While giving strong affirmation to the works of the Lahore-based Iraj Education & Development Foundation (IEDF) in their good efforts in flood relief in Pakistan, when that organisation’s chairman Irshad Ahmad Mughal got in touch with the Hong Kong chapter of the Asian Forum – that was set up following the 2007 Asia-Pacific Humanist Forum meeting, in Mumbai – the opportunity was taken to clarify the New Humanist stand.

*“We deem it important to point out that the Humanist Association of Hong Kong is not geared up to offer charitable aid in any way, especially in such a huge scale of disaster,* said chairman Tony Henderson. *“However, certain experiences can be shared, it’s not that we are just standing by.”*

An instance of how this works in practical terms was given instancing Haiti where, one group got itself organised to the extent that outside help was secondary. First came that effort to co-ordinate in a selfless way and than what came from outside could be used effectively. In other places people were still fighting for all the stuff that arrived!

*“Our Indian friends in Tamil Nadu reported similar experiences after the Tsunami,”* continued Mr Henderson, *“concentrating on one area, putting into effect self-help activities, doing immediately with volunteers even if they appeared half-traumatized because it helped that they could in a direct way be of help themselves, it sort-of rescued them – money was not a criteria.

“Our central area of concern is personal change, to be able to see with a more all-encompassing eye, and reach beyond the obvious. At this moment in Pakistan what is needed is direct aid and all efforts need to go in that direction. Thus, the efforts of the IEDF are well understood. But bear in mind our fundamental aims and calling.”*

*“I agree with you,”* Irshad Ahmad Mughal, chairman IEDF replied, *“but poverty, miseries and suffering forces people to be violent. If we want people to be peaceful, we might need to do something to fulfill their basic needs, otherwise, the animal instincts of human beings dominate their reason.”*