Status update of tent village

Setup
- The tent village is operational since 1st December, 2005
- Location: Neelay Pair, Abbotabad (situated on the main Abbotabad-Mansehra road)
- Total area available for the tent village is around 70 Kanals

Operations
- 12 staff members headed by an administrator are employed to run village affairs
- Representatives of UNHCR, MSF and OXFAM are in constant touch with village administration

Impact
- Tent village population: Jan 5, 2006 = 405 people (65 families); Feb 4, 2006 = 100 families
- Current capacity is for 100 families that can be extended to 200 families, if need arises
- Each family is provided with one family tent and an additional courtyard of 8 ft to 10 ft with Plastic sheet cover for privacy.
- Demographic distribution of families:
Allai = 59 families
Batgram = 19 families
Balakot = 11 families
Abbotabad = 6 families
Muzaffarabad = 5 families

Following is provided as per family requirements.
- Warm Clothes, Sweaters, Jackets, Shoes
- Complete Bedding, Blankets
- Gas Cylinder (One for each family)
- food items, soup and other daily commodities on weekly basis
- A school has been started in the village. Four female teachers are employed at the tent school.
- Books, stationary and toys were also distributed amongst the children.
- A dispensary is working in the tent village for medical care of the residents.
- Light is provided in each tent using a 15KVA generator

Facilities
Administration Office = two rooms
Residential area = 100 Tents
Dispensary = One Hospital Size Tent
Mosque = One Mosque Size Tent
School = Four Classroom Tents
Store = One Hall
Toilets = 12 (Made of Iron Sheets; OXFAM has committed to construct 20 more toilets).

Distribution of collected funds

We have exceeded our target of collecting $70,000 for the tent village!! So far $74,106 has been commited for this cause! To this date, an amount of $53,106 has been disbursed, while $21,000 is pledged. The following charts show the distrbution of the collected funds.

Project status after fund raising dinner

The fund raising dinner on November 19th had an amazing success! Our target of $100,000 was met!! Yes --- hundred thousand dollars! These funds were collected for adopt-a-tent-village program, adopt-a-school program and for Islamic Relief. The amount donated for the adopt-a-tent-village is at least $39,000. We need to follow up on few of the pledges and this amount may slightly increase.

Congratulations to every one who worked hard to make this project a success!

Project proposal for adopt-a-tent-village

We now have a complete project proposal for adopt-a-tent-village initiative provided to us by the Helping Hand. The project proposal is submitted to the Helping Hand (ICNA relief) by one of its partner organization working on grounds in the earthquake affected area. The proposal also lists the budget breakdown for the project. At a higher level the cost breakdown is as follows:

Set up cost: $78,877
Operational cost: $21,033
Administration cost: $1053
Total cost: $ 100,962

Breakdown of setup cost is as follows. For a detailed breakdown please email me.
Total Setup Cost: $78877
A: Accommodation & Infrastructure $36902
B: Clothing $24583
C: Schooling $1519
D: Health Care (Hospital) $610
E: Bath & Washing $2108
F: Kitchen Accessories $1788
G: Appliances $11367

Our commitment is to pay $70,000 for this project. Helping Hand will arrange the remaining amount from other sources.

Other details of the project are as follows.

Project Title
Tent Village for Earthquake Affectees of Tehsil Balakot

Beneficiaries
About 700 earthquake Affectees
29 Staff members

Need of the Project
Most of the houses in Tehsil Balakot of District Mansehra have demolished. Roads are inundated and all communication channels disrupted. Due to severe cold, raining and expected snowfall, it is not possible for the inhabitants of Tehsil Balakot to survive in their own localities. Most of them are moving for shelter to comparatively plain areas of district Mansehra, Haripur and Abbotabad.

The basic aim of this project is to set up a Tent Village (Support Center) that will provide temporary shelter to the earthquake affectees of Tehsil Balakot.

Structure & Working Model
- A land area of about 55000 Sq ft will be acquired for the Tent Village
- 100 families will be accommodated in the tent village
- The residents will be provided free boarding, food and medication while children will be offered free schooling
- Visits of Specialist Doctors will be arranged on regular basis
- An administrator will run the village and will be responsible for all its affairs

Outline of Working Plan
- Arranging location for the village
- Installation of Tents and construction of other infrastructure including School, hospital, store, toilets and bathrooms
- School, hospital, kitchen, store, toilets will be made of iron sheet and iron rods
- Purchasing necessary items/appliances for the project
- Recruiting staff for the village
- Training staff for efficient working of the project
- AKF relief centers and mobile relief teams operational in District Mansehra will refer families to the tent village for shelter
- Starting allotment of tents to the most needy families and scrutiny of the registered families
- Start functioning of the village
- Documenting all the affairs at the village
- Preparing Quarterly reports of the tent village
- Reporting regularly to the partner organization

Monitoring and Evaluation
- A tent village committee comprising of the local office bearers of AKF, village management, representatives from the village community and local philanthropists will be formed to take care the affairs of the tent village
- A “Supervisor” will be employed for management and running of the village
- Al-Khidmat Foundation NWFP will be responsible for overall management and running of this project. Officials of Al-Khidmat Foundation will visit the village on regular basis to monitor the activities
- A comprehensive “Report layout” for the evaluation will be designed

Success of art sale!

Art sale is having a great success so far. All the art is ‘locally’ made and is produced by Microsoft employees and their spouses. Also, some of the Microsoft employees donated new carpets as donations. These carpets are also for sale and the proceedings will be allocated to the adopt-a-tent-village program.

The hard work of the last 2-3 weeks is paying off! During the dinner arranged by Pakistani Association of Greater Seattle on 11th November, the sales generated $920. Also, during the Interfaith dinner the sales generated around $2000. Hence, so far we have collected approximately $3000 through these sales as donation for the program!

Art Sale to raise funds

One of the events planned to generate the required funds for adopt-a-tent-village initiative is the art sale. Many ladies are donating their art work to be sold in upcoming dinners. All the proceeding will be used to support the adopt-a-tent-village program. In fact, most of the ladies are making new art to support the cause!! If you feel that you can contribute too (or know someone who will be willing to contribute) please contact asadk for details.

Dinners, during which art will be displayed for sale:

When: 11th Nov, Friday, 7:00 pm
Where: North Shore Senior Center, 10201 E Riverside Dr, Bothell, WA 9801;
Organizers: Pakistan Association of Greater Seattle (http://www.PakistanSeattle.com)
Tickets: $12.00 Adults; $6.00 Children (5-10 years old)
Contact (for tickets): Salmanz

When: 13th Nov, Sunday
Where: Marriott, Redmond Town Center, Redmond, WA
Tickets: $30
Contact (for tickets): Salmanz

When: 19th Nov, Saturday, 6:30 pm
Where: Rosehill Elementary School, 8044 128th Ave, NE, Kirkland, WA 98033
Tickets: $25 (Univ of Washington students and local community college students: $10)
Organizers: Microsoft Employees South Asia Earthquake Campaign Team
Contact (for tickets): Salmanz, Adnanb

Introduction to Microsoft employees adopt-a-tent-village program

Pakistan was hit by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake on October 8, 2005. There are about 50K+ confirmed deaths and some organizations claim that the toll is 80K! Even worse news are that many cities and villages are completely demolished and more than 3 million people are homeless now. With winter arriving soon, UN and it’s sister organizations have appealed to the world to help the victims otherwise a second massive wave of deaths may follow. Similarly, according to UNICEF, more than 10,000 children could die in coming weeks.

So what we can do about this?

Microsoft employees have started an encouraging effort to save as many lives as possible! They are sponsoring a tent village for 1000 people! As construction of permanent homes is going to take a long time, tent village will provide the best intermediate solution. Later on, the project may be extended and converted into a permanent village based on employee participation.

A tent village includes at least 200 tents (with an average family size of 5 per tent), a school, a clinic, one big community kitchen, toilets, a water tank, a mosque and a vocational (skills) training center.

Organization Summary

Tent village will be implemented by a non-profit [501 (c) 3] organization, Helping Hand, Jamaica, NY, USA (Tax ID: 31-1628040). It is a global humanitarian relief and development organization responding to human sufferings in emergency and disaster situations anywhere in the world. They have strong presence in the disaster area and also work with their partner organizations to reach out more people. For details please visit: http://www.helpinghandonline.org.

Plan

The estimated cost of setting up a 200 tent village is $70,000. Given that Microsoft will match, we need to raise $35,000. Our plan is to get 100 participants with an approximate cost of $350 per employee, which is less than a dollar-a-day if spread over one year. The contributions can be made one-time or on a per month basis with auto-deduction. Also, contribution of any smaller amounts will also be appreciated!

If you sponsor this project, please either pay online or write a check to: Helping Hand, 16626, 89th Avenue, Jamaica, NY 11432, USA. Please mention the intent as “Microsoft Employee Tent-Village” and also send an email to razaulm so we can keep a count of sponsorship. Do not forget to match your donation using Microsoft's give website!

Disclaimer: This project is solely funded by Microsoft employees and has no endorsement by or affiliation to Microsoft Corporation [ so far :-) ].