Here is a variety of photos from my first 2 weeks in Mansehra:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21248968@N03/
Monday 26 November 2007
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
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