Topic: news blog

24. Flood Blog by Ar. Yasmeen Lari - Food Dehydration Platforms

KARACHI
The more I think about the condition of millions now left to fend for themselves the greater I feel a sense of despondency. After a frenzy of fund raising and ration distribution there is a pall in all activities. I am told donor fatigue has set in.
I think it is also because everybody feels that they have done their bit for charity and the helpless millions are not their responsibility any way. The fact is that if you follow the usual path of charity, there is only so much anybody could do and eventually the state has to take on the responsibility.
Another fact however, is that all state organs seem to be absent from the depths of rural Sindh. In such a case, and it is not something that has not been clear for some time, that state institutions are not really engaged in welfare of the poor, would it not be appropriate for some of us who have an understanding of the vulnerable condition of the abandoned communities that we need to work on methodologies to see how we could help them survive.

View the file

23. Flood Blog by Ar. Yasmeen Lari - Basic learnings

KARACHI
Introduction
The first group of Climate Volunteers that arrived from Vienna Technical University, Vienna and University of Lahore, Lahore did a fremarkable job of interacting with the villagers in the Pono Villagee group of 13 villages that are on their way of full recovery after the floods.
While resising in the village in the first week of December, they have managed to co build a school room. They also made a gift of a monitor and a solar panel to faciliate learning in the school.
The school room has replaced a makeshift class room where some classes were being conducted. Educationist AFroza Bhamani, Director of Heritage Foundation and owner The Hampton School, has trained four young people from the village into teaching the basics to village children.

View the file

22. Flood Blog by Ar Yasmeen Lari - Scaling up Fish farming

KARACHI
I am picking up the flood thread again as I am back in Karachi during vacation. Much has happened where Heritage Foundation teams have worked hard to make 1,000 households as close to self-sufficiency as possible.
Based on the success of the Fish Farming village Kewal Goth which has been successful in making a success of fish farming in much neglected pond close to their village. The success is phenomenal. Beginning with literally nothing in the first week of October -- when they were provided some basic training due to the good office of Project Manager Naheem Shah by identifying a fish expert in the area. The process was begun with little hope of success, as hardly an attempt had been made in the past to use the much-neglected ponds in a fruitful manner.

View the file

21. Flood Blog by Ar. Yasmeen Lari - First Climate Volunteers - 15 December 2022

KARACHI

I am happy to report the visit of the first team of Climate Volunteers. On 30 November 10 students and 2 faculty members from Vienna Technical University and another 9 students and 3 faculty members from University of Lahore arrived  in Karachi.

They were taken to the Pono Hospitality village to spend 6 days in working with close collaboration with village communities.

Many activities happened during the eventful days in the midst of the flood  affected area.

Pono Hospitality village is part of the pilot consisting of 13 villages and 1,000 households that has been taken up by Heritage Foundation to demonstrate how application of BASA Barefoot Social Architecture holistic approach can transform lives of people within a short period of time and at an extraordinary low cost.

The two teams worked jointly on various aspects. While they conducted research on various aspects, they also built a school room in collaboration with the community, designed some interesting bamboo furniture for the guest cottages, and also participated in a festival that had been arranged to market barefoot goods to surrounding communities and indeed among the 13 villages themselves.

View the file

Pakistan Flood 2022 - 1 million Households, Building Sustainable Communities Immediate Recovery/Rehabilitation

Heritage Foundation and the Bank of Punjab hosted a press conference at a five-star hotel, to throw light on Heritage Foundation’s endeavours for a Zero-Carbon Alternative Model to build sustainable communities and rehabilitate one million households. The media showed up in large numbers for the conference. With Arif Bahalim performing the duties of MC, the speakers included Prof. Yasmeen Lari, CEO Heritage Foundation Pakistan, Dani and Ramu from Pono Colony Village Mirpurkhas, Safeeyah Moosa, CEO Spiritual Chords/Dadabhoy Foundation and Zafar Masud, CEO Bank of Punjab.

Architect Yasmeen Lari wins Japan's Fukuoka Prize

View the file