Abdul Saboor (center right) and a doctor from The Art of Living Foundation (center left) discuss health issues with men in the camp of Bela, Balakot

'04 Alumni Turab Hassan and Abdul Saboor have continued their efforts to help those affected by the earthquake in northern Pakistan. Turab formed the idea of a service project in the region while working on a project in his community.

I was working with the World Bank during the month of Ramadan. I was helping to pack supplies to send to the areas affected by the earthquake, but that wasn't enough—I wanted to do more. My father is doctor and so I have an interest in medicine from my experience assisting him. I proposed the idea of a project with a focus on health issues to my friend Abdul and he agreed to the idea of helping to run a medical camp.

Next, I proposed the idea to those I knew at The Art of Living Foundation (AOL) and they said that they could help by arranging the camps but that we needed to raise money for supplies, especially medicines. At school, I organized some fundraisers and I also applied for a YES Alumni Mini-Grant at the iEARN office. By the end of December, everything was ready and Abdul and I joined doctors from AOL and we went to a medical camp in Bela, Balakot, where we organized and delivered supplies and helped the doctors as they worked with those at the camps.

Turab Hassan sets up garbage cans in a Bela, Balakot camp

We set up garbage cans in the camps to help promote proper sanitation. In the evenings we met with the men of the village at the camp school where we and the doctors gave workshops to the camp residents on topics such as sanitation, personal hygiene, and how to prevent epidemics. The meetings went very well and a lot of people showed interest in improving health conditions in the camp. During this trip, we experienced first-hand the current situation in the areas affected by the earthquake. We visited the nearby villages of Narra, Bela, Garlat, and Kunari to do a survey of the conditions there and we hope these observations will help us and local organizations continue to serve those affected by this natural disaster.