Just when world boxing champion Amir Khan was holding a charity event in Karachi raising funds to drill water wells in Sindh’s dry and drought-affected Tharparkarregion, Shahid Afridi Foundation took no time and punch in its support by announcing a donation of Rs.1 million to fight the crisis.
“Shahid Afridi Foundation (SAF) understands the need and the urgency for clean drinking water because, in parched and underdeveloped regions of interior Sindh & KPK province, SAF itself has also been diligently working to overcome the challenge,” the organization said in a statement.
There’s an acute water shortage in parts of Pakistan which is causing an alarmingly high number of deaths in remote villages here. Most of these deaths go unreported.
Water is a basic human need, lack of which causes death faster than lack of food. Every day nearly a billion people don’t have the option to turn on the tap if they’re thirsty; there isn’t a tap available. Most people have to travel long distances to the closest water source whether it’s a well, pond, stream, or puddle. Around the world 200 million work hours are spent every day collecting water. Precious time is wasted…time equivalent to what’s needed to build 28 Empire State Buildings EVERY DAY!
Yet, on an average, a five-minute shower by someone in a developed country uses more water a family in a developing country’s slum uses for an entire day…in fact 3 times more.
Both Shahid Afridi and boxer Amir Khan have actively been using their star-power to generate funds for the underprivileged. They seem desirous to pay back to the country as a gesture of thanks to their nation as well as to the Almighty.
Some villages where Shahid Afridi Foundation is working, are: Doli Banda, Boraka – Teen Talaab, Doli Panda (Reservoir Tank system), Jarma (3 Hand Pumps), Doda, Chambai, Bama (2 projects) and many more.
