On Thursday, the NY Times’ posted another video story by Adam Ellick, who’s produced diverse reports on topics ranging from Pakistan’s sex toy industry to the rise of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Karachi. This time, he profiled Todd Shea, an American who came to volunteer in Pakistan after the 2005 earthquake, a disaster that killed 80,000 people. As Ellick noted in the voiceover, “he never left.” Three years ago, Shea established a “no frills” charity hospital in Kashmir called CDRS, or Comprehensive Disaster Relief Services, which provides quality healthcare services to the people in the remote and earthquake-affected areas in northwest Pakistan. CDRS’ efforts are concentrated in Chikar, one of Pakistan’s poorest and most remote villages located about 25 miles from the Indian border with a population of about 150,000 people. According to Ellick, “For decades, the community’s medical needs have been ignored by the government…”
The video [embedded below] opens with Shea singing “Dil Dil Pakistan” at a community fair, designed to teach the survivors of the earthquake the basics of proper healthcare. He doesn’t have a college degree or a medical background, but told the Times, “I’m certainly not the most qualified person to take on the task of building…in this area at least…a revolutionary healthcare system, but I’m the one who’s here.” A musician prior to his time in Pakistan, Shea indicated that he once suffered from addiction issues. Now however, he “decided to get addicted to something that was good for other people.” In fact, Shea uses music to raise awareness about CDRS and their efforts, at one point performing at MTV’s studios in Karachi with a Pakistani musician.
His story is incredibly powerful and inspirational. So far CDRS employs 38 people, although only one doctor has relocated to Chikar to work. And though Dr. Rizwan Shabir said he was surprised by Shea’s “casual” appearance when they first met, he told the NY Times, “I thought, if this person can come from America and serve our people, then why not me…”
CDRS currently runs on $170,000 a year and served over 100,000 patients in 2008. If you would like to make a donation to Todd Shea’s efforts, click here.
I watched the video last night. Adam Ellick does wonderful work.
It’s a good example of how one person can make a difference and change perceptions. Loved the scene where he crossed out “hate” and sprayed “love” as in “love USA.” However, I am not sure he should be promoting vandalism, even in graffiti-plastered Karachi!
Shehla,
That was my fave part too! Also loved the scene where he was blocking the road and was singing “Country Roads” on his guitar – too sweet!
I met Todd Shea last week when he came to speak on IDPs at the Woodrow Wilson center. I like the fact that it’s a no BS organization that was registered in Pakistan before even being registered in the US. Also, there are no frills attached to this job, which includes no profits available to be paid to US agencies.
Yes, I heard his event was great! Was he a good speaker? Here is the event summary from the Wilson Center talk you were referring to for all those who are interested:
http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=events.event_summary&event_id=537556
Here’s an interesting excerpt:
“According to Shea, 60,000-70,000 displaced women are expected to give birth in the next three months. He expressed concern about the well-being of these pregnant women, who are approaching their delivery dates in hot, crowded environments with limited nutrition and hygiene.”
And I agree Eman, I think his work is incredible because it cuts the bureaucratic red tape that many international agencies can be guilty of. His approach is about turning the funds into services and medicine to maximize its impact and reach as many people as possible.
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What an INSPIRING story!! I personally met Tod Shea right after the earthquake in Pakistan. He had invited doctors and nurses from the US to go to the most remote earthquake affected areas in the north. One of the American doctors happened to be a friend and she had asked me earlier if she could bring the whole group over to our house for breakfast before they headed out on this long and difficult journey. Mr. Shea talked about his program while eating with the rest of the group. He impressed each one of us with his determination and selfless drive. Even after all these years, this man continues to serve the less fortunate in Pakistan. How could we not admire him for “giving” while singing “Dil Dil Pakistan” and walking around Karachi replacing “Hate” with “Love”!
… although singing Dil Dil Pakistan to Kashmiris who are often not very in favour of this country won’t excite them very much. Most people especially in these areas of Kashmir (opposed perhaps to the Mirpur side) do say “I just came back from Pakistan/Will go to Pakistan” when they travel to Pindi and consider it a foreign land. To believe that Pakistani Kashmiris actually favour to be a part of Pakistan rather than be a part of India (which they equally oppose of course) or being independent is naive.
You can’t but help admire these people who come from so far to do for Pakistan what many Pakistanis themselves would balk at doing.
Greg Mortenson comes to mind as well. How very selfless…
Greg Mortenson is fantastic without a doubt. Him and Shea are supposed to be good friends (not surprising since it’s not like there’s a sea of individual Americans moving to remote areas of Pakistan to do good things…)
I really admire his frankness and sincerity. I hope people (especially Pakistanis) follow his example of selflessness and determination…
Brings tears to my eyes. We Pakistanis can learn from this and help ourselves. Thank you Kalsoom for such an uplifting blog. KP
Wow.. really cool guy :) This is the best way to make friends, and friends thus made will stay forever.
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Aww … I loved the part where changed the Hate to love. Thanks for sharing this with us Kalsoom :)
Really very inspirational, Mr. Todd God Bless you…
i worked with todd for 6 months in chikar. doctors are usually afraid of working in periphery because of tough conditions and lack of diagnostic and threapeutic facilities and they think to be posted there at periphery is just wastage of time and nothing. but the 6 months in chikar working with cdrs really changed my concepts and i was surperized when i met with todd, i think the hurdels todd face in chikar even our nationals cant bear it. most of the people in chikar are illeterate and there are alot of problems even basic needs of life are not mostly available but todd worked in that difficult area and proved that nothing is impossible in this world the only thing is determination if you are determent you can achieve your goals. many doctors came and went away but todd is still there and serving the people of AJK. i dont have words for todd to say thank you for his wounder full work in AJk. i wish him all the best
Todd you are the man god bless you god bless america .
and pakistan zindabad .
I watched Todd Shea on Capital Talk yesterday for the first time and I was impressed with what he has been doing for Pakistan.
Todd Shea is just like a brother to me. He is an amazing person…works round the clock…with total dedication…and absolute sincerity. Whenever I meet Todd, his eyes are always glittering with excitement to tell me more about his latest achievements. His countless efforts in rehabilitating disaster victims are commendable. We Pakistanis ought to get inspiration from him in serving our needy communities. We need to build more “Todds” in our country who can work with the same zeal and devotion inshaallah. May Allah SWT immensely reward Todd Shea. Ameen.
Todd shea you are a great man i must that.what you are doing in pakistan it is more then enough for us brother.you are a real man.Pakistan zindabad/USA zindabad..
How do I contact this guy?
Nabeel