Last week, the Pakistan Flood Relief Initiative hosted its first three events since Orientation Week, marking a positive start to a series of fundraising events planned for the school year. The Cookie Cup baking contest, a faculty panel sponsored by Haveli India Restaurant, and the Omar Offendum concert at Eclectic together raised about $1,400 in relief funds for flood victims.
“I think the turnout was good at all of them,” said organizer Zuleikha Hester ’11. “What I was most happy with was the participation from other students. A lot of people were enthusiastic who didn’t really know what was going on, but just because the Pakistani Flood Relief Initiative has been very active in creating events, people have picked up on that energy, and since we’re creating events more frequently, they wanted to help out.”
Although Hester and Ali Chaudhry ’12 founded the Pakistan Flood Relief Initiative, the group’s events are headed by seven facilitators who meet weekly and oversee a total of 140 volunteers.
On Wednesday, several program houses and halls baked dozens of cookies for the Cookie Cup, a competition in which students could pay to sample and vote on their favorite cookies. By the end of the night, Science Hall’s chocolate thunder with nutella had won Overall Best Cookie and Best Classic Cookie, Earth House, with cardamom espresso cookies, won Most Creative Cookies, and Full House took home awards for Prettiest Cookie and most overall votes with a pumpkin house cookie sandwich with cream cheese frosting. The Pakistan Relief Initiative earned about $240 from the event.
The second event, Pakistan’s Plight: A Faculty Panel, hosted a discussion on Thursday with Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Aradhana Sharma, Visiting Assistant Professor of Government Michael Touchton, and Professor of Economics Gary Yohe. The event took place in the Daniel Family Commons, with a dinner provided by Haveli.
Sharma, who discussed the flood’s gender and class impact, began by outlining brief histories of Pakistan and the disaster, and later turned to a more specific discussion of the impact of the disaster on women’s health.
“When a calamity of this scale happens, women and children bear the consequences,” Sharma said. “Health and sanitation in camps are major issues, and women are especially affected.”
Sharma discussed restricted access to birth control methods, the shame of women accustomed to gender segregation who are now stuck without sanitary and private accommodations, and the plight of Pakistan’s 500,000 pregnant flood victims who are at a heightened risk for maternal and infant mortality. She also raised the issue of women who are physically overpowered by men in lines for relief supplies, increasing rates of starvation and malnutrition among women and children.
Yohe reported a total economic impact of $40 billion, commented on the impact of diseases such as gastroenteritis, and discussed the role of climate change in causing the Pakistan flood, specifically a persistent and intensified “La Niña.”
“Effects of a strong La Niña are global,” Yohe said. “Historically, strong La Niñas have created very big monsoons. It’s not unusual that the storm showed up, it’s just unusual how big it was.”
As the final speaker, Touchton highlighted the risk of Pakistan descending into a failed state with potential for nuclear terrorism. Because people who have been displaced are receiving insufficient aid from the overwhelmed Pakistani government, Touchton said, they become “fertile recruits” for Taliban and al-Qaeda groups.
“Even if you don’t believe nuclear conflict will occur, the potential for civil war and conflict is very real,” Touchton said. “The human cost is outrageous—the potential for environmental devastation is clear and present.”
The faculty panel proved the most successful of the three events, earning $833 for Pakistan.
“We had people who came up to us after the event to let us know that it was informative, especially for those who didn’t know much about the situation,” Hester said.
On Friday, Eclectic hosted Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum along with Wesleyan’s Bones Complex. According to Hester, this event saw a smaller turnout than the faculty panel, possibly because Halloween events were planned for the same night.
All proceeds raised by the events will go to Oxfam, Islamic Relief, and the Red Cross.
According to Chaudhry, the Pakistan Flood Relief Initiative is planning several more events in the near future, including a faculty basketball competition, an a cappella concert, and a distribution of donation boxes around campus.
“Things are happening so quickly, which is exciting because you find out one week that you have three more events the next week,” Hester said. “The next day, I had a couple of e-mails from people asking when we were going to start the next thing. It was really encouraging for me to see others really excited and enthusiastic about planning other events.”
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