WESTPORT,Conn. (5 August 2009) — As many of the 2.3 million internally-displaced
people in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province begin to return home, Save the Children is moving with them. "Children and their families are relieved to be able to return to
their homes, but their difficulties are far from over," said Ned Olney, Save the Children's vice president for global humanitarian response. "They are arriving to find a lack of
services, ongoing security issues, and the reality that they must rebuild their lives after losing crops, livestock, and other means of income. He added, "Our commitment to ongoing
support begins with bringing health services into returning communities and offering children a chance to be children again after experiencing the hardships of flight, refugee living, and
return."
Reaching Thousands of Returning Families
Save the Children is reaching returning families with three mobile health teams and four mobile Child Friendly Spaces (busses
equipped with games, toys, and arts and crafts) in communities in Buner district, where over 9,000 families, or approximately 63,000 people, recently returned home. The recent conflict in
North West Frontier Province led to the mass exodus of residents from Swat, Buner, and Dir districts to safer districts to the south. Now that the military has cleared most areas of Taliban
insurgents, the return process has begun. Over the last three weeks, more than 600,000 people have left the camps and crowded conditions with host families behind, eager to return to their homes. Unfortunately, for some, the return home may not be so sweet. Many homes have been looted, schools have been damaged or destroyed, and health facilities lack both staff and equipment. Due to
the tense security situation, there are few safe places for children to play.
In the past week, the mobile Child Friendly Spaces have given 1,250 returning children a few hours a day to enjoy
games and sports with their friends. In the past three weeks, the mobile health teams have reached more than 3,300 returnee patients in remote communities with health exams and treatment. Save the Children also continues to help families who cannot yet return home due to continuing conflict in their communities. Since the relief effort began in May, Save the Children has
reached an estimated 274,000 people – including approximately 164,000 children – with emergency health care, relief goods, food, education, and child protection programs. In the coming
weeks, the agency will expand these programs into Swat and Buner to meet the needs of the tens of thousands of families who are returning home. Save the Children has been working in Pakistan
for three decades and is focused on assisting displaced families living in remote, scattered villages in the North West Frontier Province, where few other agencies provide support.
With your supportSave the Children needs your support to help meet the most critical needs of children and families who fled violence in Pakistan. Your donation will help provide
services and necessities to those families who remain displaced and to those seeking to return home to rebuild their lives. If you would like to donate to Save the Children please select
your national organisation from the list below, or visit Save the Children US Website. Your donation
will help provide drinking water, food distribution and other necessities.
Select Country Australia Canada Denmark Germany New Zealand Norway Sweden UK USA
More information
Please contact Tanya Weinberg, (+1 202 640 6647) Manager, Media and Communications, Save the Children US
for media enquiries.
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Forensic workers stand next to the slain body of a man at a crime scene in the border city of Ciudad Juarez August 4, 2009. Mexican drug gangs are killing rivals ...
