Islamabad, May 4 (INP): As part of relief assistance and goodwill gesture by the people of Japan to respond to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan, an international Japanese NGO, KnK (Kokkyo naki Kodomotachi, Children without Borders) has stepped forward to provide emergency support to the deserving families in Mansehra, which is one of the most seriously COVID-19 affected districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) after Peshawar and Mardan.

This emergency support, provided by KnK on behalf of the Japanese people, has a scale of JPY 711,500 (ca. PKR 1,077,500) and 165 families in target villages of Haripur district have been provided with one-month food package along with sanitation kits.

Besides providing financial support to the vulnerable families in targeted areas, KnK has initiated a hygiene awareness campaign among the village communities to sensitize them about the threat of COVID-19 virus and also sanitized houses, roads and mosques in the area. School children were also trained on how to better protect themselves from the corona virus like practicing hand wash regularly which is an easiest safety precaution against this invisible enemy.

To better equip the medical staff fighting the COVID-19 as a frontline force, KnK also provided Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and other necessary medical equipment through a local Pakistani NGO Friends Welfare Association to three hospitals where corona virus patients are being treated.

There is no doubt that the Medical Staff fighting against the deadly COVID-19 virus is the front-line force and without whom fight against this pandemic can never be won.

While expressing his views on the relief assistance being provided by the Japanese NGO KnK, H.E. MATSUDA Kuninori, Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan has said that all of this emergency support is funded by personal donations from the people of Japan for the people of Pakistan in this difficult time.

“This support shows the longstanding friendship between Japan and Pakistan as well as the strong will to stand by those in need to fight against COVID-19. I believe that such good-will gestures will continue in the future” emphatically said the Ambassador.

It is pertinent to mention here that earlier this month another international Japanese NGO AAR-Japan has distributed relief assistance such as food packages and hygiene kits in the targeted areas of Mansehra district to help and support the vulnerable families after the outbreak of COVID-19.

KnK has been supporting the vulnerable people in Pakistan since 2005. The latest project of KnK is the grant aid support of the government of Japan, "The Project for Promoting Girls Education Through Improved Learning Environment in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" from 2017. 

Friends Welfare Association is proceeding with "The Project for Construction of Primary & Middle School in Village Toheedabad, UC Bartooni, Torghar District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa" in 2019 with the grant aid support of the government of Japan.

INP/JAVED