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.