Jemima Khan raises funds for Jalozai

An appeal in two British publications by Jemima Khan on behalf of the 80,000 refugees in the Jalozai camp in Peshawar, in Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province [NWFP], has raised US $86,500 in two weeks. More than US $7,000 has been coming in daily, Khan told IRIN. The British celebrity, who is married to former Pakistani international cricketer Imran Khan and now lives in the capital, Islamabad, maintains that much can be done to make the lives of the 14,000 families in Jalozai more bearable, until such time as an agreement is reached between the UN and the Pakistan authorities on the status of the Afghans. Pakistan maintains it is already saddled with over a million refugees and cannot cope with any new influx. Local authorities have halted formal registration of refugees and allowed UNHCR and other aid agencies only to deliver a minimum of services and assistance to those in need. The stalemate continues with no signs of a reprieve. Khan and two friends undertook an initial fact-finding mission to Jalozai in March, and collaborated to raise almost US $32,000 to buy floor mats, oil and pulses, as well as 580 weatherproof tarpaulin tents to replace the makeshift plastic sheets that have been the Afghans’ only form of shelter in months. With no protection from the soaring temperatures and the threat of the monsoon season ahead, Khan said the refugees she spoke to expressed an urgent need for shelter, even before food. Pakistani authorities however have attempted to curb the donation of tents, as such “infrastructure” implies permanency to what government officials consider a temporary situation. “I was horrified by what I saw and the apathetic reaction to the problem. I wrote the articles [in ‘Hello Magazine’ and ‘The Sunday Telegraph’] to draw attention to the plight of the people in Jalozai. However, I knew that people reading them would feel helpless if they couldn’t contribute in some way, so I very quickly set up a bank account and a hotline for donations,” Khan said. She has been “overwhelmed” by the response - pensioners giving their weekly allowance, former war refugees, some giving 1,000 pounds each [US $1,440.00]. Working together with UK-registered charity, Ockenden International, she is adamant that that the funds are chanelled into shelter as “the first priority” and to health and hygiene efforts. Using funds from the Khan appeal, Ockenden last week embarked on a clean-up operation in the camp. Khan said money would be used to employ around 20 men from the camp to dig areas for regular waste disposal, with the settlement already suffering from a chronic lack of latrines. This would do much to improve the lives of the people there, according to Stephen Peart, Asia programme manager of Ockenden, “until such stage as the camp is formalised and more latrines dug and a proper waste management system put in place”. Funds will also go toward water provision. Tankers will be brought in daily, delivering fresh supplies and clay pitchers, ideal for keeping water cool and fresh, will be provided to every family for water storage. Finally, soap will be distributed to everyone in the camp to maintain personal hygiene. “The major issues we identified are around public health and hygiene. There is a lot of disease in the camp caused by unsanitary conditions - so we can keep these activities rolling over without committing to infrastructure projects,” Peart said. MSF Doctor Assad Menapal, in an interview with IRIN on 6 April, warned of the impending problem: “Things could escalate quite quickly here, and with more rain I expect to see more cases of typhoid, malaria, cholera, diarrhoea and other infectious diseases.” Meanwhile, this week Khan plans to issue a further appeal to enable her to raise more funds to purchase additional tents - ideally one per family. “This is a priority measure that is required until there is some agreement between UNHCR and the local Pakistan authorities. Distributing tents to the most needy however has been difficult. So far we have been allocating what we have to the biggest families, the most vulnerable and the women. Many of the families are women and children without men,” Khan noted. According to Ockenden, if the perception is that the Afghans in Jalozai are to remain “for a longer term”, then the British charity would look to move away from direct relief activities and focus more on developmental and sustainable interventions, such as income generation and education for children.