On Monday, the recently-founded Hopkins for Pakistan held their first major event, “Fighting the Floods Charity Event,” a fundraiser for the Pakistan Flood relief efforts.
The group, organized under the Center for Social Concern last month, is seeking to raise consciousness amongst the student body to the pressing need for foreign aid in aftermath of the flooding that first struck in July and help provide charitable donations to meet that need.
“Our goal is to at least raise awareness of Pakistan’s troubles,” the group’s founder and Hopkins grad student, Hamza Melik, said.
The event consisted of various booths set up outside in the Levering Courtyard attracting students walking to and from class.
They offered freshly made cultural food such as kabobs, gyros and meat and rice platters.
The money raised would go towards adopting a school and to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (the NDMA) — the country’s chief agency in responding to national disasters such as the floods.
“So many of Pakistan’s children are displaced, without schools. On behalf of Johns Hopkins we would adopt an ‘intermediary school,’ a temporary school shelter for those students who have no access to one,” Melik said.
He pointed out that over 20 millions people were affected by flooding and that nearly 3 and a half million children in Pakistan are currently out of school due to the disaster.
“As a comparison, the floods have affected millions more people than, say, the Haiti Earthquake, which has received substantially more aid and attention,” Melik said.
The relief process is still in the infant stages and has encouraged many, including those within the Hopkins community, to become involved.
The previous week, the JHU Red Cross Chapter held a fundraiser also aimed at collecting donations for the humanitarian efforts in Pakistan.
“I definitely think there should be more action like this by students,” Rafaay Syed, one of the Fighting the Floods event coordinators, said.
“It’s important to have the campus community behind events like this one.”
Syed also drew attention to the fact that many of the Muslim students on the JHU campus came from India and Pakistan, meaning that a number of them know people who were personally affected by the tragedy.
Melik is quick to point out that the issue is about more than just numbers.
“It’s about humanity. We are people just like them. It is not a question of where these people live or who they are. They are parents trying to raise a family and students trying to go to school,” he said.
Attendance at the event was somewhat sparse, with only a few students approaching the tables in between classes throughout the day.
However,in the spring, the group is looking to host a larger charity event — likely a fundraising dinner combined with a concert and dancing performance.
