05/20/2009
(ht/Preeti Aroon)
Hillary, 21st Century E-diplomat texting to help People in need.
Secretary Clinton, the e-diplomat, is asking Americans to pick up their cellphones and text “swat” to 20222 to make a $5 donation that will provide (non-governmental subsidized relief) medicine, tents, food, and clothing to the astounding 1.17 million internal refugees who have fled the current fighting in Pakistan (mainly in the Swat Valley). The aid will be provided through the United Nations’ refugee agency.
Clinton made the appeal for donations while announcing that the United States will be providing $110 million in emergency aid to the refugees. Including the 555,000 Pakistanis who were displaced during fighting last August, Pakistan now has nearly 2 million internally displaced people.
You can see photos of what Pakistanis in the Swat Valley are going through in Preeti’s March photo essay: “Pakistan’s New Homeless.”
Photo (ht/): Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
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