Loyola Pakistan Week: Oct. 4 – 8

In between the voice mails of a woman screaming about the publication of an article about a sexual assault to someone giving us passwords to see a new online dating website, I listened to a gem of a message on the Phoenix news phone last night while performing my fun job as news editor to check the mailbox every so often.

A university worker from the marketing and communications department wanted us to cover Loyola’s Pakistan Week, which runs from Oct. 4 to Oct. 8.

An aerial view of a town surrounded by flood water as U.S. Marine Pilots from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit begin their landing approach to deliver food supplies in support of the Pakistan flood relief effort in Pano Aqil, Pakistan on September 14, 2010. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Wayne Gray/Released/DVIDSHUB/flickr.com)

Of course, we gladly accepted.

The week will feature lots of great events to raise awareness and mostly to raise funds (Funds donated to the UNICEF Pakistan relief efforts will be matched up to $150,000!!), plus it will really fall under one good bucket list goal: to donate money to a good cause, something that you are passionate about or that pulls at your heartstrings, at least once in your four years at Loyola.

On 4 August, a child sleeps on a bed surrounded by floodwater in his home in Khwas Koorona Village, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. An estimated 2.5 million of the provinces 3.5 million residents have been affected by the disaster.

The highlight of the awareness week seems like it will be the free Pakistani dinner on Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. in the Mundelein Auditorium. Of course, I’m all about free food on campus, but for this occasion I really hope that people will be generous enough to throw in some donations for the people who represent that food, people who right now are having a hard time finding the resources to even make a dinner.