Those are the words of Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.
In their original form, Urdu they transliterate to:
"Jigar dareeda hoon, chaak-e-jigar ki baat suno "
He might have been writing of the floods in Pakistan, and of the world's lack of response. The American people's lack of response.
He might have been, he had not died 26 years ago in 1984. As it is he words speak to my and for my heart, and American married to a Pakistani. Poetry does that, transcending time, culture and language.
Hope for a New Dawn
My heart is torn
Hear the wounds of heart
I am stricken with grief
Listen to my being soaked with tears
My tongue is dry and unable to talk
Talk to my gaping wounds
My feet are tired
Listen to the sorrows of my journey
From the one who travels,
In the dark desert of tyranny
Listen to the hope of a new dawn
I am stricken with grief
Listen to my being soaked with tears
Hear him speak of the beauty of dawn
Listen to the hope of a new dawn
Today is my birthday. Today is more reflection for me than celebration
September 1, 2005
Jigar dareeda hoon
My heart is torn
New Orleans,LA, USA
September 1, 2010
chaak-e-jigar ki baat suno
Hear the wounds of my heart
relief camp in Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan
The United Nations has warned of imminent waterborne diseases, including typhoid fever, shigellosis and hepatitis A and E and vector-borne diseases like malaria and dengue fever
Last week was my nephew's 20th birthday. After spending long hours, for many weeks doing relief work he took a break for a single layer birthday cake with family. And he sent me this:
It is Faiz Ahmed Faiz's "Umeed-e-Sahar" (Hope for a New Dawn) set to music by the Pakistani band, Laal.
UMEED - e - SAHAR: (Hope for a new dawn)
_____________
Jigar dareeda hoon, chaak-e-jigar ki baat suno
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat suno
Alam raseeda hoon, daman-e-tar ki baat suno
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat suno
Zubaan bureeda hoon, zakhm-e-guloo sey harf karo
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat suno
Shikasta pa hoon, malaal-e-safar ki baat suno
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat suno
Musafir-e-rah-e-sehra-e-zulmat-e-shab se
Ab iltafat-e-nigar-e-sahar ki baat suno
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat
____________________
TRANSLATION IN ENGLISH:
____________________
My heart is torn
Hear the wounds of my heart
listen to the hope of new dawn
I'm stricken with grief
listen to my being soaked with tears
listen to the hope of new dawn
My tongue is dry I'm unable to talk
talk to my gaping wounds
listen to the hope of new dawn
My feet are tired
Listen to the sorrow of my journey
Listen to the hope of new dawn
from the one who travels in the dark desert of tyranny
hear him speak of the beauty of dawn
hope of a new dawn
As I have gone through news stories and pictures, reading updates and accounts, writing my dairies in a small, and hopefully successful attempt to get people to see that Pakistanis are no different then they are, my feelings are spoken in this poem and this music.
Sept 1, 2005
Alam raseeda hoon
I'm stricken with grief
New Orleans
September 1, 2010
daman-e-tar ki baat suno
listen to my being soaked with tears
Makli, Sindh, Pakistan
A month after torrential monsoon rains triggered Pakistan's worst natural disaster on record, flood waters are starting to recede - but there are countless survivors at risk of death from hunger and disease. - Reuters
August - September 2010
Zubaan bureeda hoon,
zakhm-e-guloo sey harf karo
My tongue is dry I'm unable to talk
talk to my gaping wounds
United States
If you scroll back up and really look at that video you will see two kids playing Miss Mary Mac, two guys caught in the traffic jam looking at a girl, a husband and a wife arguing in a car, people irritated with the traffic jam, and a son's love for his mother and her love for him.
Shared experiences, that are felt by both Pakistani and American alike.
These are people, just like you and me. Most carry no political or religious agenda save making their prayers, and they fall in the great middle between the two smaller bookends. Bookends that many use to paint them with.
They are just trying to survive, with the modest hope of being content.
They are one of the non-Iraqi, non-Afghani populations that have also borne the brunt of the war on terror.
If my niece had been a minute faster on her way to school, she would have been caught in a terrorists bomb.
My brother-in-law, nephews and other family members mourned friends killed by terrorists a few months back.
Now they, my niece, nephew, my husband's cousins, my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and many others, work long days, in the midst of heat, horrid conditions and flies, to bring relief to those who are suffering, victims of the flood.
The may also be among the first populations to bare the brunt of disasters caused by Climate Change. Before this much heavier than normal monsoon, record highs of 129dF were being reached in Pakistan. There are some predictions that these heavy storms will become the norm, not the 100 year exception.
"We are expecting heavier monsoons due to climate change - all the models show that," he [Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Re's Geo Risks Research Unit.] told Deutsche Welle. "There are serious problems with increasing amounts of rainfall. There are times when it just doesn't stop raining."
Deutsche Welle
What seems wholly unfair is that Pakistan, like other 3rd world/developing countries were not the drivers of climate change. But they are the victim being tossed by the side of the road as one of the world's biggest contributors to climate change, commits a hit and run by it's indifference.
We were also told by those scientists studying climate change and those studying the possible social and economic effects of climate change, that these disasters would be multi-pronged.
A another wave of disease is about to become a serious problem. Soon there will be an explosion in the mosquito population as the receding water has left standing water in destroyed buildings, flooded vehicles, pots and pans, etc. that were carried along the current, filled and now make an ideal home for mosquito larvae.
There were already had the "normal" issues survivors of any natural disaster face:
starvation
dehydration
stress
Then because it's a flood and not just "a" flood but one that displaced over a million people water borne illnesses are added to list of what a survivor may also need to over come:
Cholera
Gastroenteritis
Measles
Typhoid
Shigellosis
Hepatitis A and E
other water borne disease
It is still hot in Pakistan 104dF in some places. Mosquitoes are out and finding new nurseries for their children. As the water recedes there will be more standing water on the floors and nooks of destroyed buildings, pots and pans and bowls and what ever else the flood waters took and pushed and filled and then left, even in flooded and destroy cars. So add to that list of "it's not just about surviving the flood, it's about surviving the afterward:
Malaria
Dengue Fever
other vector (mosquito borne) diseases
It is still warm in Pakistan ... blazing hot in some places, so mosquito are still active getting blood meals. I know this is in the back of many minds in Pakistan, though you haven't heard much about it . . . yet Though with the almost virtual media news trickle and blackout this third or fourth punch may never get reported in the news.
Bodies already weakened by the stress of the flood, water borne disease, hunger, etc. may not be able to fight these diseases, some already coming with a high mortality rate.
A week after we came back from Pakistan I had either a very weak form of malaria or a disease that mimicked some of the symptoms ... profuse sweating, fevers, cold and joint pain but not all the symptoms
In the first week of the illness I was tested and doctors wondered if there might have been something wrong with the prophylactic treatment I had been taking (because I always took my medicine) . . . most began thinking I had contracted malaria, though the tests came back negative.... after being knocked on my butt for a month due to this I was fine and the symptoms have never resurfaced.
But that little taste and I can tell you, no one should go through it.
- my letter to the members of the Help Pakistan Dailykos group, August 30, 2010
September 1, 2010
Shikasta pa hoon
malaal-e-safar ki baat suno
My feet are tired
Listen to the sorrow of my journey
Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan
"Everything is lost, I'm left with nothing."
Those are the words of 80-year-old Gul Shirin, an elder who has just watched his whole life swept away before his eyes in a wall of filthy water. He sits amid thirteen brand-new graves: one each for his wife, one daughter, three sons, two daughters-in-law, five grandchildren, and his daughter's mother-in-law. Only two other family members - each a child under age three - survived. Six cows are dead. He and two tiny grandchildren are all that remain of his eight decades of life.
- Aji
September 1, 2010
Musafir-e-rah-e-sehra-e-zulmat-e-shab se
from the one who travels in the
dark desert of tyranny
Relief camp managed by Pakistan's Marines,
Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan
September 1, 2010
Ab iltafat-e-nigar-e-sahar ki baat suno
hear him speak of the beauty of dawn
Sukkur, Sindh, Pakistan
This isn't about religion or politics, those things can wait until after this crisis is over and people's lives restored. It's about humanity, theirs . . . and ours.
A few days ago bubbanomics pledge his birthday money to Pakistan Relief. He promised to match donations made in his diary. I was warmed and heartened.
Others have also pledged to match in other diaries.
Sadly I am not of the means to do that. Today my birthday money will go to Pakistan relief. I'm not the first kossak to do this, others before me have done this as well. And they have brought me to tears.
The people of Pakistan need our help.
8 million homeless or displaced.
3.5 million children at risk of water-borne disease
All are at risk of vector borne diseases
$5 from you can save a life.
Today is my birthday. I won't be spending it partying.
Today I'm asking you to help.
Umeed-e-sahar ki baat
hope for a new dawn
In the early days we focused on organization that gave direct support. That list is here:
• • • • • •
Greg (Three Cups of Tea, Stones Into Schools) Mortenson's non-profit (CAI) recommends supporting a local (Pakistani) groups to which donations will likely have a large, immediate, and lasting impact-
Human Development Foundation
http://www.hdf.com
(800) 705 1310
DONATE
• • • • • •
Doctors without Borders (MSF):
DONATE
Shelterbox
DONATE
Mercy Corps:
DONATE
OXFAM:
DONATE
Islamicrelief
DONATE
UNICEF:
DONATE
Toll free: 1-800-FOR-KIDS (1-800-367-5437)
Text: "Text FLOODS to 864233 (UNICEF) to donate $10"
Shelterbox:
DONATE
ShelterBox tents in Shishkat upper Hunza, Pakistan
• • • • • •
From the US State dept.
How You Can Help:
Text "FLOOD" to 27722. Your $10 will go to the State Department Fund for Pakistan Relief that Secretary Clinton announced August 19, and is part of a new effort to bring attention to the need for aid.
Text "SWAT" to 50555 ; $10 goes to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees fund for flood victims
• • • • • •
list of other NGOs can be found under the tip jar
• • • • • •
We are looking at what may be the worst humanitarian crisis the world has seen in a century, and the worst Climate Change disaster yet.
Some of us at Daily Kos use a Google group to help organize for the crisis in Pakistan. Anyone who would like to get involved or get alerts when a new HELP PAKISTAN diary is posted, please join
( CLICK THE PIC )