I went to work for
the Aga Khan Maternity Homes as their Administrator in 1981 and worked
in this position until the end of 1982.
I worked for the Catholic Diocese of Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan as Diocesan
Administrator from 1983 to 1988. As I wanted to make my further career
in rural development, I went to work for the Tharparkar Rural Development
Project (TRDP), established by the Save the Children Fund UK, as Project
Manager in 1989. I remained in this job until September 1997. I resigned
my job with Save the Children in September 1997 to establish the Participatory
Village Development Programme (PVDP) in October 1997.
I am presently serving as the first President and Founder member of
PVDP.
I am a professional
development worker, with special interest in rural development of grass-roots
communities. I am also working as a freelance development consultant
and trainer for local NGOs, CBOs and Donor Organizations.
My area of
interest is the Arid Lands which are dependent on rainfall for subsistence
agriculture and livestock farming. I am working for PVDP in the Thar
Arid Zone to improve the natural resources of the communities, which
are directly linked to their livelihood. We are working to improve the
water, fodder and livestock resources and thus the living standards
of the poor and underprivileged communities in this resource poor area
of Thar. PVDP also works to improve health conditions particularly of
women and children.
Update
- October 2005
I
was in my office in Hyderabad on October 8, 2005, working as usual,
when the terrible earthquake shook up Islamabad Capital, N.W.F.P., Muzafarabad
in Kashmir and Northern Areas of Pakistan. I was totally unaware of
this incidence, when my wife rang me up from our home in Mirpurkhas
(about 70 km away from Hyderabad). She asked me if I have watched TV
that morning or heard the news to which I said 'no'. My wife was very
worried as one of our daughters lives in Lahore with her husband and
a two year old daughter. She asked me to call them up and find out if
they were safe. I rang up my daughter in Lahore (Punjab) and she told
me they were safe, but there were buildings which cracked without human
causalities. I quickly ran to the sitting room of our office and powered
on our office TV. I was horrified with what I saw. Scores of houses
raised to ground, people were crying for help, women were shedding tears
over dead bodies of their children, rescue teams were busy removing
dead and injured people. There were shocking news of many people under
the debris and there were no machinery to break the roofs and walls
which had collapsed to remove the dead bodies and injured persons. I
was terrified to hear that thousands of school children, who had gone
to school that day, were either dead or alive under tons of walls and
roofs of their schools. People who were carrying out rescue operations
were seen to be helpless as they lacked the equipment to get to these
innocent children under the collapsed school buildings.
I
was in my heart saying "God why it happened today, why could it
not happen the day after" the next day being a Sunday and schools
remain close, children normally go out to play in the open, many innocent
souls could have survived. However, I forgot that "God's ways are
not my ways".
When
the news got to our staff and community people, they started collecting
quilts for the earthquake victims. In a week's time they collected about
2000 quilts which were handed over to Church World Service, PVDP's partner
in Disaster Response Programme in Pakistan.
I
feel that Pakistan Government and International organizations must help
to rehabilitate the people who have lost almost every thing and are
still in shock. The reconstruction work should ensure that future earthquakes
if it should occur have less casualities. Lessons should be learned
from China and Japan.
Dominic
Stephen
Chairman,
Future in Our Hands Pakistan.
Note:
A branch of Future in Our Hands was established in 2005 - General Manager:
Rufin Wilson
