be worst hit by climate change and its already started to happen all around the world and in Balochistan as well. The search that started from time we don’t even know of is still going on, the search for water and it is not estimated when this search actually becomes a “fight” for water. But I know one thing, today on the blog action day for water as the world talks about water; don’t forget the people deep down in the dry hard lands, walking miles in the heat and dust for the search of water.
Khalida Brohi
This is the story about a young girl from the small village of Jhongal in Upper Sindh. She among the thousands from her village who was baldy effected by the floods in Pakistan, and hence having lost everything to water she and her family now live in a flood camp in Shikarpur, until life decides for them what they ought to do. Now as she shares her life with me and I feel like there couldn't have been a better way to look at the life of flood survivors in camps through her own eyes.
Sohni is a short series of blog posts which would bring forward the life of this girl to every reader and would be the window to what disasters struck the flood survivors after the major disaster of "floods in Pakistan".
A tale of survival from the floods in Pakistan
I couldn't believe it was here, after waiting so long for this day, so badly that I had forgotten to even fight with Sajid for my marbles and only counted days and hours, until it was here! Amma and Baba saw the moon first and they gave away the happy news. "Tomorrow begins the first day of the month of Ramazan", they announced and I almost started jumping up and down in front of Baba.
I along with five of my sisters await this day, to be able to fast in the holy month and then comes the Eid! with its glorious day of celebration, when for the first time in the year I get a new dress. A brand new dress, even bangles and henna on my hands. I shriek with joy as I remember the past eid, I had darted off through the streets of my small village, showing off my dress with its pretty yellow and red hems to my Sahiris - Friends- and had been the envy of all of them. I couldn't possibly wait for this eid I thought.
I live in a small village called Jhongal, which I love the most. Along with its dirt roads, the houses of all those whom I love surround our large haveli. A huge neem tree decorates the middle of the haveli close enough to the veranda where we sleep and listen to its leaves rustling in the nights breeze. This is my world that I knew and understood all of eleven years of my life. On rare times when amma fells ill and baba takes her to the hospital in the nearby city I am the one desperate to go along. But other then those occasional visits to a world different then mine I never could dream of leaving Jhongal ever....until....when I was forced to leave.
That Midnight it happened, it was the second day of Ramazan and the night of 12th August as Baba says. That night too I had slept the last, this time not listening to the neem tree or wishing the stars in my hand but this time dreaming about the coming eid festival. I had promised my self that I would be a good girl this time and would wash and clean myself and make two braids to look even more beautiful in my new dress. And then there are those mithais - sweets- we eat, The warm chewy and surgery balls of Gulab Jamun are what I love the most, I forgot the promise and planned that I would trick Sajid and snatch his piece of mithai from him... I had been laughing to myself that night.. feeling happy about my plans and not knowing exactly what time I had drifted to sleep.
It was a noisy rattling that I heard, or no it was more of a moan and then a shrill cry and everyone seemed to have started shouting all at once. I jolted off my slumber with hazy eyes starring at a mob of my family in the middle of the night running around frantically. Before I knew it Baba took hold of me and my brother and started running towards the door. Everyone did. The flood is here! Those floods we heard about, never assuming they could ever reach us and here it was... every single person in my village ran out to the main road making their way out of the village. Where we were going was out of my knowledge but all I knew was I was afraid, my lips had gone dry with fear and my eyes seem to bulge out. Sajid was worse, he hadnt stopped crying from the moment baba grabbed him, if it hadn't been the time of trauma I would have laughed my head off at his scardiness. But this time it wasn't just him, all of us... my sisters, Naseema my second last sister who is known to be poised was in a bad conditon, her duppata almost off her head and her hair a mess she held the hand of Rozina, while Amma had held Naima and Sumera.
My heart hammering in my ribs, I looked behind me towards the door of our haveli, our neem tree which was visible enough from the walls to wave a sad good bye to us and I had a feeling I would be crying so much about this very moment of my life. The dreams of my eid dress vanished into thin air and even the hope of fasting the other morning was gone... all I could see was my house, my village and my world left behind us as we moved far away. From the bend in the dirt road I could see the final outlines of the neem tree until dust clouds closed off of this sight taking with them every desire I had and forcing me to close my eyes with the advent of fresh tears.
We were on the main road now, my sisters and Abba, Amma panting from the run. In hurried paces we walked along the length of the road past hundreds of people on either side, some were lucky they rode on vans and wagons and roared past us, some rode on tractors while some moved slowly on donkey-carts. All others walked along with us. Baba lowered me on the road now, still carrying my six year old brother Sajid on his shoulders who made a crown of his arms on his head now sobbing quietly. Amma still carried my two sisters while two walked along. My Puphis' (Babas sisters) followed our family with their children and husbands. Chachi Sadora and chacha Mushtaq (uncle) walked close to Amma with quick paces and near her walked Tahir (my fiance), This was causing me to hold my eyes glancing towards Amma. I cursed Tahir silently and kept walking.
It was slow breaking of dawn, our caravan was taking pace as rumors came flying like fire that water can even catch up with us. Amma was almost fainting with fatigue, my Phuphis with stricken faces walked very slowly now, I felt like crying and crying for this sad night, two of my sisters were weeping quitly hiding their faces from Abba who would shout on them of course if he sees it.
Flickering lights were seen, two round lights, A van, it was a van! Baba ran towards it before it could drive past us and waved his hands in frenzy, Puphi Qulsoom started crying uncontrollably. The van slowed down and all of us rushed towards it like tied off horse suddenly released. It was packed, even women sat on top of it, along with dozens of men! inside the van I could only see faces, many faces, peeking out from windows, and from the door of the van. Amma and Puphi started begging the driver for a ride out of this town, they could barely be heard as wails of children had filled the morning air along with baba almost shouting and trying to get the driver to understand our bad situation who probably had heard a lot of that with the look of his filled wagon.
But then driver agreed and all the women started praying for his long life, Puphis went in first, amma, then my sisters and then me and Baba and chacha. I was sitting on Naseemas' lap, Sajids feet on top of me while his half still on babas shoulders, he was crying again. Amma sat in a twisted position and it broke my heart the way she tried to make space for my puphis and chachi who too were stuck in the midst of bodies. if it weren't for the windows in this van I thought, all of us would have suffocated to death.
I was glad when we were thrown out of the van after 40 minutes, inside a busy street. even though it was still morning but the street looked lively, people strolled along it, some walking towards a mosque, children stood at the end of the long paved street watching us. I saw the sudden contrast in their condition, with their smoothly braided hair and clean duppattas, I knew at once we were in a city. Which city I couldn't tell, but a city which I always had loved to visit but now I was making the worst of faces I could ever manage. Soon Abba and Chacha came hurrying towards us and ushered us all to the nearest Masjid - Mosque-."The Mullah have allowed us to live here for some time" they told us, "we are in Shikarpur".
gender justice
Sohni: Story of a young girl from the flood survivors in Pakistan
Sunday, September 05, 2010This is the story about a young girl from the small village of Jhongal in Upper Sindh. She among the thousands from her village who was baldy effected by the floods in Pakistan, and hence having lost everything to water she and her family now live in a flood camp in Shikarpur, until life decides for them what they ought to do. Now as she shares her life with me and I feel like there couldn't have been a better way to look at the life of flood survivors in camps through her own eyes.
Sohni is a short series of blog posts which would bring forward the life of this girl to every reader and would be the window to what disasters struck the flood survivors after the major disaster of "floods in Pakistan".
Sohni
A tale of survival from the floods in Pakistan
1. Jhongal, my small village
Millions of shimmering stars gather upon Jhongal, my small village in the heart of Rahim Abad, as the night settles in. Lying in my cot in the veranda of my open house, with the leaves of our large neem tree swooshing in the calm breeze, I imagine the world in the shape of a bowl, with stars falling in it for all of us.
I am always the last one to fall asleep – Even this soothing breeze and the night with its glimmering of stars have me awake. Besides me Sajid my six year old brother peacefully sleeps not looking a bit like he was the one who stole my clay dolls. Near our cot is Amma, Baba and all of my 4 sisters’ cots. When the breeze hits cold, Rozina and Naseema sleepily snatch the rili - blanket - from each other, finally agreeing – Still sleeping, while I am awake.
I lay there in the calm of the night, listening to the utter silence and then to our neem tree, as in the nights stillness its leaves start speaking to us slowly, telling us so many things quietly, and in the perfect rhythm of its leaves singing to us, everything and everyone is lulled to sleep … but I am awake, always there to listen, smiling, listening and slowly drifting to sleep.
Mornings are the best in my village. The breaking of dawn brings the loud and shrill morning calls of the roosters along with it the clattering of tea cups, a faint scent of the tea that Naseema my second eldest sister makes. Though I liked Tahira, my eldest sisters’ tea best, but after her marriage and sending her off, Naseema’s tea is what we drink only.
Sajid is the one, who brings the Chabi, and together we look for broken pieces of left over rotis’ from the past night. Sajid tries to trick me by hiding some of the rotis’ in his side pocket but I am always clever to sneak up beside him, snatch the roti and run. He bawls and I don’t care. Only Amma cares and runs after me to beat me. With the sudden death of my elder brother, Amma seems to have found jewels stuck in Sajid, caring for him more then any of us six sisters. I being the middle one at the age of 11, ought not to care but I despise the fact that my two little sisters, Sumera and Naimat who are only 9 and 7 years old don’t get that attention.
As dawn fades in Jhongal, heat starts to grab us. These are the days of summer in my village, hot and sweaty. That is one of the reasons I dislike going to Masjid, so many girls packed together in the heat chanting loudly from their Siparas, I would rather play marbels with Sajid. Amma beat me once with Jharu, until it left marks on my back, and I decided never to go to Masjid.
Its that time of the day I run to Puphi Hajra’s house, passing through the dirt roads, with walls crammed with round patties of cow dung that neighbors girls make and leave for them to dry. Sometimes I find the streets dusty and know that the herd of cows just moved and churned up the dust, I run through the streets to find the herd and lope behind them making the cows dart faster through the small dirt road leaving huge mass of dust flying in that makes homes of my nostrils and eyelashes and I laugh even louder scaring them away, and the poor shepherd tries his best to calm the beasts and swears on top of his lungs catching after them.
That is when I reach Puphi Hajras house, to carry her little newborn. Samra with her toothless smile is perhaps the cutest kid I have ever seen, carrying her in my arms I love to feel the soft small hands touching my cheeks or sometimes clutching a few strands of my hair. I love her small fragile body, in fact I love all the little newborns of my neighborhood, when ever I know there is a new kid born in one of houses nearest to us, I rush to go carry the fluffy thing in my lap, telling them everything thing about me, laughing with them, singing to them.. until it’s time to go home.
Towards the noon my little sisters arrive home, with their scarves tied tightly around their heads, and Siparas in their hands, I know what Amma is going to say then, one word: “Nibhag”, my sisters, and Amma always tell me that I have Nibhag – misfortune - that I don’t go to Masjid, don’t wash the dishes or even when I refuse to wash my face.
Amma, always promises to tell Baba about my being a Nibhagi and as soon as Abba comes, she forgets. In fact we all forget everything and run for our duppatas. Everyone assumes my father to be a mullah, with his long beard but I would have disliked it if he was a Mullah, that way I would have been forced to go to Masjid. He rather is a peasant working on Zamindars – landlords - lands, sometimes he takes me and my sisters at the time of Labaro – harvest - for us to help him and all of us have fun together. That I think is the happiest moment of my life. But for now, we sit silently trying to sound like the good behaved girls he wants us to be, until he calls “Sohni”, and I run to give him his dinner, after he finishes, we eat, then all of us go to bed on our cots in veranda and I lay awake.

