Aid gives “light of hope” to 2,000 flood-affected Pakistani Christian families

Christian families struggling to survive following unprecedented flooding in Pakistan have thanked Barnabas supporters for providing them with food and practical aid.

Two thousand Christian families in southern Sindh province, one of the areas worst affected by the floods, received a package of food staples – including flour, rice, lentils, chickpeas, tea, cooking oil and salt – as well as five litres of drinking water, a tarpaulin, mosquito net, washing powder and soap.

We gave quilts to 950 of the families, 450 of whom also received sweaters, to provide them with extra warmth during the winter months.

The aid became the “light of hope” for the families and strengthened their faith and trust in God their Provider, our project partner told us.

Lachmi, her husband Shambo and their two children, Thawar, eight, and Hemraj, three, were among the families who received the aid package. They were forced to live on the side of a road after the heavy rains wrecked their home.

The couple used to make a living as agricultural labourers but, with crops destroyed by the flood waters, they had no work and no income. Nor did they have anything left to sell to buy food for their children.

Lachmi thanked the Lord and Barnabas supporters for giving them food and shelter in their time of need.

The flooding, which followed exceptionally heavy monsoon rains that began in mid-June 2022, affected at least 33 million people in all four of Pakistan’s provinces. Almost eight million people were displaced, and nearly 15% of the country’s rice crop was affected, raising concerns over future food shortages.

The disaster happened as families were already struggling with increased poverty resulting from inflation, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and locust attacks.

Project reference: 41-919 (Christian flood victims in Pakistan)