A BRADFORD businessman has spoken about his humanitarian trip to one of the remotest areas of Pakistan, where people live “100 years in the past”.

Naveed Khan travelled to the Tharparkar area in eastern Pakistan, home to more than 1.6 million people who live among the only fertile desert in the world.

The 40-year-old, from Girlington, travelled with Bradford-based organisation Charity Right to the area for his Zakat, to provide aid to some of the poorest and neediest people in the desert region.

After flying to Karachi and then driving ten hours along mud tracks and sand dunes to reach the region, Mr Khan lived with people in the villages for three days.

While there, he donated books, chalkboards, chalk and tables for schools in the region, and also helped to build water pumps to give villages access to clean drinking water.

Mr Khan, who runs body shop EnKahnz in Listerhills, found the experience “life changing”.

He said: “The people there live in mud huts and have no electricity, gas or water, it was like living 100 years in the past.

“I lived with them to experience what life was like, and also built wells and classrooms to help them.

“They live in the middle of the desert and are totally disconnected from the outside world.

“Children are usually sent to cities to work when they are really young, so we provided school meals to give them an incentive to go to school.

“They have no reason to go to school or to learn, so we use the food to get them into schools, and we provide them with education.

“The heat was absolutely unbearable, it was like being in an oven. We built them wells so they no longer have to walk 15 kilometres to the nearest well.

“When the water spouted, it brought happiness to the faces of the children, and it helped me to appreciate life more, comparing the life of luxury we have with the utilities at our disposal which these people don’t have.”

Mr Khan also paid for medicines, treatments and ways for sick villagers to get to the nearest cities to receive medical treatment they otherwise would not have had access to.

This was not the first time Mr Khan has been on an aid trip, but was one of the most eye-opening.

“I have worked with Charity Right a lot in the past, feeding the homeless in Bradford. I have also been on aid trips to Eritrea, Sudan and to Pakistan a few times,” he added.

“This was a life changing experience, looking at how people on the other side of the world survive. We need to be more appreciative of the life we have and should try to help others instead of complaining about the smallest things.”