SUKKUR, Pakistan—I was tossing back and forth thinking of the children I met in the camp who were in dire need of medicines, a bath, and clean clothes. There were no toilets or bathing facility in the camp. When it got dark there was nothing much to do. There was no electricity.

They slept out in the open, either on a cot or just on a piece of cloth. If it rains, they get wet, and perhaps go to sleep with no change of clothes. Surrounding them were donkeys and other families. There was no privacy.  The beautiful clear sky and stars were all they could admire. I wonder what goes through a child’s mind staring at millions of stars. I bet none of these kids know that the God who created the millions of stars created them as well.

 
There were many power outages during the night, but my restless mind was thinking of what could be done for these children. I was sweating and not able to sleep. When I got up, I stepped in a pool of water—there was a leak in the air conditioning system and it was messy.
 

When I arrived at the camp the children greeted me. Their hair was a mess, they were sweaty, their clothes were dirty and flies all over their faces; many had severe rashes. They only have one good meal a day, rice and lentils. There was literally nothing for the kids to do. In my mind I was thinking how I could bring about a smile on their faces.

I began to ask these children questions, and to my surprise, none of these kids knew their ages. They had never been to school; sometimes they had to work along with their parents. If they don’t know their ages, I am sure they never celebrated their birthdays and they never received gifts. They had never thought of their future, and most probably are married off young. Their future is bleak but I was very sure that God brought me here so that Operation Blessing can be a blessing to these children.

 
I laid my hands on every kid and said a word of blessing. Each time I would touch a child, there came out of them a smile, the most beautiful smile that reflected the love of God in these children.  I was showing them the pictures I took of them; they were so excited and joyful.

Tomorrow, I arranged for two pediatricians to visit the camp. There will be a medical clinic for these kids and they will be given proper medicines. Later today we are arranging for all the children to take a bath in the river. I am purchasing soap, towels and shampoo. After which I am going to demonstrate the LifeSaver jerrycan that will give them clean, safe drinking water.

 
The first day you saw pictures of children whose faces reflected desperation, but today the same children expressed joy. This is because Operation Blessing is there to be a blessing to them.

Tags: clean water, Disaster Relief, Flood Relief, Kumar Periasamy, Lifesaver Jerrycans, Medical Aid, medical clinic, Middle East, OBI, Operation Blessing, Orphan Care, Pakistan, Pakistan Flood, Relief Aid, Relief Camp, Sukkur

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 31st, 2010 at 9:54 am and is filed under Disaster Relief, Kumar Periasamy, Middle East, Pakistan flood relief. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.