The heavy floods in Pakistan have washed away the dreams of the women farmers. For many, it’s a Déjà vu moment back from 2010, this year they couldn’t manage to recover many things. 6.5 lac women have been affected in this shattering event. Women who worked on cotton, rice, and wheat fields lost everything.
During this time, I was thinking about these women who are from unknown villages, and many of them are not accessible. I have decided to trace them and took the bus late at night to Interior Sindh. Being a female, it is hard to cope when all your hard-earned savings are drowned.
During my journey, I met women and girls between the age of 20 – 65 years who have spent most of their lives harvesting these farms, handling the aftermath situation is more devastating for them as heavy rains and floods destroyed the fields. Most of them don’t know what they will eat in the coming months as winters are arriving soon. Due to the lack of a health care system, they are exposed to many diseases. The rapid weather changes affect these women with severe anxiety.
While walking into this village of Sadullah Napar, I came across a blind woman who don’t even know what she lost, she was fearful that what remains left for her to cherish in the future.
In the village, it is the tradition to keep their Valuables in a “Trunk”. When their homes have drowned only thing they could safe are these trunks of retention.
I met the Baloch women in the Village of Jaggan Bhayo where they were shifting from their camps. These women who have lost their foundation were going back to the villages to rebuild their homes with these huge trunks over their head. They said these belongings are the part of them. They have walked for hours after floods to find safe space for their families.
We have not started analyzing yet what is the significance of losing possessions, fear of further floods is fueling them. These marginalized women and girls are consistently ignored. Many of them lost their cattle in the floods which took away their source of income.
