“I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw gallons of water continuously rising". Read Abbu's story of the #PKfloods Camp is home, till we return… “I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw gallons of water accumulated in the surrounding area and it was continuously rising. That had never happened to us before,” says 35-year-old Abbu. A father of seven children, Abbu is from the flood-affected Tandobago area of Badin district in Sindh, Pakistan. Out of 6.8 million affected by the floods in Pakistan, Badin alone has 1.8 million. Abbu moved out of the flooded area along with his wife and children and 15 other families of his relatives to a Plan Camp in Makli, Thatta district. Before the floods, Abbu owned a mud hut and worked as a peasant on a farm owned by a local landlord. Life for my amily wasn’t very comfortable but things were not so bad either, he says. Badin was flooded during the first spell of heavy rains in the middle of August. Breaches in one of the two major drains cutting across Badin further exacerbated the situation. Flood waters inundated Abbu’s 15 acres of cotton fields and four fields of chilies. His crops were completely destroyed just when they were ready to be harvested. Abbu’s house, however, survived the first bout of rains. Despite the damage to his crops, he decided to stay on with his family and thought the worst was over. Soon, the second spell of rains arrived in the first week of September. Abbu and his family were warned by local authorities many times to evacuate the area but they didn’t pay heed to warnings as they still believed it would not get any worse. “As far as even our elders can recall, there has never been a history of floods of this scale in our area,” says Abbu. However, the breach in the drain in Badin rapidly flooded the area where Abbu lived. “The water level was continuously rising, and we had to leave everything behind and finally move out of the area to save our lives,” he says. Abbu’s house was completely flooded. The only assets he could save were his livestock comprising 20 goats and 12 cows. With the water-levels rising fast, Abbu and his family had to evacuate at midnight. They had no choice but to escape on foot. They walked for miles before they reached a main road which was on higher ground, safe from the flood water. Government trucks came to their rescue and transported them to Makli Thatta where Plan Pakistan has set up camps for families displaced by floods. “Our children were hungry and we had no shelter from rain. Here we are getting food to eat and the camp has protected us from rain,” says Abbu. The shelter camp in Thatta is catering to 4000 internally displaced persons from Badin. The camp has 100 tents, each covering an area of 625 square-feet. The organisation has also created four child friendly spaces for children where they can play with each other and be themselves in a safe environment. These spaces aim to support children in coping with stress and anxiety caused by disasters and emergencies. These facilities are currently being used by over 200 children, including105 girls. “In my village my daughters never went to school as there were no teachers, here in the camp school they are attending classes regularly,” says Abbu. His 7-year-old daughter Ayesha says, “I didn’t know what a school and a class was like but now I can tell you about it. But I know this is only for a short period of time and once we return to our village I won’t have anywhere to learn.” Abbu and his family are now waiting to return to their village. “We hope that once the water recedes we will go back to our area and build our houses and look for livelihood opportunities. There is no fodder for our cattle and that’s making it difficult for us to save them from hunger. Until we are able to return, Plan camp is our home,” says Abbu.