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The North Face - Kashmir Project |
A Final Reflection on our Relief Work.
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The long trip out of Kashmir is in motion. Yesterday we traveled the 180 km of jeep track back over Sadana Pass and arrived safely in Srinagar. Along the way we visited Rang War a temporary shanty town of 80 families bracing for winter. With young crying children walking half naked through the snow it was apparent that the grim conditions there were the worst we had seen. Before leaving we literally gave them everything including the clothes off our backs...
Before signing off completely we want to give everyone a more comprehensive report as to the scope of what we accomplished and its importance for Kashmir Earthquake Relief.
The mass quantities of TNF gear have just arrived in Kashmir thanks to the work of many giving volunteers. In the end, our essential purpose was to survey the villages that are in the worst shape and to create a reliable local work force to fairly distribute this valuable product in these remote villages. Our role was also vital in providing authorization for K.E.R to work in extremely sensitive areas. We operated from the position of unaligned help for those in need and visited areas even locals had been denied. The door is now open for KER to continue the long work that lies ahead. Here is the full run down of villages we visited personally during our strategic reconnaissance:
1.Kona Gabra: 200 families visited/issued foam and bukhari heaters
2.Dringla: 65 families visited/hand delivered school supplies
3.Jabri: 74 families visited over 3 separate trips, delivered clothing to 150 children and onsite medical support
4.Gundi Shat: 38 families visited
5.Tangdar Nard: 170 families visited/issued foam and bukhari heaters/provided medical support
6.Simari: 60 families visited
7.Kadhami: 80 families visited
8.Gundi Gujran: 200 families visited and issued foam and bukhari heaters
9.Rang War: 80 families visited and completed small TNF gear drop of our personal gear
The ramifications of what has taken place here are larger than we can imagine. Not only will tons upon tons of TNF gear be distributed but major medical and educational infrastructures will regain there foundations.
When Willie handed a young girl in Dringla a notebook and told her she would become a doctor, her mouth dropped as if her genuine fortune had just been read. The combined vision of KER, Global Giving and TNF will provide such an opportunity to this child. We have a pointed determination to build a school in Dringla and provide the beautiful people of this far out place the gift of awareness. Pressing issues of pollution control, family planning, hygiene, and sustainable agriculture will be addressed and opportunities for greater growth in destroyed villages will overshadow the rumble and remorse left by the earthquake.
Personally digesting these intense issues and working in very difficult conditions has run the team down physically and emotionally. It makes quite an impression on me as the youngest member of the team when veterans like Ace and Willie say this was the most challenging expedition they have ever been through. The scope of the destruction, poverty, pollution, and isolation all combined to make this relief effort a challenging undertaking. Hopefully the second round of antibiotics will finally kill the gurgling gut syndrome before our respective plane flights. In the end, as we go our separate way it is comforting to know that Usmaan and Dr. Zameer are carrying out the short and long term plans for survival, growth and development our team helped create for Kashmir.
Certain images will stick with us for many years to come. A mosque toppled from it?s foundations, children proudly displaying their new Chalkboard for their outdoor class room, a woman who gave us each a hand full of walnuts in a show of thanks for our efforts, little Tongdar the puppy scurrying up a remote icy road of death, the look of appreciation and happiness when we gave simple gifts like clothing and wood stoves, the beautiful religious chants that greeted us around every turn, the sense of awe that we were the first westerners to visit some of these remote villages, the sense of hope and resiliency that the Kashmiris embody in the face of such a huge tragedy, these and many other images are permanently etched in our minds,
It is hard to believe, but our trip is finally over, and it is time to go back to our easy and comfortable western lives. For people in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan, the struggle goes on. Much more assistance is needed, and a donation of clothing or money to K.E.R. is a great way to show solidarity with these fellow human beings on the other side of the globe who are suffering to rebuild their lives and their homes. While the team endured much hardship along the way, we are closer friends because of it and have shared some amazing experiences that words can only begin to describe. Again, we would like to extend our gratitude to The North Face, Global Giving, and K.E.R. for making this relief effort possible. Thank you so much for staying tuned to these dispatches. Hope to meet some of you back in the states or in some other far off part of the world. Renan Ozturk and Cedar Wright
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| Previous Dispatches |
Write headline
19 Dec, 05 - 08:38
We have survived our fourth two hour drive up the icy road of death that leads to within a few kilometers of Jabri, but not without us getting out to push a few times, and enduring one close call wher
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The Summit Push
18 Dec, 05 - 06:34
As the holidays approach, our final days have taken on a sense of urgency as we try to personally complete as many of the TNF gear drops as we can, before getting snowed in to this isolated valley.
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Photo Dispatch
18 Dec, 05 - 00:37
Today the team is making the preparations for the TNF gear drop. Here are a few more images untill the more detailed dispatch this evening.. renan
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