The north...

Hunza must be officially one of the most beautiful places in the world. I can’t really describe in words how beautiful, so here are a few photos that will make you very jealous:

We stayed in a house in a little village with the following view from the back garden:

The house was surrounded by potato fields, it had a view up to the glacier, and on one side was the Hunza river:

The scenery was so awesome it definitely reminded me how small we are....

We stayed in a house belonging to a colleague at MIED, and he warned us it was basic. I have seen some basic Pakistani houses, and had mentally prepared myself. But when we walked into the house my friends and I just stood there with out mouths wide open. It was one of the most beautiful houses I have ever seen – it was a traditional Hunza house, with the sleeping area, living area and eating area all in the same room – the whole area was carpeted and cushioned. The roof was wooden. It is difficult to describe, but here is a photo, with a baby in it (twas v baby friendly).

One day we walked up to a glacier, my first glacial experience :) It was fairly surreal being close to a huge block of ice and being too hot. I got completely sunburnt that day. Apparently the glacier has shrunk considerably this year, so we couldn’t get past the moraine to walk on it. We also saw another glacier which had recently caused a flood destroying the road and fields of crops. When we got back I read in a national newspaper that UNDP are analysing the shrinking of these two glaciers as evidence of global warming.



It was really lovely experiencing village life even just for a couple of days – like getting glacier water out from a pump when the taps didn’t work, and walking past women I knew working in the potato fields. Walking around the village was lovely – in contrast to Chakwal where people just stared here everyone said asalam aleikum and smiled, there were women wandering around, and I didn't feel like I was breaking some unwritten social rule by walking outside by myself.

Many people from MIED come from this village, so we were made really welcome. One day someone came to cook for us, their family and many other people from the village as well, and we all sat around a gas lamp (power cut) eating fresh potatoes and spinach from the fields. And another day we went to visit a different family and arrived at 9.30 in the evening as it was quite a long walk. They weren’t expecting us, but they even cooked a meal for us! The wife was incredible – she was looking after 5 kids (not all her own), teaching in a local school, cooking a meal for 3 strangers and making us welcome in her home. The people in this village really were among the most friendly and hospitable that I have ever met.

I was with two friends – a married couple and their baby. It was actually really great travelling with a baby – he coped better with the heat and the altitude than the rest of us! He was a great ice breaker, and Pakistani men loved him! Quite a few times random strangers came up to us and kissed him – slightly bizarre but we got used to it.

So I’ve decided to buy a house there and grow my own potatoes and cherries. Forget coming back and getting a proper 9-5 job in London.

Islamabad again

Last week I bid a fond farewell to the hostel in Chakwal and moved to back Islamabad. I was really sorry to leave (except the ants, but I have an inkling that problem isn’t just restricted to Chakwal). Life in the hostel had been interesting and fun, and the people there so friendly. But I am happy to be back in Islamabad again - I'm not living in the guest house as I did before, and now MIED has their head office here. And I can walk to work – the freedom!!

The last few weeks in Chakwal were very interesting. As I mentioned before, I was helping out in an evaluation of one of their projects, which was great. I really enjoyed doing the field work and seeing some of the work that MIED had achieved – particularly new school buildings, running water and toilets are available in nearly all of the schools now. And talking to the communities was great – some of them were so motivated and had raised thousands of rupees for their school’s development. In one community until recently the only water they had was from rain and natural pools. The animals drank and swam in it, and the community used it for drinking. But 3 months ago the government built a pipeline to the village. And in May the community organised themselves to build a link from the pipeline to the school 3 km away. It took them a week to achieve this! Completely brilliant. Who says development is all about dependency and handouts?

Then after the data collection we started work on data analysis and writing up the report, which we achieved in mega quick time because of the need to move to Islamabad. I don’t think an evaluation report has ever been written so quickly (but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t of very high quality!). I and the guy I did it with enjoyed doing it so much that we are now on the hunt for more evaluations….

Unfortunately Plan has decided to pull out of Mansehra completely, which leaves us with a major funding crisis. We will try to find new donors for our projects, but it is all pretty stressful. We are working with over 20,000 children in Mansehra so it will be gutting if we have to close all the projects. It seems that many INGOs are coming to the final stages of their support in the earthquake-affected regions, so I don’t think it is going to be easy. But there is still huge need in those areas – most schools in Balakot are still operating out of tents. And we are running 100 ECCD centres for the very young children in two valleys – we can’t just leave them.

This is going to be a completely new phase for MIED, as with all the previous projects it was the donor who approached us, rather than the other way around. The only slightly relevant experience I have is writing the funding rejection letters for Tearfund – so I know exactly how to approach donors to ensure that they WON’T give money, but how to do it so they will….?! Though I had a networking opportunity the other day – someone from the Northern Areas was on our balcony and noticed someone else on a neighbouring balcony also from the Northern Areas. They established through a loud conversation that both offices had Europeans working there, so we were invited around for cold drinks. It was an INGO and they knew all about MIED and our work, and even said that they would have been happy to work with us, but they are leaving the country next month. Grrrr.

So life is kinda interesting. I’m going to the Northern Areas next week with some friends who I haven’t seen for ages, and their baby, which is v exciting!! I can’t wait. But on Friday we got a security email from VSO saying not to arrange any travel early next week as we might have to hibernate. Hmmm. Also I’ve left ALL my cold weather clothes in Chakwal and I don’t think the temperature at 3000m is going to be exactly the same as Islamabad. Talking of which, it has been so hot that the front of my Ipod has melted. Anyway, I’m trying to develop the Pakistani attitude: kya masle hai? Ye Pakistan hai, sab chalte hai. What problem? This is Pakistan, everything is possible.