One
of Pakistan’s biggest sports stars recently made an emotional
return to his homeland to see how funds he helped raise for
survivors of the 8 October earthquake last year are being put
to use.
Sohail Abbas is a superstar of world hockey. He scored a staggering
world record 274 goals in internationals for Pakistan before
he retired at the age of just 27 at the end of 2004. The Karachi-born
player has since continued at club level, playing for Rotterdam
in the Netherlands.
The Rotterdam connection led to an extraordinary fundraising
effort which saw more than €40 million (CHF 62 million/$51
million USD) collected by the Dutch fundraising coalition SHO,
which includes the Netherlands Red Cross Society.
“When the quake happened people in the Netherlands were
coming up to me asking what they could do,” said Abbas.
“I knew I had to organise something to help.”
With the support of the Rotterdam club and the Dutch national
hockey association, Abbas staged a benefit match between an
All-Star team and the Dutch national side. Abbas’s connections
helped him attract players from Spain, New Zealand, Australia,
India, Canada, Pakistan, Argentina and England for the All-Star
side.
The game, held on 26 October 2005, snowballed into a major televised
event which captured the imagination of the Dutch public and
was screened in the Netherlands, Pakistan, India and other parts
of the world.
The Netherlands Red Cross’ share of €6.3 million
has, to date, been used as part of the International Federation’s
earthquake emergency appeal for a wide variety of relief items
and activities, including medicines, emergency shelter, blankets,
hygiene kits, and medical teams.
Abbas was accompanied on his week-long visit to Pakistan by
Dutch hockey international player, Geert Jan Derikx, as well
as Netherlands television, radio and print journalists.
Speaking at a packed media conference upon his arrival in Islamabad,
hosted by the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, Abbas said the
aim of his visit was to get first hand information about the
impact of the quake on people and to see the progress being
made by the various humanitarian organisations, which the SHO
consortium had contributed funds to.
Derikx, a 25-year-old star defender for the Netherlands, said
he hoped the visit would help generate more funds by keeping
up the awareness among Dutch people of the quake operation.
“The Pakistan Red Crescent Society is doing excellent
work with the help of its Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
partners and I hope the Society will continue playing its role
to mitigate the suffering of people,” Derikx said.
The group embarked on an ambitious six-day journey into northern
Pakistan, visiting nine projects in and around Bagh, Muzzaffarabad,
Mansehra, and Balakot.
Accompanied by the Federation’s earthquake operation health
coordinator, Jos Miesen, from the Netherlands Red Cross, they
visited one of the Pakistan Red Crescent and International Federation
mobile health teams in action high in the hills above the devastated
city of Balakot.
It took a white-knuckle ride up narrow, treacherous dirt tracks
to reach the location of the mobile health clinic serving the
village of Bangia.
The medical team is one of two which have been operating in
and around Balakot since last October, while other teams are
operating in Besham and the Allai Valley. Initially, the mobile
health clinics conducted life-saving emergency first aid. Now
they provide ongoing primary health care for residents in rural
areas.
The remote village of Bangia is relying solely on the Red Cross
Red Crescent for this kind of assistance until destroyed government
health clinics can be rebuilt.
Abbas and Derikx mingled and chatted with the patients and the
Pakistan goal-scoring ace soon became the centre of attention.
Villager Ziurreham Bhaingaim noted that the effort made by Abbas
and the rest of the group to come all the way to their small
remote hamlet was highly appreciated.
“You’re the first Pakistan sports star to come and
visit us,” he told Abbas. “Everyone is very proud
that you’ve come!”
Abbas listened intently as the people of Bangia told him how
the quake had affected their community. They explained that
the mobile health clinic visits meant they didn’t have
to face an exhausting walk of several hours down into Balakot
to get medical help.
Abbas said seeing the ongoing needs of the people and the work
of humanitarian organisations such as the Red Cross Red Crescent
had motivated him to do more.
“I’d thought, after this trip, that would be it,”
he said. “But now I know there is much more to do and
anything I can do to help, I will.”
The talk with the locals soon turned to hockey. Derikx, a confident
and compassionate young man, realised he was in the minority
as debate on the merits of Dutch and Pakistan hockey flowed.
Villagers extolled the hockey virtuosity of their hero, Sohail
Abbas, and assured Derikx that Pakistan would beat the Netherlands
the next time they met.
As one local put it to the Dutch defender, “If you really
want to help us, don’t score any goals against Pakistan!”
The fundraising vision of Sohail Abbas and the enormous generosity
of the Netherlands people are resonating in far-flung villages,
such as Bangia, throughout Pakistan. The funding is proving
vital to supporting the ongoing work of organisations such as
the International Federation.
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The
arrival of Pakistan hockey legend, Sohail Abbas, attracted
big local media interest at the press conference hosted
by the Pakistan Red Crescent in Islamabad. (p14211)
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Sohail
Abbas meets Pakistan Red Crescent medical staff at the
mobile health clinic serving the remote village of Bangia.
(p14210)
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Abbas
listens intently to a local man explaining how the quake
has affected his community.(p14208)
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Dutch
hockey international, Geert Jan Derikx, listens as villagers
from Bangia chat with Sohail Abbas about the hockey merits
of Pakistan and the Netherlands. (p14209)
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