Weather Report Article

There have been some interesting weather patterns throughout Pakistan recently. But the main story has been the sandstorm that covered all 10,200 square miles of the Cholistan Desert. Some families have had to deal with the sand covering tobas and animals and family members blowing away in the harsh winds. We interviewed two residents of the Cholistan Desert. Shabanu and Dalil Abassi. Here are some things that happened during the sandstorm according to Shabanu:

“The night that the [sandstorm] happened, I was sleeping and my sister, Phulan woke me up. I thought that my skin [because of the sand], was being pierced by a thousand needles.” The storm’s high winds prevented Shabanu from seeing anything until the winds subsided. Her luck didn’t turn out very well.

“We found that our camel, Mithoo, Sher-Dil, our dog and my grandfather were all gone. The storm injured Shabanu’s grandfather fatally, but he was found alive under sand. He survived for a few days. He died in his sleep. After talking to Shabanu, we interviewed Dalil Abassi, Shabanu’s father. It was a very scary moment for him because he was the head of the family. He had to make sure that everyone was safe.

“When the storm hit, I was very scared. Not for me, but for my family. I didn’t want anything to happen to them.” They stayed inside and waited out the storm. Somehow, Dalil’s father blew away. “I was very scared [for my father], but I knew Allah would save him.”

We also talked to Dalil about his other daughter, Phulan’s wedding. “I wasn’t worried that the storm would hurt the wedding. “I knew that Phulan wanted this very much, and I knew she would do to what she had to do [to make the wedding happen]. Lets all send Shabanu and her family our best wishes.