Sher Bano, the YES program alum whose previous dispatches in the New York Times are available here and here, is back with another blog post, this time tackling the difficult and emotional subject of the devastating floods affecting her home country of Pakistan.

Bano describes how the floods are directly affecting her family (“We had been informed that my grandmother and cousins were stuck on the rooftops of their houses and surrounded by several feet of flood water.”) and some of the horrific scene she has encountered (“I could see some local men taking dead bodies out of the nearby flooded houses.”).
Bano notes that there are some bright spots amongst the turmoil:

“Some NGOs, the Army, and foreign relief agencies are actively helping. The local people who survived the floods are also doing their utmost to help those affected. I myself am part of a community service group with iEARN (International Education and Resource Network).”

But, she writes, despite this, there is still a long way to go: “When people are fighting each other for food, there’s not much energy left for planning for the future.”