I showed my blog to two other VSOs over Christmas, and they were rather surprised at how much I write. So clarity and precision are going to be my watchwords, but starting from next week, as rather a lot has happened what with Eid and Christmas and the awful events of the last few days. Plus I can’t really go outside at the moment so what else have I got to do but write?! (well, and clean the house but we all know how exciting that is.)
So, I’ll start with after I left off last time. Exciting / scary occurrence number 1: there was an earthquake. I was woken up in the middle of the night and my bed was shaking, and there was a weird noise. I can’t remember now exactly what the noise was like as I was half asleep. So I’ve now decided to do something about the 3 stiff doors between me and the outside world. But people didn’t mention it in the office the next day. Exciting occurrence number 2: Corry and I went in to the bazaar in Mansehra by ourselves! Actually it wasn’t scary at all – people were very friendly, and I did some haggling in Urdu. I think I was still ripped off, but not completely ripped off as I bought the price down by at least 100R (about 1 pound).
Exciting occurrence number 3: Eid! This is the festival that celebrates Ibrahim’s (Abraham’s) willingness to sacrifice his son, and it is one of the biggest festivals in the Muslim calendar. Many families sacrifice an animal and distribute the meat to the poor to commemorate this. We were invited to celebrate this with two families. I felt a little bit ill when I woke up in the morning, and when I had a shower I heard an odd noise. I didn’t feel any better when Corry told me that the family below had just killed a cow just behind the house, and she had witnessed the whole thing. Another family were obviously just about to do the same, and Corry very kindly invited me to watch from her balcony, but I firmly refused and made good my escape into my room. I was just texting the Director to make my excuses to say I wouldn’t be able to come to witness their sacrifice when his children came round, so I was persuaded. But I hid in their house with most of his family when the goat was sacrificed, and then spent a fun morning with the kids. For lunch we were invited to another MIED staff member’s house, who didn’t live in the township. We had to drive and then walk past remains of various animals. But I felt very privileged to be able to celebrate this festival with his family – it was a very large and friendly family they had many beautiful children. People are so hospitable – they wanted us to stay the night. But in the evening we were invited round to the director’s for dinner again. He has decided against eating chicken, so we had yak meat instead. Definitely another first. I think they ate the goat for lunch. All in all it was a very interesting day, and I learnt a lot more about Eid. The importance isn’t in the sacrifice of the animals, but in the symbolic willingness to sacrifice things that you want for what is truly important.
The day after Eid we travelled down to Lahore for Christmas. It was about an eight hour bus journey. Thank goodness the motorways are good and I wasn’t sick, but it was still quite painful. I’m not as young as I once was and my poor legs suffered. But it was great getting into Lahore. The first thing I noticed was that many women didn’t have their heads covered. And Lahore has a completely different lifestyle to Mansehra – the city comes alive at night (though actually it is alive during the day as well) and most people don’t go to bed til the small hours. This is in stark contrast to Mansehra where there is very little to do in the evenings. And it was warm!
The first day we were in Lahore most things were closed due to Eid. But a colleague of Mary’s (the volunteer we stayed with in Lahore) drove us round, so we saw the Badshahi mosque from the outside and Kim’s gun. But what was very exciting was that I bought a violin! It was quite a random experience. We drove into what was apparently the red light district of Lahore and in the midst of all the people, animals, mud, cats cradle of electricity wires and traffic there were some shops full of musical instruments - mainly guitars, drums and sitars. But one guy had this violin on which I started playing Christmas carols. After a bit of haggling (not done by me I have to say) I was able to buy it and a fab case for about 60 pounds – bargain! It is not the best violin (!) but it makes quite a nice sound, so I am happy. Corry is less so, I think, but she says that she doesn’t really mind (I hope).
Anyway, the next day I was ill. I have to admit that the thought did cross my mind that I had bird flu, as I had a temperature, but I obviously didn’t. It was a bit of a pain though as I was ill for the next 2 days and missed out on visiting the Badshahi mosque and other things. But I was better on Christmas day, which was definitely an unusual experience. First, I didn’t have chocolate during the whole day (but we did have singing fairy lights, so we were able to sing ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ along with the fairy lights). Second, I had a tour of a butter factory. We were invited to lunch with a colleague of Mary’s. The family live above their butter factory, so we had a tour before lunch. Lunch was a bit embarrassing because the mother had obviously gone to a lot of effort to prepare the meal for us, but I couldn’t eat anything more than a bit of rice. They were so friendly, and didn’t want us to leave….. and didn’t want us to leave…. but I was feeling very tired after being ill, and we explained that to them so we thought they were taking us home. But they actually took us to another uncle’s house, who was a doctor – sooo embarrassing!! We tried to make a quick exit explaining that I was just tired, not ill. After a rest we went for a meal to a restaurant just outside the Badshahi mosque. We had dinner on the top floor outside looking at the beautifully lit up mosque. It was amazing, if a bit of a surreal Christmas!
We decided to stay a day longer in Lahore as I hadn’t been well, so we went shopping the next day. I went kinda crazy in the bookshop and supermarket (there were croissants and lindt chocolate!) so the purse returned home a bit lighter.
The next day we said a fond farewell to Mary and Lahore and started the long journey back. The journey back to Abbottabad was fine, but when we got there the taxi driver met us looking really upset, and told us that Bhutto had been in killed in Rawalpindi 15 minutes previously. We went into their office to look at the website, but then I got a text from VSO saying to stay at home till further notice. I have to say I was a little scared at this time given that we were still half an hour from home and had just come through Pindi. But the taxi driver got us home fine, and we were sent round some dinner by the director’s family. I’ve spent the last two days in the house, looking at the news on the internet. It is all too depressing.
Well, my friends, I think that just about concludes my latest epistle about Eid, Christmas, and the current situation. I hope that you all had lovely Christmas’s with loads of chocolate and turkey and Christmas pudding, and the New Year will bring you peace and joy.
Saturday 29 December 2007
Tuesday 18 December 2007
More snow, mountains and cute children
Corry and I went on a field visit into Seren valley yesterday, an area where MIED are doing earthquake rehabilitation in schools. This area was badly affected by the earthquake – it is only tens of kilometres away the epicentre. And the earthquake that I didn’t experience last week – well that was felt here quite substantially – one guy said that the whole valley was surrounded with noise from the vibrating of the metal sheets on the buildings. And apparently last night there was an aftershock.
After the disaster preparedness meeting the other day I fully prepared myself for the cold and wore three jumpers and a coat (though it was a bit of a struggle to get into the coat I have to say). And the people who designed the shalwar kameez obviously hadn’t given a thought to the fashion disaster it becomes when worn with walking boots. Anyway. Actually, we had to walk for about an hour to get to the furthest school, so I got rather warm and dispensed with most of the jumpers (even though there was snow when we got to the top of the mountain!).
We went to a total of three schools and one early childhood care and development centre (ECCD). At the first school all the children were sitting outside on mats even though it was cold and the ground was very wet. I don’t know how the children could learn in this kind of situation. There was a tent but that wasn’t being used when we were there. We spent a while talking to the kids, and then the disaster risk reduction consultant arrived and we walked to the next school, which was a bit of a trek. There was quite a lot of construction going on. Many of the buildings before the earthquake had been made of stones and concrete, which caused so much loss of life. Now the buildings are being rebuilt again in the traditional way – a wooden construction and then a mixture of mud and stones and things in between. Apparently the walls of the traditional building type would fall out rather than in if there was another earthquake. Visiting the area and seeing some of the collapsed buildings really impressed on me how important DRR is. For example, in one of the schools the children told us about the earthquake last week – although they all ran out of the building there was a real problem because the door was so small and there was a big step to trip up over.
The DRR consultant was full of interesting information about the area. There were very few if any international NGOs working in Seren valley before the earthquake, although there were a few national NGOs. He has talked to the villagers and they have said that many owe their lives to the relief that the INGOs bought. It is interesting that just a few miles away in Battagram there is such a different attitude towards NGOs to the extent that they have been targeted. But it is only a few extremists that are causing these problems.
There is a major problem with timber smuggling and deforestation in this area - trees are so important in preventing landslides. We could clearly see on the mountainsides areas where there had been landslides - areas that were vegetated had not had landslides. The forests are partly owned by the government and partly community owned as well. But the communities have minimal rights to use the trees by chopping them down, though I think they can collect firewood. Corruption is a major problem.
At the second school the proper teacher hadn’t turned up – there was only a para-teacher who is employed by MIED not the government. And when we got to the last school neither of the teachers had bothered turning up as it is so close to the Eid holidays. So the children were just playing around. Teacher absenteeism is a major problem because they get such small salaries, and many of the teachers commute from Mansehra every day (3 hours one way). Some NGOs have started providing hostels for teachers nearer were they work, but MIED doesn’t really want to do this as it creates further dependency on the NGOs, and also the teachers have signed a contract and have a responsibility towards the children.
I have to say that it was an amazing place for school, at the top of the mountain with snow and fab views. But the graves of some people who had died in the earthquake were right next to the school – I can’t really conceive what affect that will have on the children.
The most encouraging place that we visited was the ECCD centre, for children aged 3-6. The room was full of low-cost resources that the ECCD team, the care giver and the children had worked on together. For example they had made bags with the children’s names on from flour sacks, and ceiling hangings from milk cartons.
After we came back down the mountain the care giver from the ECCD centre invited us into her home. They gave us a delicious meal of cornbread, a chilli and coriander sauce, and fresh buffalo butter. It was really lovely, and I was very hungry by that time. People are so hospitable and welcoming even when they have got so little – it is so humbling and challenging for me. Their kitchen was next to the woodpile and was basically a hole in the ground with fire in.
More photos:
After the disaster preparedness meeting the other day I fully prepared myself for the cold and wore three jumpers and a coat (though it was a bit of a struggle to get into the coat I have to say). And the people who designed the shalwar kameez obviously hadn’t given a thought to the fashion disaster it becomes when worn with walking boots. Anyway. Actually, we had to walk for about an hour to get to the furthest school, so I got rather warm and dispensed with most of the jumpers (even though there was snow when we got to the top of the mountain!).
We went to a total of three schools and one early childhood care and development centre (ECCD). At the first school all the children were sitting outside on mats even though it was cold and the ground was very wet. I don’t know how the children could learn in this kind of situation. There was a tent but that wasn’t being used when we were there. We spent a while talking to the kids, and then the disaster risk reduction consultant arrived and we walked to the next school, which was a bit of a trek. There was quite a lot of construction going on. Many of the buildings before the earthquake had been made of stones and concrete, which caused so much loss of life. Now the buildings are being rebuilt again in the traditional way – a wooden construction and then a mixture of mud and stones and things in between. Apparently the walls of the traditional building type would fall out rather than in if there was another earthquake. Visiting the area and seeing some of the collapsed buildings really impressed on me how important DRR is. For example, in one of the schools the children told us about the earthquake last week – although they all ran out of the building there was a real problem because the door was so small and there was a big step to trip up over.
The DRR consultant was full of interesting information about the area. There were very few if any international NGOs working in Seren valley before the earthquake, although there were a few national NGOs. He has talked to the villagers and they have said that many owe their lives to the relief that the INGOs bought. It is interesting that just a few miles away in Battagram there is such a different attitude towards NGOs to the extent that they have been targeted. But it is only a few extremists that are causing these problems.
There is a major problem with timber smuggling and deforestation in this area - trees are so important in preventing landslides. We could clearly see on the mountainsides areas where there had been landslides - areas that were vegetated had not had landslides. The forests are partly owned by the government and partly community owned as well. But the communities have minimal rights to use the trees by chopping them down, though I think they can collect firewood. Corruption is a major problem.
At the second school the proper teacher hadn’t turned up – there was only a para-teacher who is employed by MIED not the government. And when we got to the last school neither of the teachers had bothered turning up as it is so close to the Eid holidays. So the children were just playing around. Teacher absenteeism is a major problem because they get such small salaries, and many of the teachers commute from Mansehra every day (3 hours one way). Some NGOs have started providing hostels for teachers nearer were they work, but MIED doesn’t really want to do this as it creates further dependency on the NGOs, and also the teachers have signed a contract and have a responsibility towards the children.
I have to say that it was an amazing place for school, at the top of the mountain with snow and fab views. But the graves of some people who had died in the earthquake were right next to the school – I can’t really conceive what affect that will have on the children.
The most encouraging place that we visited was the ECCD centre, for children aged 3-6. The room was full of low-cost resources that the ECCD team, the care giver and the children had worked on together. For example they had made bags with the children’s names on from flour sacks, and ceiling hangings from milk cartons.
After we came back down the mountain the care giver from the ECCD centre invited us into her home. They gave us a delicious meal of cornbread, a chilli and coriander sauce, and fresh buffalo butter. It was really lovely, and I was very hungry by that time. People are so hospitable and welcoming even when they have got so little – it is so humbling and challenging for me. Their kitchen was next to the woodpile and was basically a hole in the ground with fire in.
More photos:
Saturday 15 December 2007
Well, let me tell you what has happened this week. On Wednesday there was an earthquake - though I didn’t notice anything at all, but was just told about it – I think it must have been when the door of our office swung randomly open. On Thursday we were told that we shouldn’t go to services on Christmas Day, because of a ‘heightened threat to westerners’. And on Friday we were told that two people have died in Manshera from bird flu. I have therefore slightly altered my lax attitude towards eating chicken (which was that it doesn’t matter as you can’t get it from eating it). But tis very difficult not to eat chicken here – at lunch yesterday no less than three of the dishes contained chicken, which just left a choice of rice (which actually had bits of chicken in) and naan. You may have gathered from this statement that my vegetarianism has gone by the wayside – I still am when I cook for myself, but when I eat out every meal consists of chicken and rice.
But do you know what has put all this security advice into perspective – I heard that there had been a landslide at Worcester Park so all the trains from Epsom to Waterloo have been completely disrupted. I would so much prefer to be here in the land of earthquakes, bird flu and ‘heightened threat to westerners’ than stuck on Raynes Park station in the freezing cold waiting for a train that probably won’t turn up. And, security advice aside, it has been quite a good week.
I was able to get to a service on Sunday at a nearby Christian hospital, and I met some expats for the first time in a couple of weeks, which was great! It was quite difficult to get to – MIED very kindly organised a car for me, and I spent most of the journey there trying to establish with the driver whether he knew where the hospital was – I think he thought it very odd that I was going to a hospital on a cold and rainy Sunday night! Although he kept ji ji (yes) he didn’t actually know where it was, but it was quite easy to find. So that was great.
At the beginning of the week I spent two days in a meeting with Plan, MIED’s main donors for one project, which was really interesting. Then followed a couple of days when I was floundering around not really knowing what to do again. On Thursday it was the Aga Khan’s birthday, so there was a cake at the office, which was really lovely.
I had to work on Saturday again – there was a management meeting in the morning. Key learning point of this week: when a meeting is arranged to last two and a half hours, don’t actually believe it will last that long. I had arranged another meeting with a disaster risk reduction consultant an hour and a half after the management meeting was supposed to end. The management meeting actually lasted about five hours, and I was writing minutes and it was so difficult to concentrate that long. I was actually very grateful when people did start speaking in Urdu as it meant I could switch off for a little (though it may mean there are a few gaps in the minutes :) The DRR meeting started half an hour late, and lasted about two and a half hours as well, but it was very interesting. Plan are encouraging us to ‘mainstream’ (typical development word) disaster risk reduction into all aspects of the projects, so this means including DRR in the curriculum and in all training that teachers are given. The aim is to develop a ‘culture of preparedness’ so that in case of a disaster people know what to do. In the Northern Areas there are village committees, and places where stores are kept, and people are trained in first aid and search and rescue. If this had been the case in NWFP and Kashmir before the earthquake a lot of lives would have been saved.
Anyway, there is a power cut and the computer battery is about to go, so I’ll finish here.
But do you know what has put all this security advice into perspective – I heard that there had been a landslide at Worcester Park so all the trains from Epsom to Waterloo have been completely disrupted. I would so much prefer to be here in the land of earthquakes, bird flu and ‘heightened threat to westerners’ than stuck on Raynes Park station in the freezing cold waiting for a train that probably won’t turn up. And, security advice aside, it has been quite a good week.
I was able to get to a service on Sunday at a nearby Christian hospital, and I met some expats for the first time in a couple of weeks, which was great! It was quite difficult to get to – MIED very kindly organised a car for me, and I spent most of the journey there trying to establish with the driver whether he knew where the hospital was – I think he thought it very odd that I was going to a hospital on a cold and rainy Sunday night! Although he kept ji ji (yes) he didn’t actually know where it was, but it was quite easy to find. So that was great.
At the beginning of the week I spent two days in a meeting with Plan, MIED’s main donors for one project, which was really interesting. Then followed a couple of days when I was floundering around not really knowing what to do again. On Thursday it was the Aga Khan’s birthday, so there was a cake at the office, which was really lovely.
I had to work on Saturday again – there was a management meeting in the morning. Key learning point of this week: when a meeting is arranged to last two and a half hours, don’t actually believe it will last that long. I had arranged another meeting with a disaster risk reduction consultant an hour and a half after the management meeting was supposed to end. The management meeting actually lasted about five hours, and I was writing minutes and it was so difficult to concentrate that long. I was actually very grateful when people did start speaking in Urdu as it meant I could switch off for a little (though it may mean there are a few gaps in the minutes :) The DRR meeting started half an hour late, and lasted about two and a half hours as well, but it was very interesting. Plan are encouraging us to ‘mainstream’ (typical development word) disaster risk reduction into all aspects of the projects, so this means including DRR in the curriculum and in all training that teachers are given. The aim is to develop a ‘culture of preparedness’ so that in case of a disaster people know what to do. In the Northern Areas there are village committees, and places where stores are kept, and people are trained in first aid and search and rescue. If this had been the case in NWFP and Kashmir before the earthquake a lot of lives would have been saved.
Anyway, there is a power cut and the computer battery is about to go, so I’ll finish here.
Sunday 9 December 2007
A variety of new experiences....
I was able to go out into the field last week, in Mansehra district. We only travelled about 30 minutes from the city, which is very close compared with many of the other schools (some staff travel 3 hours one way to get to their school daily). Anyway, it was just like stepping back into history. The houses were all made of mud, and dung was drying outside in the air – it is used as a fuel because the village didn’t have gas. We went into one house – the animals are kept outside, and then there was a courtyard, and then I just saw one large room with a number of beds.
It was great being able to visit the schools – we spent most of the morning visiting the government boys primary school. There was one teacher and I am not sure how many kids – maybe about 50. There were two groups – one of the younger children and one of the older children, both sitting outside. The first task that the teacher educator from MIED did was to sort out the classroom. It was being used as a storage place for the construction materials for the boundary wall, so was full of long pieces of wood with rusty nails sticking out. I spent most of the morning sitting with the younger children, as the person from MIED and the teacher were concerned with the older boys. The children were lovely, but so poor, and it was hard work given my lack of Urdu, their almost complete lack of English, and I was basically giving them a lesson having not prepared anything. The children all had notebooks with UNICEF written all over them, which I really didn’t like because it immediately defined the children as being recipients of aid. The school was completely open, so had a continuous stream of donkeys, goats, and cows coming through, as well as villagers who were very hospitable and gave us tea and snacks. Some of the women came up and talked to me but I didn’t have a clue what they were saying. It is particularly difficult because the villagers first language is Hindko, not Urdu, so the children were learning both Urdu and English in the school.
We then went on to the girls school. I was pretty shattered by that time. The girls were a lot shyer than I expected – if I asked them a question they giggled and hid. Three age groups were sitting in the same classroom, so the teacher basically had to run three lessons at the same time. It was very sad because some of the girls who had graduated from the school came back to visit, and they are not able to continue their education as there is no girls secondary school in the village.
I thought that that day had given me enough experiences to last the week. But no – the rest of the week threw quite a few challenges as well. The next day I had to check through and edit three reports – a key learning point is to ALWAYS ask when the deadline is and to clarify who to give the feedback to. Oh well. Then I had to try and understand a monitoring document that was incredibly confusing. The next day I went to a meeting at the Plan offices about this document, which was very interesting. The meeting started off in English, but by the end they had moved to Urdu and my brain was completely frazzled. And the day after that I had to facilitate another session with a team about weekly reporting – it was quite difficult because several people introduced completely new topics and so I didn’t know how far to stick to the topic or move onto another one if they wanted to. Also, half way through that meeting I had a horrible thought that I should have been at a different meeting, so I spent the rest of the time worrying. What an idiot.
Corry went to Islamabad for a VSO meeting on Thursday, so I was by myself for the weekend. But people have taken pity on me and so I have been fed by the director’s family for the last 3 evenings. His children are great, and on Saturday afternoon (after I had checked through the monitoring document again) we went for a drive around Mansehra – it was great seeing the views and getting a bit more of an idea of the area, and was v fun with 5 lively children. But people work SO hard here. The director and many others have worked every weekend since I have been here. There are so many people’s lives and jobs depending on the success of MIED.
The other evening the director and his children started telling me about their village in the Northern Areas. It sounds like a completely different world – to England but also to Mansehra. Their family numbers over 100, and it is not unusual for more than 20 people to live in the same house. Last week several of his brothers slaughtered yaks, which will give them enough food to last the winter. They don’t have gas or electricity (they cook over wood stoves), and can store the meat outside in the snow. It is -10 there at the moment! They showed me some photos of a family wedding – part of the ceremony is for the bride and bridegroom to cook chapattis together – but if the chapatti breaks that symbolises that the wife will have dominance over the husband! The photos of their village look completely stunning, and I cannot wait to visit that area.
Anyway, hope that all your Christmas shopping is going well :)
It was great being able to visit the schools – we spent most of the morning visiting the government boys primary school. There was one teacher and I am not sure how many kids – maybe about 50. There were two groups – one of the younger children and one of the older children, both sitting outside. The first task that the teacher educator from MIED did was to sort out the classroom. It was being used as a storage place for the construction materials for the boundary wall, so was full of long pieces of wood with rusty nails sticking out. I spent most of the morning sitting with the younger children, as the person from MIED and the teacher were concerned with the older boys. The children were lovely, but so poor, and it was hard work given my lack of Urdu, their almost complete lack of English, and I was basically giving them a lesson having not prepared anything. The children all had notebooks with UNICEF written all over them, which I really didn’t like because it immediately defined the children as being recipients of aid. The school was completely open, so had a continuous stream of donkeys, goats, and cows coming through, as well as villagers who were very hospitable and gave us tea and snacks. Some of the women came up and talked to me but I didn’t have a clue what they were saying. It is particularly difficult because the villagers first language is Hindko, not Urdu, so the children were learning both Urdu and English in the school.
We then went on to the girls school. I was pretty shattered by that time. The girls were a lot shyer than I expected – if I asked them a question they giggled and hid. Three age groups were sitting in the same classroom, so the teacher basically had to run three lessons at the same time. It was very sad because some of the girls who had graduated from the school came back to visit, and they are not able to continue their education as there is no girls secondary school in the village.
I thought that that day had given me enough experiences to last the week. But no – the rest of the week threw quite a few challenges as well. The next day I had to check through and edit three reports – a key learning point is to ALWAYS ask when the deadline is and to clarify who to give the feedback to. Oh well. Then I had to try and understand a monitoring document that was incredibly confusing. The next day I went to a meeting at the Plan offices about this document, which was very interesting. The meeting started off in English, but by the end they had moved to Urdu and my brain was completely frazzled. And the day after that I had to facilitate another session with a team about weekly reporting – it was quite difficult because several people introduced completely new topics and so I didn’t know how far to stick to the topic or move onto another one if they wanted to. Also, half way through that meeting I had a horrible thought that I should have been at a different meeting, so I spent the rest of the time worrying. What an idiot.
Corry went to Islamabad for a VSO meeting on Thursday, so I was by myself for the weekend. But people have taken pity on me and so I have been fed by the director’s family for the last 3 evenings. His children are great, and on Saturday afternoon (after I had checked through the monitoring document again) we went for a drive around Mansehra – it was great seeing the views and getting a bit more of an idea of the area, and was v fun with 5 lively children. But people work SO hard here. The director and many others have worked every weekend since I have been here. There are so many people’s lives and jobs depending on the success of MIED.
The other evening the director and his children started telling me about their village in the Northern Areas. It sounds like a completely different world – to England but also to Mansehra. Their family numbers over 100, and it is not unusual for more than 20 people to live in the same house. Last week several of his brothers slaughtered yaks, which will give them enough food to last the winter. They don’t have gas or electricity (they cook over wood stoves), and can store the meat outside in the snow. It is -10 there at the moment! They showed me some photos of a family wedding – part of the ceremony is for the bride and bridegroom to cook chapattis together – but if the chapatti breaks that symbolises that the wife will have dominance over the husband! The photos of their village look completely stunning, and I cannot wait to visit that area.
Anyway, hope that all your Christmas shopping is going well :)
Sunday 2 December 2007
Snow...
- Well, I officially welcomed in the advent season yesterday by singing Christmas carols loudly in the shower, and then building a snowman! Yep - one of the guys from the office took us to a village in the Murree hills, which has just had its first snowfall of the year! It was very exciting and beautiful, and I made a wonderful snowman. I didn’t actually realize that we were going into the mountains, so I got a bit cold, but what is a little discomfort compared with snow and mountains :) The photo is taken from Nathaigali, the village that we visited.
I spent most of last week in the office. Corry and I have been talking to more members of staff about MIED (continuing our introduction to the organisation), but I have also started some proper work, particularly dealing with documents following from the closure of one of their Battagram projects. They are still running another project there, and the team returned there late this week after being withdrawn because of security. One of the guys showed me photos of the area and it looks absolutely stunning – rivers and mountains. But then he said that just over the hill was Shangla where there is a military operation. I might wait a bit before I visit :)
A couple of evenings last week I went to the girls hostel for dinner. Before I came to Pakistan I expected to find it difficult to meet many girls my age, thinking that most would be married and have families. But it is great having the girl’s hostel so close – about 8 women live there and they are all around my age. The dinners have been fab – they cooked lovely food, and have started teaching me to sing and dance Pakistani style. They also wanted me to sing them the theme tune from Titanic (and worryingly enough I remembered some of it!). But I am still getting used to cultural norms and expectations, particularly gender related. The other night I was walking back with some girls, and we went past MIED’s male hostel, and one of the guys was standing outside. I was introduced to him, and then he asked us in for a cup of tea. I said I didn’t mind, and then all the girls started laughing and dragged me away saying it was completely culturally inappropriate for women to enter the male hostel.
More random things I have noticed about Pakistan: - salt in tea is truly disgusting (though the one time I tried it I may have put a bit too much in)
- on the subject of food, loosing weight seems to be almost impossible – we only have a saucepan and a frying pan, and my lunch usually consists of cheese between 2 pieces of fried bread (no toaster), and mayonnaise (ran out of tomato ketchup). Dinner often some mixture of fried potatoes and fried veg. Exercise I have done in the last month: 0. But at least I can get weetabix here, so can feel virtuous for at least one meal in a day (though I’ve started adding nutella with it and it is so good)
- It seems that half the office comes from Chitral and the other from Gilgit, so banter about polo occurs quite frequently. But the other day they started talking about playing polo on donkeys – I really don’t know whether they were being serious but there was a lot of laughter. On the subject of donkeys apparently there is a donkey contest in Karachi that takes place every year, but I am not quite sure what it involves
- Seatbelts non existent in spite of appalling driving except on motorways, where there are police to make sure that people use them, despite motorways being wide, empty and straight in stark contrast to all other Pak roads!! (have been in 2 accidents already, tho parents don’t panic as v minor. One took place right outside the military police (!) and was fine and the other was when we were stopped and someone drove slowly into us (quite skillfully really)).
- It is imperative that I know exactly where my torch is in my room, as the last four evenings there have been electricity cuts and there has been much moaning and stubbed toes. There was a big thunderstorm the other night and the electricity went off for the whole night and the following morning, so work was fun with no light and no computers. (And no heat as our gas heater had broken as well)
- Rain is exactly the same in Mansehra as in Epsom – v wet and cold, though it seems to have been greeted with pleasure by many people as it gets rid of the dust, but personally I prefer the dust
- In spite of where we live and work being NGO central (with 65 NGOs in the space of approx 1 square mile) in total we have only seen 3 other westerners walking around the township, and when we’ve been out of the township I haven’t seen any
More photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21248968@N03/?saved=1
Once again, thank you so much for your emails, it is great hearing your news. Take care and enjoy the beginning of advent :)
Monday 26 November 2007
Photos!
Here is a variety of photos from my first 2 weeks in Mansehra:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21248968@N03/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21248968@N03/
Saturday 24 November 2007
Well, I can’t say that I have ever lived in a state of emergency / military dictatorship before, but it is not quite as exciting as it sounds. Practically, its major effect has been that we haven’t been on field visits in NWFP, but that is due more to militant activity and army response than the state of emergency per se. But I’ve been trying to make sense of the political situation, which is extremely complicated. Most of the Pakistanis I have spoken to are well informed about the situation, but opinions differ: whether military action in Swat is a good thing or not, whether Musharraf has been a successful leader, how people should respond to the state of emergency…
The Pakistani printed press is very interesting, particularly in the diversity of opinions that it illustrates. I have added some quotes below to illustrate some of these opinions. It is quite surprising that there are such outspoken criticisms of Musharraf, particularly given that some TV channels have still been banned by him. All the quotes below are taken from the Dawn News, 20 November.
‘The threat to the state’s stability and integrity, the safe-guarding of which, as President Musharraf has rightly affirmed on the past, is the government’s overriding duty, comes not from civil society, involved in the struggle for democracy, but from the insurgency mounted by extremist militants.’ Mahdi Masud
‘Western style democracy may be good for educated and responsible individuals but for a nation of 160 million ill-disciplined and uneducated individuals, most of whom still living in the stone ages, this reading is nothing more than a farce; one size does not fit all.’ Q Kazmi
Dr Israr [religious scholar] expressed his concern over a dangerous situation caused by what he described as ‘polarisation between extreme forces of secularism and the force of the people demanding enforcement of Islamic Shariah law in the country’. …He said that it was not possible to surpress the movement by use of military force. The only way to solve the problem was to take Constitutional, legal and evolutionary measures for the enforcement of Islamic Shariah’.
‘When peaceful youngsters today see unarmed lawyers, rights activists and politicians being roughened up, humiliated and arrested for demanding what the Constitution guarantees them, they add their voices to the emerging new consciousness against dictatorial rule. The crackdown on those who believe in non-violence as a means to pursue their political ideals and a right to a decent life contrasts sharply with the tolerance the regime has shown towards those who have taken up arms against the state, all in the way of God, and to subjugate the people to their own narrow minded, puritan interpretation of religion… The state’s furious response to the civilised way of registering protest exposes the gap that exists today between a modern public sensibility and the medievalism inherent in autocratic rule’. Murtaza Razvi
As to my opinion – I am not sure! I find it difficult to understand why Musharraf introduced emergency rule when the problem does not come from the vast majority of the population, but from a fringe where the army was already engaged. I don’t know whether military intervention in Swat is a good thing – it is clear that civilians have been adversely affected, but militants cannot be allowed to gain control and disrupt life so much for the ordinary population. What is clear is that the problems have had a long history – America is particularly to blame as they were the ones who initially armed the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the Cold War. Any long-term solution is not going to come from military intervention. It really emphasises the importance of education – education enables people to climb out of economic poverty, it challenges people to think rather than to uncritically accept dogma, it broadens horizons and promotes tolerance and understanding of other worldviews.
All the Pakistanis I have spoken to are upset by the way that Pakistan is portrayed in the international media solely as a breeding ground for terrorists. My overwhelming impression of Pakistani people has been one of welcome and hospitality. For example, when we came back from Chakwal at 10pm the other night after a 5 hour drive and a long day in the office, our director still invited us in for a cup of tea, even when he had to get up at 6 the following morning for a 3 hour trip to Muzzafarrabad and hadn’t seen his family for days. That is hospitality way beyond the call of duty I think!
By the way, I’ve just looked at the foreign office travel advice for Pakistan. Bad idea. It makes it seem like I am in danger of a sudden and very painful death. But the one gleam of hope that I took from wading through the whole depressing thing was that although the UN have withdrawn expat families from the whole of the NWFP, they have not done so for Mansehra and Abbottabad, which are still considered safe. Good to know.
The Pakistani printed press is very interesting, particularly in the diversity of opinions that it illustrates. I have added some quotes below to illustrate some of these opinions. It is quite surprising that there are such outspoken criticisms of Musharraf, particularly given that some TV channels have still been banned by him. All the quotes below are taken from the Dawn News, 20 November.
‘The threat to the state’s stability and integrity, the safe-guarding of which, as President Musharraf has rightly affirmed on the past, is the government’s overriding duty, comes not from civil society, involved in the struggle for democracy, but from the insurgency mounted by extremist militants.’ Mahdi Masud
‘Western style democracy may be good for educated and responsible individuals but for a nation of 160 million ill-disciplined and uneducated individuals, most of whom still living in the stone ages, this reading is nothing more than a farce; one size does not fit all.’ Q Kazmi
Dr Israr [religious scholar] expressed his concern over a dangerous situation caused by what he described as ‘polarisation between extreme forces of secularism and the force of the people demanding enforcement of Islamic Shariah law in the country’. …He said that it was not possible to surpress the movement by use of military force. The only way to solve the problem was to take Constitutional, legal and evolutionary measures for the enforcement of Islamic Shariah’.
‘When peaceful youngsters today see unarmed lawyers, rights activists and politicians being roughened up, humiliated and arrested for demanding what the Constitution guarantees them, they add their voices to the emerging new consciousness against dictatorial rule. The crackdown on those who believe in non-violence as a means to pursue their political ideals and a right to a decent life contrasts sharply with the tolerance the regime has shown towards those who have taken up arms against the state, all in the way of God, and to subjugate the people to their own narrow minded, puritan interpretation of religion… The state’s furious response to the civilised way of registering protest exposes the gap that exists today between a modern public sensibility and the medievalism inherent in autocratic rule’. Murtaza Razvi
As to my opinion – I am not sure! I find it difficult to understand why Musharraf introduced emergency rule when the problem does not come from the vast majority of the population, but from a fringe where the army was already engaged. I don’t know whether military intervention in Swat is a good thing – it is clear that civilians have been adversely affected, but militants cannot be allowed to gain control and disrupt life so much for the ordinary population. What is clear is that the problems have had a long history – America is particularly to blame as they were the ones who initially armed the Taliban in their fight against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the Cold War. Any long-term solution is not going to come from military intervention. It really emphasises the importance of education – education enables people to climb out of economic poverty, it challenges people to think rather than to uncritically accept dogma, it broadens horizons and promotes tolerance and understanding of other worldviews.
All the Pakistanis I have spoken to are upset by the way that Pakistan is portrayed in the international media solely as a breeding ground for terrorists. My overwhelming impression of Pakistani people has been one of welcome and hospitality. For example, when we came back from Chakwal at 10pm the other night after a 5 hour drive and a long day in the office, our director still invited us in for a cup of tea, even when he had to get up at 6 the following morning for a 3 hour trip to Muzzafarrabad and hadn’t seen his family for days. That is hospitality way beyond the call of duty I think!
By the way, I’ve just looked at the foreign office travel advice for Pakistan. Bad idea. It makes it seem like I am in danger of a sudden and very painful death. But the one gleam of hope that I took from wading through the whole depressing thing was that although the UN have withdrawn expat families from the whole of the NWFP, they have not done so for Mansehra and Abbottabad, which are still considered safe. Good to know.
Friday 23 November 2007
I think that I have really fallen on my feet working for MIED – I have only been here two weeks but it seems to be an amazing organisation. Someone said when I first arrived that it is like working for a big family, and I have experienced friendship, encouragement and warmth from all the staff members. I have been really impressed with the director especially, who has done everything in his power to make things easy for us, and also seems to be a charismatic and highly respected leader. I have got the impression that MIED is very well thought of, and they have close links to the government and international organisations. They have been funded from a number of international donors, including UNICEF, Save the Children and the Canadian Development Agency, and I think that they didn’t even apply for funds, they were just asked to do the work. They are also a pioneering organisation in terms of their values and vision – the director said that they are an organisation that looks for diversity, accepts it and then encourages tolerance and pluralism. They work with Christian communities in Islamabad, which is unusual I think for a Muslim organisation as the Christian communities are often marginalised and persecuted. They are also pioneering in Pakistan in terms of the way that they work – focusing on participation, facilitation and openness to new ideas rather than being hierarchical and prescriptive. The staff who work in the schools are not there to monitor, assess and criticise the work of the teachers, instead they are there to facilitate the teachers and encourage their development. There is a big difference.
For the last three days I visited MIED’s office in Chakwal in the Punjab, which was fab. I have really been made to feel welcome by everyone in the office. Most of the people who work in Chakwal live in a hostel and eat all their meals together – so it did seem to me to be like a big family. The other night they organised a party Pakistani-style – it was a rather random but fun experience! Everyone in the hostel got together after dinner and started dancing. But apparently it was completely culturally inappropriate for the girls to dance, even in such a liberal organisation as MIED, so us girls sat around cheering the guys on. It was a bit surreal to see big and bearded Pakistani men dancing around gracefully. But twas great fun, and although I found very odd that the girls did not dance, the director did his best to encourage us (I was not persuaded!).
Coming to Chakwal has really illustrated how diverse Pakistan is. Chakwal is significantly more liberal than Mansehra – playing loud music and girls watching men dance would not have been possible in Mansehra at all. We were able to walk around in the bazaar after dark – although there were still loads of Pakistani men staring, I felt safe and there were significantly more women there than in Mansehra. Conversations with some of the staff members have also illustrated Pakistan’s diversity. One girl said that before she worked for MIED she lived in the Northern Areas and was always scared when coming through Mansehra. But she also worked in Battagram, which is even more conservative than Mansehra – so much so that MIED and Care International (MIED’s funding agency for this project) have now withdrawn all female staff. There was a bomb that targeted Care in Battagram fairly recently.
One of the benefits of being in a more liberal area of the Punjab is that we were able to go into the field. I had such a good time – I am so fortunate to be here! We visited two schools in rural Punjab – it took about an hour to get there along roads that at some points were little more than dirt tracks. It was great to be able to catch glimpses of rural life along the sides of the roads – there were many donkeys and even camels. The first school that we visited had 80 pupils, but only one teacher as the other one was ill. But the children were great. Apparently, when MIED started work there 2 years ago the children were so shy and unconfident that they hid when the team visited. Now, I saw the girls stand up and read and sing poetry with such confidence. I also was able to play some games with them, and had to be a fish and cook chicken among other things. As in Calcutta, I was humbled by the generosity of people who have so little – one girl gave me some beautiful bangles from her and her mother. Some other children made me a hanger for an artificial red rose. We also visited another school where MIED had built a toilet block, introduced running water, and mobilised the community so that they built their own boundary wall.
I have now got internet at home, so will be able to email etc more easily! People at MIED installed a new operating system on my computer, which unfortunately completely removed windows vista and my documents/ music / photos. I did back most of them up, so hope they will still work :) But it was worth it as we now have unlimited internet access.
For the last three days I visited MIED’s office in Chakwal in the Punjab, which was fab. I have really been made to feel welcome by everyone in the office. Most of the people who work in Chakwal live in a hostel and eat all their meals together – so it did seem to me to be like a big family. The other night they organised a party Pakistani-style – it was a rather random but fun experience! Everyone in the hostel got together after dinner and started dancing. But apparently it was completely culturally inappropriate for the girls to dance, even in such a liberal organisation as MIED, so us girls sat around cheering the guys on. It was a bit surreal to see big and bearded Pakistani men dancing around gracefully. But twas great fun, and although I found very odd that the girls did not dance, the director did his best to encourage us (I was not persuaded!).
Coming to Chakwal has really illustrated how diverse Pakistan is. Chakwal is significantly more liberal than Mansehra – playing loud music and girls watching men dance would not have been possible in Mansehra at all. We were able to walk around in the bazaar after dark – although there were still loads of Pakistani men staring, I felt safe and there were significantly more women there than in Mansehra. Conversations with some of the staff members have also illustrated Pakistan’s diversity. One girl said that before she worked for MIED she lived in the Northern Areas and was always scared when coming through Mansehra. But she also worked in Battagram, which is even more conservative than Mansehra – so much so that MIED and Care International (MIED’s funding agency for this project) have now withdrawn all female staff. There was a bomb that targeted Care in Battagram fairly recently.
One of the benefits of being in a more liberal area of the Punjab is that we were able to go into the field. I had such a good time – I am so fortunate to be here! We visited two schools in rural Punjab – it took about an hour to get there along roads that at some points were little more than dirt tracks. It was great to be able to catch glimpses of rural life along the sides of the roads – there were many donkeys and even camels. The first school that we visited had 80 pupils, but only one teacher as the other one was ill. But the children were great. Apparently, when MIED started work there 2 years ago the children were so shy and unconfident that they hid when the team visited. Now, I saw the girls stand up and read and sing poetry with such confidence. I also was able to play some games with them, and had to be a fish and cook chicken among other things. As in Calcutta, I was humbled by the generosity of people who have so little – one girl gave me some beautiful bangles from her and her mother. Some other children made me a hanger for an artificial red rose. We also visited another school where MIED had built a toilet block, introduced running water, and mobilised the community so that they built their own boundary wall.
I have now got internet at home, so will be able to email etc more easily! People at MIED installed a new operating system on my computer, which unfortunately completely removed windows vista and my documents/ music / photos. I did back most of them up, so hope they will still work :) But it was worth it as we now have unlimited internet access.
Monday 19 November 2007
I forgot to say in my last blog a very embarrasing experience I had to undergo on my first day at MIED. They had arranged morning tea with cakes for us, which was lovely. But there were about 30 people standing around staring at me, and I had to do the usual introduction thing, which was fine. But then Corry (the other VSO with me) and I had to each cut a cake holding hands with a member of staff, like a wedding cake! But what was even worse was that after that the staff member fed me some cake! I was really not expecting it, so ended up with cream all around my mouth and hundreds (maybe that is a little exageration) of people staring at me. And they took photos.
Random things I have noticed about Pakistan:
- people have salt in tea (I haven't tried it yet)
- there is tinsel on graves
- a cock does not crow only at dawn, but at regular intervals from 3.30 am to mid morning and possibly later (though this may not be specific to Pakistan)
- we can buy baked beans, nutella and cupasoup from the local shop!!
- education is considered very important - when we visited the neighbours we had to give a precise account of all the years we have spent in education before we gave our names!!
- people are incredibly generous - the neighbours went to an awful lot of trouble preparing tea for us, and then they didn't really eat anything and we had to eat loads! Twas v nice food
Regarding security, I feel safe in Mansehra, though we have not ventured out of the township by ourselves yet. The township is the area where all the NGOs are based. But MIED field staff were not able to go into the field last week or this week because of militant activity in the area north of Mansehra. I was wondering how on earth MIED finds out when militants are active, but they get updates from the local police. It does seem clear that militant activity is spreading through the North West Frontier Province - first in Waziristan, then Swat, then Battagram and Besham, which are just north of Mansehra. Also, they have withdrawn the VSO volunteers from Peshawar.
I have been having a lot of meetings with staff at MIED, which has been very interesting and I have a lot better idea of how they work and what their aims are. They have three main programmes - a School Improvement Prgramme (SIP), Early Childhood Care and Development Centres (ECCD), and a Child Rights Programme (CRP). SIP works in government schools improving the teaching, training teachers, encouraging student participation and improving the curriculum. There are many problems in government schools in this area - teachers do not turn up to work, children learn by rote, lack of schools for girls - the list goes on. MIED also provides ECCD centres for very young children - like a nursery school. They started this following the earthquake, and now run over a hundred in earthquake affected areas. The CRP takes as its basis the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, and works in schools in Mansehra training teachers and students about the rights that children have - for example the right of education. It has been a real privilege talking and meeting with very inspirational people at MIED - we met a girl yesterday who has worked from a tent in Balakot since the earthquake. She also helped respond to the floods in Balochistan earlier this year. I have been incredibly impressed with the Director as well. I was expecting a Pakistani NGO to be fairly hierarchical, but his office is open to all members of the organisation almost all time. The staff are all motivated and passionate about their work, and they work very hard. One guy, as well as working full time at MIED, runs a school with his family on the side!
I had a meeting with Abdul Jahan last week about my role, and feel happier about what is expected of me - mainly writing, proof reading and looking at the quality of the reports, which is great. They might also want me to do some TEFL!
I have finally found out my address, which is the office address:
Mountain Institute for Educational Development
226D Ghazikote Township
Mansehra
PAKISTAN
I think I might leave it at that for the moment. We are going to Chakwal in the Punjab tomorrow for a couple of days, so hopefully I will be able to visit some of the field work of MIED.
Thank you so much for all your emails - it is great hearing from you!
Random things I have noticed about Pakistan:
- people have salt in tea (I haven't tried it yet)
- there is tinsel on graves
- a cock does not crow only at dawn, but at regular intervals from 3.30 am to mid morning and possibly later (though this may not be specific to Pakistan)
- we can buy baked beans, nutella and cupasoup from the local shop!!
- education is considered very important - when we visited the neighbours we had to give a precise account of all the years we have spent in education before we gave our names!!
- people are incredibly generous - the neighbours went to an awful lot of trouble preparing tea for us, and then they didn't really eat anything and we had to eat loads! Twas v nice food
Regarding security, I feel safe in Mansehra, though we have not ventured out of the township by ourselves yet. The township is the area where all the NGOs are based. But MIED field staff were not able to go into the field last week or this week because of militant activity in the area north of Mansehra. I was wondering how on earth MIED finds out when militants are active, but they get updates from the local police. It does seem clear that militant activity is spreading through the North West Frontier Province - first in Waziristan, then Swat, then Battagram and Besham, which are just north of Mansehra. Also, they have withdrawn the VSO volunteers from Peshawar.
I have been having a lot of meetings with staff at MIED, which has been very interesting and I have a lot better idea of how they work and what their aims are. They have three main programmes - a School Improvement Prgramme (SIP), Early Childhood Care and Development Centres (ECCD), and a Child Rights Programme (CRP). SIP works in government schools improving the teaching, training teachers, encouraging student participation and improving the curriculum. There are many problems in government schools in this area - teachers do not turn up to work, children learn by rote, lack of schools for girls - the list goes on. MIED also provides ECCD centres for very young children - like a nursery school. They started this following the earthquake, and now run over a hundred in earthquake affected areas. The CRP takes as its basis the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, and works in schools in Mansehra training teachers and students about the rights that children have - for example the right of education. It has been a real privilege talking and meeting with very inspirational people at MIED - we met a girl yesterday who has worked from a tent in Balakot since the earthquake. She also helped respond to the floods in Balochistan earlier this year. I have been incredibly impressed with the Director as well. I was expecting a Pakistani NGO to be fairly hierarchical, but his office is open to all members of the organisation almost all time. The staff are all motivated and passionate about their work, and they work very hard. One guy, as well as working full time at MIED, runs a school with his family on the side!
I had a meeting with Abdul Jahan last week about my role, and feel happier about what is expected of me - mainly writing, proof reading and looking at the quality of the reports, which is great. They might also want me to do some TEFL!
I have finally found out my address, which is the office address:
Mountain Institute for Educational Development
226D Ghazikote Township
Mansehra
PAKISTAN
I think I might leave it at that for the moment. We are going to Chakwal in the Punjab tomorrow for a couple of days, so hopefully I will be able to visit some of the field work of MIED.
Thank you so much for all your emails - it is great hearing from you!
Wednesday 14 November 2007
Well, this is the first time I have had access to the internet in ages, so there is quite a lot to update you on! (It may be quite a long blog!). I left Islamabad on saturday morning - it was quite upsetting to say goodbye to all the other VSOs because we had got to know each other fairly well in such an intensive two weeks! Otherwise I was quite pleased to be leaving Islamabad - we drove past the Supreme Court etc again and it was not nice to be in such close proximity to so many guns and sandbags, although again all the soldiers seemed to be very relaxed. There are huge numbers of guns around - even primary schools have an armed guard, and when we went shopping the other day it was fairly horrible because there were guys with guns outside all the shops.
Anyway, the Director of MIED (Abdul Jahan) said that they would drive us to Mansehra the scenic route, through the Murree mountains, instead of the normal way, and i was very excited about that. But guess what happened when George meets steep narrow bendy roads - yep, I got sick. I had to sleep most of the way and was gutted to miss the beautiful scenery, but at least I managed not to throw up on the Director :) I felt better by the time we reached our house, which is great! it is huge and I have a lovely room. We have a TV and a fridge so aren't exactly slumming it. We also have a guard, which I have found very difficult getting used to. It is horrible to think that he is outside in the cold when we are tucked up warm in bed. But on the other hand he does have a job, and everyone seems to think it necessary (he doesn't have a gun, thank goodness). Everyone at MIED, in particular Abdul Jahan, have been incredibly welcoming and have bent over backwards to make sure that we have everything that we need. The electricity went off for about an hour on our first night, so he rang us up to ask whether we wanted to go out for dinner in the local hotel. Abdul Jahan even leant us his own laptop tonight so that we can access the internet!
On sunday we spent most of the morning unpacking and then were invited round to Abdul Jahan's house for lunch. he has five lovely children, and they took us up to the viewpoint so we could see all over Mansehra. His youngest child is four I think and beautiful - she was doing drawings for me, and is so cute as she was giving herself 11/10 and big ticks! I'll put some photos up in a bit. Anyway, we had a lovely lunch, Pakistani style sitting on the floor in the living room. later that day we went to the bazaar in central mansehra to do some shopping, which was completely crazy. Huge amounts of traffic, staring men, stalls and narrow alleyways with more shops.
I am so impressed with MIED. They work in the field of education, providing teacher training, resources, and other support for government schools in NWFP, areas of the Punjab and part of Kashmir. It was founded by Abdul Jahan in 2004, and has grown incredibly rapidly since then, as they now work in over 2000 schools I think. Many of the people, and especially the management team, are Ismaili Muslims from the Northern Areas. it has been very interesting finding out more about this, because it seems that Ismaili's are quite liberal - most of the women do not wear the headscarf (except in Mansehra which is very conservative and we all have to). The Northern Areas has a very good education system, partly because of the work of the Aga Khan foundation - many of the people at MIED used to work for this organisation, and have moved to the NWFP because the education system here is so much worse. Abdul Jahan was telling us about the Ismaili interpretation of Islam, and emphasising the focus on peace, tolerance and acceptance. I have really seen this even in the few days I have been here, because without exception all the people I have spoken to have been incredibly friendly, welcoming, compassionate and giving. Even if I achieve nothing in the job this year, I hope I will be able to challenge some of the perceptions about Islam in the west.
Yesterday I had a series of very interesting and a few disturbing conversations. The day started off by talking to guy who had spent a year living and working in a tent while responding to the earthquake. i also had a further conversation with Abdul Jahan and some others from another NGO who said that they slept for a whole month in their cars after the earthquake because it was not safe to enter their houses. There were over 2000 aftershocks in the six months following the earthquake. it is difficult for me to comprehend the trauma that people in this area must have been through - a guy was saying earlier that even when his chair wobbles it causes him consternation. And most of the people I am working with no doubt lost people in the disaster. Anyway, after that cheerful conversation the next was on the subject of domestic violence, which I found profoundly shocking. One of the other VSOs had told me that domestic violence is as high as 80% in some areas of Pakistan, which I found very difficult to believe, but then after this conversation, which I won't go into details, it may be easier to believe. After that I started talking to a girl who was wearing a full headscarf covering everything except her eyes. I found that very difficult as I couldn't see her expression at all, so a conversation was hard. But the most cheerful conversation (this time it was really cheerful!) was in the evening when Abdul Jahan introduced us to our neighbour, who is a good friend of his and works for Plan pakistan which is a major donor of MIED. They invited us round for dinner, because a further friend was going off for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The meal was fab, and I'll put a few photos up later. But it was quite surreal sitting down for a meal and talking to a group of Muslim men about Hajj.
There are all sorts of cultural things that it is difficult to adapt to. For example, when to cover my head and when not to. Also, at the meal yesterday I had put on a jumper, fleece and shawl because it was so freezing outside, but then they had a heater on in the house, and I was eating spicy food. But it is impossible to take off a jumper and a fleece while continuing to be covered in the shawl. So I melted.
Even though everyone has been incredibly friendly and welcoming at work, the first few days have been fairly stressful. it seems like I have to create a role for myself in the organisation, which is quite scary, and advise on the nature of their reporting systems. They are treating me like an expert, but I am not exaggeating when I say that a high proportion of people I have spoken to have said that they have 2 Masters. So anyone with expertise in report writing and monitoring and evaluation please email with advice!!!
I think that is enough for now :) Congrats for reaching the end
Anyway, the Director of MIED (Abdul Jahan) said that they would drive us to Mansehra the scenic route, through the Murree mountains, instead of the normal way, and i was very excited about that. But guess what happened when George meets steep narrow bendy roads - yep, I got sick. I had to sleep most of the way and was gutted to miss the beautiful scenery, but at least I managed not to throw up on the Director :) I felt better by the time we reached our house, which is great! it is huge and I have a lovely room. We have a TV and a fridge so aren't exactly slumming it. We also have a guard, which I have found very difficult getting used to. It is horrible to think that he is outside in the cold when we are tucked up warm in bed. But on the other hand he does have a job, and everyone seems to think it necessary (he doesn't have a gun, thank goodness). Everyone at MIED, in particular Abdul Jahan, have been incredibly welcoming and have bent over backwards to make sure that we have everything that we need. The electricity went off for about an hour on our first night, so he rang us up to ask whether we wanted to go out for dinner in the local hotel. Abdul Jahan even leant us his own laptop tonight so that we can access the internet!
On sunday we spent most of the morning unpacking and then were invited round to Abdul Jahan's house for lunch. he has five lovely children, and they took us up to the viewpoint so we could see all over Mansehra. His youngest child is four I think and beautiful - she was doing drawings for me, and is so cute as she was giving herself 11/10 and big ticks! I'll put some photos up in a bit. Anyway, we had a lovely lunch, Pakistani style sitting on the floor in the living room. later that day we went to the bazaar in central mansehra to do some shopping, which was completely crazy. Huge amounts of traffic, staring men, stalls and narrow alleyways with more shops.
I am so impressed with MIED. They work in the field of education, providing teacher training, resources, and other support for government schools in NWFP, areas of the Punjab and part of Kashmir. It was founded by Abdul Jahan in 2004, and has grown incredibly rapidly since then, as they now work in over 2000 schools I think. Many of the people, and especially the management team, are Ismaili Muslims from the Northern Areas. it has been very interesting finding out more about this, because it seems that Ismaili's are quite liberal - most of the women do not wear the headscarf (except in Mansehra which is very conservative and we all have to). The Northern Areas has a very good education system, partly because of the work of the Aga Khan foundation - many of the people at MIED used to work for this organisation, and have moved to the NWFP because the education system here is so much worse. Abdul Jahan was telling us about the Ismaili interpretation of Islam, and emphasising the focus on peace, tolerance and acceptance. I have really seen this even in the few days I have been here, because without exception all the people I have spoken to have been incredibly friendly, welcoming, compassionate and giving. Even if I achieve nothing in the job this year, I hope I will be able to challenge some of the perceptions about Islam in the west.
Yesterday I had a series of very interesting and a few disturbing conversations. The day started off by talking to guy who had spent a year living and working in a tent while responding to the earthquake. i also had a further conversation with Abdul Jahan and some others from another NGO who said that they slept for a whole month in their cars after the earthquake because it was not safe to enter their houses. There were over 2000 aftershocks in the six months following the earthquake. it is difficult for me to comprehend the trauma that people in this area must have been through - a guy was saying earlier that even when his chair wobbles it causes him consternation. And most of the people I am working with no doubt lost people in the disaster. Anyway, after that cheerful conversation the next was on the subject of domestic violence, which I found profoundly shocking. One of the other VSOs had told me that domestic violence is as high as 80% in some areas of Pakistan, which I found very difficult to believe, but then after this conversation, which I won't go into details, it may be easier to believe. After that I started talking to a girl who was wearing a full headscarf covering everything except her eyes. I found that very difficult as I couldn't see her expression at all, so a conversation was hard. But the most cheerful conversation (this time it was really cheerful!) was in the evening when Abdul Jahan introduced us to our neighbour, who is a good friend of his and works for Plan pakistan which is a major donor of MIED. They invited us round for dinner, because a further friend was going off for the pilgrimage to Mecca. The meal was fab, and I'll put a few photos up later. But it was quite surreal sitting down for a meal and talking to a group of Muslim men about Hajj.
There are all sorts of cultural things that it is difficult to adapt to. For example, when to cover my head and when not to. Also, at the meal yesterday I had put on a jumper, fleece and shawl because it was so freezing outside, but then they had a heater on in the house, and I was eating spicy food. But it is impossible to take off a jumper and a fleece while continuing to be covered in the shawl. So I melted.
Even though everyone has been incredibly friendly and welcoming at work, the first few days have been fairly stressful. it seems like I have to create a role for myself in the organisation, which is quite scary, and advise on the nature of their reporting systems. They are treating me like an expert, but I am not exaggeating when I say that a high proportion of people I have spoken to have said that they have 2 Masters. So anyone with expertise in report writing and monitoring and evaluation please email with advice!!!
I think that is enough for now :) Congrats for reaching the end
Friday 9 November 2007
Yesterday evening I met three people from the Mountain Institute for Educational Development for the first time (which is the organisation I am going to work for). I was a bit nervous before meeting them (to say the least), but they are incredibly lovely people. We had a dinner last night at the VSO Programme Office, in a marquee outside. It was so beautiful, it was like a wedding venue (there is a link to photos below).
Anyway, I met the CEO of MIED as well as someone from the administration team and a woman who will be my counterpart. Although having been told I'm sure no less than 10 times that men do not shake hands with women in Pakistan, what is the first thing I do when I meet one of the guys? Yep, stick out my hand. He looked a little surprised, but I don't think any lasting damage was done. The girl I am going to work with is LOVELY. Ghulzar, who works with VSO (who is also a star and has taken incredibly good care of us) told me that we look like each other, and she said that we should be sisters. She is the same age as me, and from Hunza in the northern areas, so she is pale with green eyes. She has been a teacher trainer, but now will be working on documentation and report writing with me. That is great cos it will make the whole process more sustainable. I have not laughed as hard last night in months - she was showing Corry and I how to do our scarves so only our eyes show, and was saying that we look like terrorists :) It seems like quite a few of the staff from MIED come from the northern areas (which, surprsingly enough are in the north of Pakistan and are very mountainous and beautiful). I couldn't believe that I was talking with a guy who is from Chitral and telling me about the annual polo match with Gilgit. A couple of years ago I was watching Michael Palin on the TV at the polo match. MIED also work in the northern areas, so hopefully I'll get to visit - they have a project very close to the fairy meadows, which are at the foot of Nanga Parbat, one of the 10 largest mountains in the world. The CEO is also really welcoming and lovely.
I've been a bit up and down about security these last few days. In Islamabad I feel safe when walking around, but then you hear the news..... Some good news is that MIED have withdrawn from Battagram recently because of the bomb there (I think their programme was finishing there anyway). Also, the CEO said that if necessary we could move to Abbottabad, and maybe if the security situation declined in Mansehra the office would also move there. In some ways that is good because there is a fall-back position, but at the same time it wasn't great to hear that things could get worse (though there haven't been any security incidents in Mansehra for the past six months).
Anyway, after boring you with my security concerns I'll just say a bit about Islamabad, because it is a very interesting city, and I am sure you all want to read about it :) It was planned in the 1960s, and has different sectors, excitingly called E, F, G, H and I. These sectors are all subdivinded into numbers from 1 - about 12. So, a park in F-7 is called F-7 park. But, the letters aren't so called because they are nicely alphabetical. No - they all stand for something - E is for the elite area, F for foreigner, G for government, and I for industry (I can't remember what H stands for). Apparently Islamabad does have slums, but I don't think that there is an S area. I can't get over the fact that they specifically planned an elite area - talk about segregation and homogenisation. But I do like Islamabad. Compared with the taxi drivers in Calcutta, they speak really good English, and a few of them have actually known where they are going (but not all, it has to be said).
More photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28852&l=f7f4e&id=579695659
Thanks so much everyone for your messages. All going well, I'll post next from Mansehra!
Anyway, I met the CEO of MIED as well as someone from the administration team and a woman who will be my counterpart. Although having been told I'm sure no less than 10 times that men do not shake hands with women in Pakistan, what is the first thing I do when I meet one of the guys? Yep, stick out my hand. He looked a little surprised, but I don't think any lasting damage was done. The girl I am going to work with is LOVELY. Ghulzar, who works with VSO (who is also a star and has taken incredibly good care of us) told me that we look like each other, and she said that we should be sisters. She is the same age as me, and from Hunza in the northern areas, so she is pale with green eyes. She has been a teacher trainer, but now will be working on documentation and report writing with me. That is great cos it will make the whole process more sustainable. I have not laughed as hard last night in months - she was showing Corry and I how to do our scarves so only our eyes show, and was saying that we look like terrorists :) It seems like quite a few of the staff from MIED come from the northern areas (which, surprsingly enough are in the north of Pakistan and are very mountainous and beautiful). I couldn't believe that I was talking with a guy who is from Chitral and telling me about the annual polo match with Gilgit. A couple of years ago I was watching Michael Palin on the TV at the polo match. MIED also work in the northern areas, so hopefully I'll get to visit - they have a project very close to the fairy meadows, which are at the foot of Nanga Parbat, one of the 10 largest mountains in the world. The CEO is also really welcoming and lovely.
I've been a bit up and down about security these last few days. In Islamabad I feel safe when walking around, but then you hear the news..... Some good news is that MIED have withdrawn from Battagram recently because of the bomb there (I think their programme was finishing there anyway). Also, the CEO said that if necessary we could move to Abbottabad, and maybe if the security situation declined in Mansehra the office would also move there. In some ways that is good because there is a fall-back position, but at the same time it wasn't great to hear that things could get worse (though there haven't been any security incidents in Mansehra for the past six months).
Anyway, after boring you with my security concerns I'll just say a bit about Islamabad, because it is a very interesting city, and I am sure you all want to read about it :) It was planned in the 1960s, and has different sectors, excitingly called E, F, G, H and I. These sectors are all subdivinded into numbers from 1 - about 12. So, a park in F-7 is called F-7 park. But, the letters aren't so called because they are nicely alphabetical. No - they all stand for something - E is for the elite area, F for foreigner, G for government, and I for industry (I can't remember what H stands for). Apparently Islamabad does have slums, but I don't think that there is an S area. I can't get over the fact that they specifically planned an elite area - talk about segregation and homogenisation. But I do like Islamabad. Compared with the taxi drivers in Calcutta, they speak really good English, and a few of them have actually known where they are going (but not all, it has to be said).
More photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28852&l=f7f4e&id=579695659
Thanks so much everyone for your messages. All going well, I'll post next from Mansehra!
Wednesday 7 November 2007
Apart from a few areas where we are advised not to go, the state of emergency has not really affected us that much. Yesterday was a really fantastic day. We had a trip out to visit an education project, to give us more of an idea of the education work of NGOs in Pakistan. We started out by driving to the head office of a major NGO called the National Rural Support Programme. It is one of the largest NGOs in Pakistan, and supports rural communities all over the country to bring about changes that they would like - for example primary health care, micro credit programmes, primary schools, improved farming methods etc.
Our drive to the head office included driving past the Supreme Court, and although there were quite a few men with guns, they seemed very relaxed and were lounging about. So after we visited the head office we went to field office in Islamabad Capital Territory, which is the rural area around Islamabad. We had another briefing session there, and then drove to a rural primary schoool. The drive was fantastic - properly rural Pakistan with very bumpy roads, cows an other animals by the side of the road, and many fields. The primary school we visited was excellent - it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, with 80 pupils and separate class rooms for each class. After we said hi to the kids the whole village education committee was waiting to meet with us. This was a group of men from the village who take decisions regarding the running of the school. All the female teachers came in to talk to us as well. It kind of impressed on me how important Urdu is as nearly all the conversation was in Urdu. It also illustrated power dynamics, as the people from the NGO and us did most of the speaking, and the female teachers did not say anything. But I found out that the teachers are trained by a Tearfund partner - how cool is that!
I am meeting the Executive Director of the organisation I am working for tomorrow evening, and then we have a day with him on fri, and I go to Mansehra on sat. Tomorrow we have an Urdu test. Great. (But I don't think we get sent home if we fail :)
You can see some of the photos I've uploaded here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28603&l=01651&id=579695659
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28709&l=5b54e&id=579695659
Our drive to the head office included driving past the Supreme Court, and although there were quite a few men with guns, they seemed very relaxed and were lounging about. So after we visited the head office we went to field office in Islamabad Capital Territory, which is the rural area around Islamabad. We had another briefing session there, and then drove to a rural primary schoool. The drive was fantastic - properly rural Pakistan with very bumpy roads, cows an other animals by the side of the road, and many fields. The primary school we visited was excellent - it was a lot bigger than I thought it would be, with 80 pupils and separate class rooms for each class. After we said hi to the kids the whole village education committee was waiting to meet with us. This was a group of men from the village who take decisions regarding the running of the school. All the female teachers came in to talk to us as well. It kind of impressed on me how important Urdu is as nearly all the conversation was in Urdu. It also illustrated power dynamics, as the people from the NGO and us did most of the speaking, and the female teachers did not say anything. But I found out that the teachers are trained by a Tearfund partner - how cool is that!
I am meeting the Executive Director of the organisation I am working for tomorrow evening, and then we have a day with him on fri, and I go to Mansehra on sat. Tomorrow we have an Urdu test. Great. (But I don't think we get sent home if we fail :)
You can see some of the photos I've uploaded here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28603&l=01651&id=579695659
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=28709&l=5b54e&id=579695659
Sunday 4 November 2007
Well, you don't really expect that when having a short snooze listening to radio 4 on the internet after a hard days sightseeing to suddenly hear that you are living under martial law and in a state of emergency. Not a pleasant thing to wake up to. Especially given that earlier that day we were driving around the area with the Supreme Court and PM's house (and the Red Mosque, which is actually white and rather small).
But if I didn't have any access to the news, I wouldn't really know that anything was going on. Last night we were told to stay in (technically known as hibernating), so what do girls do when living under martial law? - watch Becoming Jane on DVD. It was pretty good. We also tried watching Musharraf's speech on TV but given that it was in Urdu (with a few random but fairly important English words scattered in it like democracy, Supreme Court etc) we had a rather limited understanding. There are no TV stations operating now apart from state run ones (and National Geographic ?! last night) but we have been able to get news from the internet. Although the BBC have said that mobile phone networks are down, ours are all working fine.
Today, we have been at the VSO Programme Office learning to cook Pakistani style. The end result was fantastic (and not very spicy so I didn't have to resort to yoghurt). But the day started by having to go down to the market to buy the vegetables.... A slightly embarrasing experience given that I forgot all my Urdu, tried saying please in Spanish and then tried paying a guy in dollars. Oooops. It was all a little too much for my poor brain, which doesn't bode well for the following weeks when I'm going to have to go by myself. Also, the seller person seemed a little overwhelmed having 6 western women coming up to his stall trying to practice their Urdu, and getting him to respond was like pulling teeth. But we did manage to buy the vegetables in the end.
At the moment the streets seem calm, and our guest house is miles away from any government buildings. We are keeping a low profile and basically waiting to see what happens. Think we might watch a few more chick flicks tonight.
But if I didn't have any access to the news, I wouldn't really know that anything was going on. Last night we were told to stay in (technically known as hibernating), so what do girls do when living under martial law? - watch Becoming Jane on DVD. It was pretty good. We also tried watching Musharraf's speech on TV but given that it was in Urdu (with a few random but fairly important English words scattered in it like democracy, Supreme Court etc) we had a rather limited understanding. There are no TV stations operating now apart from state run ones (and National Geographic ?! last night) but we have been able to get news from the internet. Although the BBC have said that mobile phone networks are down, ours are all working fine.
Today, we have been at the VSO Programme Office learning to cook Pakistani style. The end result was fantastic (and not very spicy so I didn't have to resort to yoghurt). But the day started by having to go down to the market to buy the vegetables.... A slightly embarrasing experience given that I forgot all my Urdu, tried saying please in Spanish and then tried paying a guy in dollars. Oooops. It was all a little too much for my poor brain, which doesn't bode well for the following weeks when I'm going to have to go by myself. Also, the seller person seemed a little overwhelmed having 6 western women coming up to his stall trying to practice their Urdu, and getting him to respond was like pulling teeth. But we did manage to buy the vegetables in the end.
At the moment the streets seem calm, and our guest house is miles away from any government buildings. We are keeping a low profile and basically waiting to see what happens. Think we might watch a few more chick flicks tonight.
Friday 2 November 2007
I have been in Islamabad just under a week now, but it seems like an age it has been so fun-filled and action-packed :) We've had Urdu training every day for 2 hours - bahut dilcasp (impressive huh!). Actually, it has been really good, and I have been constantly surprised at how similar some Urdu words are to European languages - kameez is shirt (like in French) and mez is table (like in Spanish I think!). Anyway, we have also been taken shopping (where I had to buy at least one more shalwar kameez as they are so beautiful (even though I bought about 5 with me). My excuse was that I need at least one with long sleeves. The place we went shopping was a lot more like I expected Islamabad to be - a proper bazaar. Some of the others walked past a shop selling goats heads and brain, but I was spared that pleasure (thank goodness).
In addition, we have had a session with 3 CEO's of various NGOs in Islamabad, who talked about the political situation, which was really interesting, given all that is happening at the moment. I won't give you an in depth political analysis here - you can always email me....
I also have learnt a lot more about the NGO I am going to and the job I am going to do - it sounds excellent. Hopefully I will get to travel round the different projects and interview people who have benefitted and then write it up, as well as help evaluate how successful their projects have been. Aso, the accomodation sounds fab - I am sharing with another volunteer, and we have 2 lounges (!) and a terrace. Apparently it is in the rich area of town, with all the other expats, which will be good security wise I think.
Another important matter to mention is the food. I thought before I came I wasn't too fussy, but after a mere 3 days of rice, chappati and daal for lunch and dinner I had had enough, especially as my mouth seems to be particularly delicate, so I have to drown it all in yoghurt to dull the pain (!). Oh the joy when we had pizza one lunch. Given that I have hardly survived 5 days with this diet, it doesn't bode well for the next 360.... Though most of the volunteers who have been here a while have said tht they have actually put on weight!
I was also able to go to a Catholic church today, which is really good. It was a bit of an odd experience though as it was mainly a Phillippino community and we had some really good Phillippino food after the service! But it was good to go to a place where I could feel at peace.
I am going to be in Islamabad for another week of training, and then off to Mansehra next saturday...
Anyway, i think that is all for now. Thank you so much for your messages and emails xx
In addition, we have had a session with 3 CEO's of various NGOs in Islamabad, who talked about the political situation, which was really interesting, given all that is happening at the moment. I won't give you an in depth political analysis here - you can always email me....
I also have learnt a lot more about the NGO I am going to and the job I am going to do - it sounds excellent. Hopefully I will get to travel round the different projects and interview people who have benefitted and then write it up, as well as help evaluate how successful their projects have been. Aso, the accomodation sounds fab - I am sharing with another volunteer, and we have 2 lounges (!) and a terrace. Apparently it is in the rich area of town, with all the other expats, which will be good security wise I think.
Another important matter to mention is the food. I thought before I came I wasn't too fussy, but after a mere 3 days of rice, chappati and daal for lunch and dinner I had had enough, especially as my mouth seems to be particularly delicate, so I have to drown it all in yoghurt to dull the pain (!). Oh the joy when we had pizza one lunch. Given that I have hardly survived 5 days with this diet, it doesn't bode well for the next 360.... Though most of the volunteers who have been here a while have said tht they have actually put on weight!
I was also able to go to a Catholic church today, which is really good. It was a bit of an odd experience though as it was mainly a Phillippino community and we had some really good Phillippino food after the service! But it was good to go to a place where I could feel at peace.
I am going to be in Islamabad for another week of training, and then off to Mansehra next saturday...
Anyway, i think that is all for now. Thank you so much for your messages and emails xx
Tuesday 30 October 2007
Well, I am finally in Islamabad (and managed to get to an internet cafe!). Things are going well, and I feel sorry for all you guys stuck in rainy England as the weather has been clear blue skies but not too hot (typical British to talk about the weather first). The flight out was OK - thanks to all you guys who had a word with the man upstairs as I wasn't afraid at the airport at all (though a tad upset, but that was inevitable). Unfortunately I got a little airsick (well actually it was horrible) and the advice my wonderful brother gave me before I left (not turning up with vomit down my front) was quite apt, as I was feeling terrible when I finally met the person I am going to be working with for the next year.... (But now we are getting on well)
Anyway, there are about 12 VSO people who are all in Islamabad for the 2 week in country training - a few form the UK but some from Canada, the Netherlands and the the Phillippines as well. The training has been excellent so far, and the VSO porgramme office really helpful and has made the transition easy and exciting. We've had a session about security, which was reassuring, and we have also started having Urdu lessons, which have been really fantastic - I've really wowed the team with my knowledge of saying mera naam Georgina hai. The guest house we are staying in is great, and it is easy to forget that I am in the developing world at some points - it is really luxurious compared with the dingy dirty place I stayed in last year in Calcutta. Islamabad is an odd city, though I don't think we are in the centre, but there are loads of wide fast roads, a lot of green space, and many building sites - not like a typical Asian city at all. Things don't happen on the street like they did in Calcutta - I think Rawalpindi might be more like that.
Anyway, that is all for now, but thanks so much to people who have emailed!
Anyway, there are about 12 VSO people who are all in Islamabad for the 2 week in country training - a few form the UK but some from Canada, the Netherlands and the the Phillippines as well. The training has been excellent so far, and the VSO porgramme office really helpful and has made the transition easy and exciting. We've had a session about security, which was reassuring, and we have also started having Urdu lessons, which have been really fantastic - I've really wowed the team with my knowledge of saying mera naam Georgina hai. The guest house we are staying in is great, and it is easy to forget that I am in the developing world at some points - it is really luxurious compared with the dingy dirty place I stayed in last year in Calcutta. Islamabad is an odd city, though I don't think we are in the centre, but there are loads of wide fast roads, a lot of green space, and many building sites - not like a typical Asian city at all. Things don't happen on the street like they did in Calcutta - I think Rawalpindi might be more like that.
Anyway, that is all for now, but thanks so much to people who have emailed!
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