So you may have noticed that the interface on my blog page has changed somewhat since the last post and there seems to be a lot more going on. Well, let’s just say that I’ve been fiddling around with the Blogger tools and found some pretty interesting stuff. Not sure if I’ve done too much and made the site look somewhat cluttered. So, I’d really love some feedback on what you think of the site.
Anyway, it’s passed 11 PM on a Tuesday night here in Islamabad and surprisingly the power hasn’t gone out. Usually, the regular load-shedding schedule dictates that power goes out in my Sector between the hours of 11:00 PM and 12:00 Midnight. I guess someone forgot to pull the plug at the power station. But hey, I’m not complaining! In fact, it’s nice to be able to relax and listen to some good jazz music on iTunes radio web cast, whilst sipping on cognac. Thus far this seems to be the perfect end to a long day…
It’s been almost 1 ½ weeks since I returned from my work visit to Ethiopia. The week following my return was just absolute hell catching up on a mountain of work that landed on my desk the day I returned to work.
My trip to Ethiopia on the other hand, was just heavenly. You would have read about my journey to Ethiopia, with the unexpected upgrade to Business and First Classes on Emirates. The picture slide-show I posted has some pictures of the journey and my brief stay in Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia. Although the journey was part of the fun of getting there, for once, the destination proved to be so much more joyous and fulfilling.
Setting foot on African soil once again after being away from the continent for about 1 ½ years, I felt a sudden burst of joy in my heart that’s really inexplicable. It was as if I was coming home again – a feeling I’ve somehow never really encountered going back to my home country or anywhere else for that matter… well, maybe when I lived in Boston, but this was magnified several times. I suppose there’s something about Africa that once you’ve experienced it, once you’ve been bitten by that “bug”, a bond is established between one’s self and the soil. Africa has a kind of “realness” to it - an authenticity -that’s unlike any other. The people of this land possess a generosity of spirit that makes you feel at home. Amidst the great need that exists in many parts of the continent, the people somehow exhibit a desire to share from the little they have and that perhaps is truly one of the most humbling experiences that creates a bond between a weary traveller or visitor and the people and the land.
The weather in Addis Ababa and the town of Debre Zeyit, about 50 km away from Addis, where the training centre I was going to be staying was simply divine. The average temperatures that ranged from 13 C to 15 C (55 F to 59 F) was a welcome respite from the 45-50 C (113 – 122 F) weather I was experiencing in Islamabad, Pakistan the week before.
The workshop itself was quite intense and there wasn’t much time for anything else, but it was 5 full days of productive learning. Whilst I cannot quite claim to be an expert on preparing European Union (EU) concept notes and proposals, I certainly learned a lot about them and some of the skills are certainly applicable to funding calls by other donors, be it DfID, CIDA, USAID etc. The workshop also focused on strategies to pursue work related to Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) in our respective countries.
The other major benefit of participating in this workshop was that I got to meet some amazing people who are not only passionate but exceptionally brilliant. They came from India, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia as well as Germany and Belgium. We had more colleagues scheduled to participate in this workshop from Tanzania, Mozambique and Burkina Faso. Unfortunately due to some visa-related issues, they were held back at Bole International Airport in Addis and were denied entry into the country. The fervent efforts by the organization’s staff to help secure entry for these folks were in vain and the Ethiopian authorities refused to even grant them a transit visa for temporary entry. This incident served as reminder to all of us on the importance of having the appropriate information and clearances in advance before embarking on any travel.
I have to say that one of the highlights of this trip was that I was able to hang out with folks from Uganda and Kenya once again. I must confess that after 5 days of continuous interaction, I found myself slipping into former patterns of speech that I’d picked up in Kenya. :-)
Although there wasn’t much time for sight-seeing and hardly any for shopping – a point of contention for some participants, we nonetheless were able to visit a couple of lakes in Debre Zeyit and check out the area surrounding our training centre. Seeing as it was World Cup season, extra effort was made to catch as many matches as possible. Unfortunately, the euphoria that came from Ghana’s victory over the US in the World Cup match (see previous post) did not last as Ghana was unceremoniously defeated by Uruguay in the following match. That was certainly a mood-buster for almost all of us in the group.
During this trip, I had the opportunity to visit one of the local youth associations in Debre Zeyit that was supported by the organizers of this workshop. The primary aim of this youth association was to promote awareness on Sexual & Reproductive Health (SRH) issues amongst their community. The centre has counselling services as well as a small library. They also support two (2) income-generating activities, one of which is quite extraordinary and very different from the usual income-generating activities that most development workers are familiar with. This particular group goes round to the local bars, clubs and hotels and sell condoms to the patrons of these establishments. Although free condoms are available in the government health centres, these youths do surprisingly well – they sell approximately 12,000 condoms each month in this relatively small town!!
The young people from this association also have a mobile dance troupe that performs at weddings and other functions in the area. We were privileged to have this group perform for us on the eve of the workshop’s conclusion. These kids are just absolutely talented and vibrant. Watching them perform with full of life and passion re-affirmed my belief in the potential of every child in this world and it inspired me to say a prayer for these kids that they will have all their needs met and have all the opportunities that they so rightly deserve. It also inspired me to want to work for the realization of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) that sets out the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of children worldwide, thus seeking to create the most conducive environment for them to achieve their fullest potential. As a side note, whilst I believe firmly in the rights and potential of children, I am still not a fan of having kids within 50 yards of my personal space, especially on air planes and closed spaces!! I maintain that I love children as a concept!
Alas, all good things must come to an end, and I now find myself back in Pakistan. Although, I know that there is a purpose for my being in this part of the world at this particular period, I nonetheless have left my heart in Africa and hope to make it back there some day to work in that part of the world. In the meantime, I hope to fulfil my purpose and mission where I am right now and have a positive impact in the lives of the people here.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Hurray for Mother Africa!!
I begin this post on a highly jubilant note of Ghana’s 2-1 victory over the USA in the World Cup Football match…. What a poignant moment this is for me as I am currently sitting in the CIP Lounge of the Benazir Bhutto International Airport in Islamabad, waiting to board my plane for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia! Although I haven’t really been following this World Cup religiously, I am nonetheless ecstatic over this game in particular. Here’s to Africa! I suppose I can say “I Left My Heart in Africa”
It has certainly been some time since my last blog update. Time has flown so quickly and it has already been 2 months since I arrived in Pakistan. Much has happened in these last 2 months and I have been absolutely swamped with work. The process of getting acquainted with my program and all the minute details has certainly been quite challenging and I still have some ways to go before I become 100% familiar. I’ve had the joy of writing, editing and finalizing several proposals on a range of projects from women’s empowerment to youth development (encompassing education, health and human rights) to projects that focus on democracy and minority issues.
I was supposed to have visited our offices and programs in Afghanistan earlier this month, but was forced to postpone this trip indefinitely. A certain television station in Kabul ran some false news on air earlier this month and implicated the organization I work for along with another international NGO. This led to security threats being leveled at both organizations and we were temporarily forced to suspend our work in Afghanistan. We have filed formal complaints to the Afghan government through the Afghan NGO consortium and are currently waiting to formal results of the investigations to be released. This incident is a classic case of irresponsible journalism as the media outlet in question manufactured false news and implicated innocent groups and subsequently placed the lives of many in grave danger. The station director himself admitted in an interview with the New York Times that they had no proof and just randomly picked our names from the phone book. As of this date, we are still in the wait-and-see mode on whether we can resume our operations.
Moving along to the present day, I am en route to Ethiopia for a training/workshop/meeting on Reproductive Health. This workshop/training/meeting is also supposed to help build our capacity to respond to European funding opportunities. Of course, this essentially means that I am going to have a lot more work on my hands when I get back to the office. However, I am excited about this opportunity and am looking forward to learning more on issues surrounding reproductive health and having my capacity to respond to European funding opportunities, notably EU funding calls expanded.
Much as I love travelling, it would seem that travelling always comes with some sort of drama with me. If you recall my second blog post, where I was heading for a field visit in Sindh and encountered a rather nerve-wrecking experience getting onto that flight. Well this time around, the drama came in a different for. I was initially scheduled to fly out to Addis on Monday, 28 June 2010. However, on Friday evening, just as I was about to leave the office at 6:30 p.m., I receive an email from the workshop organizer saying that Ethiopian Airlines had cancelled the last leg of my outbound flight from Dubai (DXB) to Addis (ADD). Of course, the rest of that evening was spent juggling phone calls and emails reviewing alternate options for my travel. Thankfully, they were able to get me on another flight on Emirates all the way from Islamabad (ISB) to Addis via DXB. Unfortunately, I had to leave 1 ½ days earlier on early Sunday morning at 3:40 am. This of course means that I effectively needed to leave my place late Saturday evening, which was what I did and ultimately find myself here at the airport, typing my blog entry. The silver lining in this entire episode was my eventual discovery that my outbound flight was booked on Business & First Class! It’s nice to have access to the business class lounges and not having to fork out extra $$$ for it. Of course, my return flight will force me back to Sardine class (also known as Economy). Alas, I’m going to try to be grateful for little blessings and not get too demanding… I am ultimately excited to be setting foot on African soil once again and am eagerly looking forward to it. As I said in the beginning of this post, I’ve certainly left my heart in Africa and it’s wonderful to be going back again!
On that note, I bid you adieu for now and hope to write more soon. Cheers!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Turbulent times in Pakistan: Violence & Censorship
Ok folks, so it's Thursday evening (May 20, 2010) and I'm writing this post from the library in CWS' Karachi office that has been turned into my bedroom for the night. I came down to Karachi this morning for a series of meetings today and tomorrow. As soon as I arrived in Karachi, I found out there were clashes between two political factions yesterday – the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – better known by its acronym MQM and the ANP – Awami National Party. No one really knows what triggered the clashes but apparently there were targeted shootings around the city that killed approximately 23 people and Karachi is under a semi-lock down. More details are in this news report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8693681.stm). One of the shootings happened in the Saddr district of Karachi, which is where our staff guest house is located.
In light of this, my office refused to let me return to the Staff Guest House and instead converted the library into a temporary bedroom so I could spend the night here. So this is my second time in Karachi where I've been confined to closed quarters – the last time was due to my run-in with malaria and this time for security concerns. So far I haven't really had a great experience in Karachi….hmmm… This is really unfortunate as I can see myself liking a city like Karachi, with all the hustle and bustle that comes with it, though I can certainly do WITHOUT the ridiculous heat and humidity here. It was 39 C (102 F) when I arrived at around noon. In any case, I am certainly looking forward to returning home to Islamabad. I still find it ironic that I keep referring to Islamabad as "home"… In fact, I think I've developed a certain "Capital City Superiority Complex" and get defensive when people from Lahore and Karachi refer to Islamabad as the "dead city", which in fairness and in comparison to Karachi and Lahore, Islamabad is relatively quiet.
Anyway, the other big news story here is the government of Pakistan's decision to ban Facebook and YouTube. See report on BBC World News (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10130195.stm). The ban on Facebook started yesterday because a group of people had planned for a online contest on Facebook to get people to draw images of the Prophet Mohammed. The excuse for the banning of YouTube was that it was spreading sacrilegious content. Needless to say that I find this ban utterly ridiculous as it is a violation of freedom of expression and information. I understand and respect the sensitivities of people with regards to images depicting the Prophet, who is revered by Muslims worldwide. However, I strongly believe that there could have been alternative measures taken to state their protest rather than ban the whole site. Additionally certain links on Wikipedia and Flickr have also been banned. Obviously this entire incident has generated a lot of mixed reactions on all sides of the argument. Now I have my opinions on this subject but I will refrain from stating them here as I do not wish to engage in this controversy. Plus I don't want my innocent blog blocked by the Pakistani government, thereby depriving me further of my access to the world. This fiasco has certainly shown me how dependent I am on Facebook. The internet – e-mail and Facebook have become so integral to my daily life that they are as natural as breathing for me. So needless to say that I am suffering from this forced deprivation!
Well, that's it for today. Till the next time….good night and good luck…
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
This pesky thing called Malaria…
Greetings folks:
It's been almost 2 weeks since my last posting and much has happened in that time. I'd intended to write an update much sooner but was unable to for reasons which will be explained here. So my last posting was that of my journey to one of our project sites in Mirpurkhas district in Sindh Province, which is approximately 3 ½ hours northeast of Karachi. I was supposed to have stayed in Mirpurkhas from Sunday (2 May 2010) through Wednesday (5 May 2010), visiting the various project sites in Naukott and Umerkot (two sub-divisions of Mirpurkhas), after which I had a meeting in Hyderabad and then head back to Karachi for more meetings the rest of the week.
Alas none of this came to pass as during my first site visit on Monday, I started feeling nauseous, feverish and was about to faint. I thought it was a heat stroke as the heat was beyond stifling that Monday. The temperature range that day was somewhere between 43C and 45C (109F-113F). Alas, it turned out to be malaria. This would make it the 2nd time in 2 years that I've come down with this nasty illness. The last time was in Kenya in 2008. Anyway, my office had me promptly sent back to Karachi on Tuesday, after I got the results of the blood test in Mirpurkhas, where I got treatment from one of the urban hospitals and spent the rest of the week resting in the staff guest house there.
This was my first experience with the Pakistani health care system and I have to say that the difference between the rural and urban health care systems could not be further apart. In Mirpurkhas I was taken to the "best hospital" in the area, which was a mission hospital – St. Teresa's Mission Hospital as opposed to the public hospital. Of course, when I first entered the grounds of St. Teresa's, my first thought was "has the construction on this building been completed?" The facilities seemed minimal and I was grateful not to have to be admitted there, though I have to say that the doctor who examined me did inspire some confidenceJ and I am extremely grateful for that. Upon getting back to Karachi, I was immediately taken to the Aga Khan University Hospital, which is supposed to be one the premier medical facilities in Pakistan. This hospital was massive in size and seemed pretty modern in terms of the facilities it had. I was impressed. The Aga Khan name was familiar to me as I recall that the Aga Khan Foundation also runs very good hospitals in other parts of the world, including in Kenya – in Nairobi and Kisumu. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised at the cost of outpatient consultation and medication at Aga Khan. I learned later that the Aga Khan foundation that runs numerous education, welfare and medical facilities globally provides affordable and even subsidized healthcare for the poor. . Having said that however, this experience nonetheless illustrated the vast differences in quality of life experienced by both the rural and urban folk in this and many other countries across the globe.
Although the trip to Mirpurkhas was cut short abruptly, thankfully I was able to complete at le
ast the 1st day's visit. I had the privilege of meeting with the women's Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and the Farmers Resource Centres (FRCs) as well as check out the new Earth Boxes, which we introduced not too long ago. Earth Boxes allow for planting of fruits and vegetables (albeit a limited quantity) that requires little watering. It's basically a self-irrigated form of planting. This form of planting is particularly useful in this part of the country as it is extremely dry and has been experiencing an extended period of drought. It also doesn't help that the irrigation water that is supposed to be channeled to the small farmers at the end of the line doesn't get to them due to the larger and more influential landlords (many of whom are residing abroad) exert their influence and take more than their share of water for their farms and orchards. As a result, the small farmers' crops die sooner and this affects their livelihoods and subsequently the welfare of their families. Needless to say that the road ahead is a long one in terms of ensuring food security and sustainable livelihoods for the communities in this area.
Come Friday, I started to feel a tad better and decided to come "home" to Islamabad as planned on Saturday. Unfortunately this episode with malaria was soon followed by severe stomach cramps and diarrhea that lasted me almost a week. I'm still on medication but am feeling much better. Ironically, all 3 of us who were in Mirpurkhas from my organization fell ill, with one of who also came down with malaria and the diarrhea, and the other who skipped the malaria but ended up having to be hospitalized when we got home to Islamabad because of the diarrhea. Thankfully we're all much better now but needless to say, this was one hellish visit for all of us.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Journey to Mirpurkhas
I am writing this blog post from the living room of our local partner's guest house in Ratanabad in Mirpurkhas district in Sindh province. The journey to this remote corner of Sindh began this morning, Sunday, 2nd May 2010. Getting here was certainly an adventure – one that seems to be increasingly the norm as far as my travels go, where almost everything that could go wrong, pretty much did. However, I must say that I was grateful that the end result was positive.
The flight my colleague and I were to take was scheduled to depart at 10:00 a.m. for Karachi and the airport – Benazir Bhutto International Airport is approximately 30-35 minutes away from where I live. I planned on waking up at about 7:00 a.m. This would have left me with ample time to get ready and leave the house at about 8:00 a.m., which was when I expected to leave. Lo and behold, my alarm clock did not ring. Apparently the alarm settings on my phone were not adjusted to ring on Sundays!! I woke up at 7:53 a.m. to my utter shock and horror and dashed about to get ready and successfully did so in about 15 minutes – a record time as far as yours truly is concerned. My colleague was already up and we were about ready to go by about 8:15 a.m. Then we wondered exactly what time our driver from the office was planning on picking us up. I'd sent a text message to our office manager earlier about this but never got a response. So after a couple of phone calls, we realized that someone screwed up and forgot to schedule a ride for us to the airport. PANIC!!!! Thankfully, I remembered that a new friend I'd met a few days earlier who lived pretty close to us was also scheduled to fly to Karachi at the same time. Another phone call later and we were able to hitch a ride to the airport with her. She was truly a God-sent angel!!!
Anyway, we got to the airport at 9:15 a.m. only to find the queue getting into the terminal was LONG due to security checks. Thankfully her driver was pretty skilled at cutting the queue and managed to get us close to the terminal building and we basically ran in. Of course, the terminal wasn't any empty either. Benazir Bhutto International Airport is really quite a bloody chaotic place to be and the queues for all PIA – Pakistan International Airlines flight check-ins were just ridiculously LONG. Thankfully, one of the PIA check-in staff spotted us – very lost looking firangis (well I think my Japanese colleague stood out more than I did) and came to our aid. Since neither of us was checking-in any luggage, he was able to get us our boarding passes while we waited in a corner and got us through. The thing with airports in Pakistan is that there is ALWAYS a queue at almost every point – supposedly for security checks (which are not uncommon elsewhere), but these checks sometimes behoove rational thought on how exactly they help improve security. Mostly, they serve to create additional layers of delays. Anyway, we managed to board the bus that took us across the tarmac (no aerobridges in this airport) and we got to the plane, where we ended up having to queue up once again under the HOT BLAZING sun to get on the damn plane! Alas, we finally made it at about 10:10 a.m. Needless to say, the flight was delayed and the last passenger finally boarded the plane around 10:35 a.m. and we took off at approximately 10:55 a.m. We had the joy of sitting close to several restless children who cried pretty much the entire journey and also behind two guys who just purely obnoxious!!!! I'll leave out the details… Anyway, we arrived in Karachi at about 12:20 p.m. and met our director along with a couple of other staff from the Karachi office who joined us on our field visit to Mirpurkhas.
I must say that I am generally quite impressed with the roads in Pakistan – especially the highways. Though they are a far cry from the highways in the US, Europe or even Malaysia, the roads generally seem to be in fairly decent shape. We had to make a stop in Hyderabad (Pakistan, not the Hyderabad in India) to meet up with another member of our team who is based there. My colleague Kyoko and I had arranged a meeting there with our fellow team member. The journey from Karachi to Hyderabad took approximately 2 hours. Our director and the other two staff dropped us off and proceeded to Mirpurkhas. We were met later in the evening by another driver from our partner organization who took us on the final leg of our journey. The last leg of this journey took us approximately 1 ½ hrs and was by far the most interesting part of the trip.
I did not realize that this particular part of Sindh province is really the edge of the Thar Desert that starts from Rajasthan in India. Whilst part of the area is quite fertile, it is also very obvious when we cross into the desert-land, with the greenery disappearing almost instantly. Back tracking a little, just before we entered Hyderabad, we crossed the mighty Indus River, which once saw great civilizations of the past. This was my first time crossing one of the world's great rivers. Unfortunately due to an on-going drought situation, and also the fact that India blocks off a significant amount of the flow in the head of the river, the mighty Indus didn't look so mighty at all, which was really quite sad. Fast-forward to the journey from Hyderabad to Mirpurkhas. Because this area is so close to the edge of the Thar Desert, there are an abundance of camels in the area. Camels (and donkeys) are used as a form of cargo transportation, helping haul goods across the area. This was certainly a treat for me.
I have to say that there is something about the camel that is just amazing. When you see a donkey hauling a trailer full of stuff, you can't help but feel sorry for the poor animal. It clearly is doing a great job but you know that it is working HARD!! The camel on the other hand hauls approximately twice or three-times the load the donkey pulls yet does in stride. Its height and its stature and not to mention, its face exudes a certain care-free aura. It almost says, "You see this load I'm hauling? Well, we're coming through and you're making way for us. I don't care how big your car or SUV or truck is, I ain't moving out of your way, so you sure as hell better get out of mine." Amazingly enough, it works as huge lorries, cars, SUVs, busses etc., all swerve to avoid the camel that is occupying half the lane of a narrow road. Anyway, after a somewhat hair-raising drive, we finally made it to Ratanabad in Mirpurkhas district to our partner organization's guest house. The driver was certainly skilled. Never in a million years would I have imagined that it was possible to use the 5th gear on that narrow road. Every time he overtook another vehicle, donkey or camel, I swear my heart was at my throat just waiting to come out all the way. My Anglo-catholic sensibilities led to the second half of the Hail Mary being on the tip of my tongue. This is the part that says "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and the hour of our DEATH, with particular pause at DEATH. Alas, we made it here in one piece.
Anyway folks, it is past midnight here and I am just absolutely knackered!!! Sleep beckons and I must go to bed and hope that the power-cut takes a break tonight. The one thing I did not mention above is that the heat in this part of the country is just unbelievable. In Karachi, it was about 40 degrees Celsius and it's about the same, if not more here. Well, till my next post. Take care and khuda hafiz!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
I’ve finally seen the REAL Pakistan…
Ok folks… so I've been in Pakistan for about a week now – time really does fly. In this past week, I managed to get around to some important places in Islamabad – mainly work and the marketplaces but that's really about it. In my previous postings, I've noted how Islamabad seems very unreal compared to what I imagined Pakistan to be or at least what I've heard it is like. I've been told that Islamabad is a "dead city" compared to Karachi, Lahore and even neighbouring Rawalpindi. Well, little did I realize what those who said that really meant when they said it.
Back tracking a little, I finally met up with a very old and dear friend who lives in Rawalpindi (the locals call it Pindi for short). She had worked in my hometown, Malacca about 10-12 years back in the late 1990s with a few others as nurses in one of the private hospitals in Malacca. She and another Pakistani nurse attended the church I grew up in and befriended my parents. Over time, we became very close and they spent a lot of time with us. We visited them quite frequently and they would accompany us on trips out of town etc. Well, the whole lot of them left in 1999 and we all but lost touch. Strangely enough though, about 2-3 weeks prior to my departure for Islamabad, I received a random message on Facebook from someone who had a similar name, asking me if I was so and so from Malacca. I instantly recognized her profile and thus a long lost connection was re-established. Oh the wonders of Facebook and the internet at large!
Coming back to present day, my friend Rehana is now married with 2 kids, aged 9 and 7 and the whole family lives about 20-30 minutes away in Pindi. So we finally arranged to meet up today (after I got my necessary security clearance) and I spent the day with my didi (big sister in Urdu/Hindi) Rehana, her husband, Tahir and their two children – Rachel and Jeremiah. I thought we were going to spend the entire day in Pindi, but they had other plans. Anyway, they took me around Islamabad and showed me some of the sights. We went up to the Daman-e-Koh viewing point in the Margalla Hills National Park in Islamabad. The views from there are just spectacular!! Islamabad (I should really start referring to it as Isloo….) The monkeys we saw on the way up there had to be at least twice or three times the size of the ones who used to create havoc at my old office in KL. After lunch in the city, I got a drive-by tour of the Parliament, the President's & Prime Minister's residence as well as the Supreme Court – all magnificent structures. We then ended up in Rawal Lake, which sits between Isloo and Pindi and serves as the main water source for the city. It was HOT but the trip was worth it. We then left for their home in Pindi.
The drive into Pindi was quite an experience. I recall how everyone had told me that how vastly different Pindi is from Isloo. Well, one can tell almost instantly when the city line is crossed. In a way, Pindi is very much what I imagined Pakistan to be. The city is hot (not like Islamabad's any cooler, but the combination of exhaust fumes, heat etc. make the heat really stand out), bustling (read: chaotic) with traffic – pedestrians, cars, lorries/trucks, taxis, busses, auto-rickshaws and the occasional horse carriage or donkey cart. Pindi reminds me a lot of Kisumu in western Kenya but is somehow a tad more chaotic – I never imagined that there could be a place more chaotic than Kisumu. With that said though, Pindi is REAL. There is life all around and has a certain spirit to it, which is inexplicable. Isloo is filled with huge – and I mean HUGE mansions and houses in almost every sector. Most of these houses are owned and/or occupied by top military and civil servants, diplomats etc. Pindi on the other hand seems to be where the real people live – the ones who make up the soul of this country, who work extraordinarily hard and struggle to make ends meet. I'm sure there is an upscale section in Pindi, but I did not see it on this trip. I can understand why trips to Pindi require security clearance and why it is strictly off-limits on Friday afternoons – before, during and especially AFTER Friday prayers. (Apparently most suicide bombings tend to take place after prayer time).
As they say, all good things must come to an end (though I'm sure there are those who would question my definition of "good" with regards to Pindi). I returned to Isloo in the late evening. The drive back was an experience that calls for a separate posting altogether. Suffice to say that I was impressed with Tahir's cousin's driving and that I believe with all my heart that driving in Pakistan requires a healthy dose of chutzpah!!
I shall end my posting for today here as I must call it a night. Have a morning flight to catch to Karachi to begin my week-long visit to our project sites in Mirpurkhas in Sindh Province and meetings in Hyderabad (the Pakistani city, not the capital of Andhra Pradesh, India) and Karachi. Till then, good night!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Still the newbie
Ok, so for all you readers out there, I should warn you that the postings on this blog can be rather random and may appear uncoordinated at times. For that, I apologise ahead of time.
In any case, I'm at the end of the work day on day 2 here. Suffice to say that it was a crazy day with meetings on projects and proposals etc. and I am completely overwhelmed!! Not really sure how to proceed next. I do know that the coming weeks will be even more insane with almost 1 1/2 weeks of travel back-to-back; visiting project sites in Sindh & Punjab provinces, as well as those in Afghanistan and also the HQ in Karachi as well as the offices in Lahore and Kabul. During the course of these visits, there are deadlines to meet...Oy!! But this is what I signed up for and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope I still have my head above the water and don't drown in the meantime!
I had my security briefing today. Surprisingly, I wasn't as freaked out as I thought I would be at the end of it. There's a long list of restricted areas in Greater Islamabad. The list includes the neighboring city of Rawalpindi and also sections of Islamabad including Karachi Company, Melody, Peshawar More, Golra Sharif etc. Needless to say that none of these names mean anything to me at this point as I am still trying to get my bearings straight. Being picked up from home and dropped off at the office, which are really close by doesn't help me get to know the city any better. I have gone to the nearby market/bazaar, which is across the main road from where I live but that's about it (of course, not forgetting my brief drive-by around the city with a colleague on Saturday).
There are places we are allowed to go but it's limited to a select few areas of the city. Unfortunately for me, all the usual things that I would do in terms of moving around, i.e using public transport etc. are off-limits - no riding buses van minibuses, flagging taxis on the road (though using Radio Cabs is fine but I need to get clearance first). Otherwise, the drivers from my office are available to take us to most of where we want to go; we just need to give them a bit of advanced notice. This is all going to take a lot of getting-used to, considering that I had unrestricted access to everywhere I wanted to go previously in Malaysia and also in the US. Now, Kenya came with some limitations but I managed to get around them eventually. Having said that, I'm not overly concerned about this.
Islamabad is not really a conventional city. It appears to me to be more of a collection of self-contained suburbs that are its respective Sectors. It reminds me of the federal administrative centre of Malaysia - Putrajaya. Putrajaya is a planned city constructed in the 1990s and has most ammenities that its residents need. However, apart from the government offices that are based there, the city has no life, compared to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and its rapidly expanding suburbs and twin cities. Islamabad is a similarly planned city, though done much earlier in the 1960s, after the then capital, Karachi began to get too congested. Now people from Karachi and Lahore tell me that they consider ISB to be a "dead city". Now there is certainly more life here in ISB than in Putrajaya, but Islamabad certainly lacks the conventional nightlife to which I have become accustomed in other cities across the globe - KL, Singapore, Boston, New York, Hong Kong, Nairobi etc.
One of the issues facing Pakistan is an apparent scarcity in electricity supply (though most people seem to think it's just a political ploy). Load-shedding (the scheduled interruption of power supply for a set period of time) is a daily occurrence here. In Islamabad, it happens about 2-3 times a day for an hour each time. In some other cities like Lahore and Karachi, it happens more frequently. Still in some other areas it can happen for up to 12-hours at a time, which is simply mind-boggling. Interestingly enough, the government is asking businesses to close at 8 or 9 pm to conserve energy. This is absolutely ridiculous from my point of view as it stifles the economy and interrupts people's lives significantly. An obvious alternative is for the government to increase the power supply to meet the demand of its people. There are a wide range of sources - solar comes to mind given the amount of sunlight Pakistan receives. Granted that this is an expensive method, but like most countries, I don't think that there is a shortage of money. The resources just need to be channeled appropriately and leakages (read: corruption) plugged. But the other consideration here is that a majority of this country's resources and money is channeled towards the military. The Military in Pakistan is the country's leviathan and the most established institution - larger and more powerful than the government itself. I will visit this topic later.
Well that's all I have for this round. So till the next time, I bid you Khuda Haafiz...
In any case, I'm at the end of the work day on day 2 here. Suffice to say that it was a crazy day with meetings on projects and proposals etc. and I am completely overwhelmed!! Not really sure how to proceed next. I do know that the coming weeks will be even more insane with almost 1 1/2 weeks of travel back-to-back; visiting project sites in Sindh & Punjab provinces, as well as those in Afghanistan and also the HQ in Karachi as well as the offices in Lahore and Kabul. During the course of these visits, there are deadlines to meet...Oy!! But this is what I signed up for and I'm looking forward to it. I just hope I still have my head above the water and don't drown in the meantime!
I had my security briefing today. Surprisingly, I wasn't as freaked out as I thought I would be at the end of it. There's a long list of restricted areas in Greater Islamabad. The list includes the neighboring city of Rawalpindi and also sections of Islamabad including Karachi Company, Melody, Peshawar More, Golra Sharif etc. Needless to say that none of these names mean anything to me at this point as I am still trying to get my bearings straight. Being picked up from home and dropped off at the office, which are really close by doesn't help me get to know the city any better. I have gone to the nearby market/bazaar, which is across the main road from where I live but that's about it (of course, not forgetting my brief drive-by around the city with a colleague on Saturday).
There are places we are allowed to go but it's limited to a select few areas of the city. Unfortunately for me, all the usual things that I would do in terms of moving around, i.e using public transport etc. are off-limits - no riding buses van minibuses, flagging taxis on the road (though using Radio Cabs is fine but I need to get clearance first). Otherwise, the drivers from my office are available to take us to most of where we want to go; we just need to give them a bit of advanced notice. This is all going to take a lot of getting-used to, considering that I had unrestricted access to everywhere I wanted to go previously in Malaysia and also in the US. Now, Kenya came with some limitations but I managed to get around them eventually. Having said that, I'm not overly concerned about this.
Islamabad is not really a conventional city. It appears to me to be more of a collection of self-contained suburbs that are its respective Sectors. It reminds me of the federal administrative centre of Malaysia - Putrajaya. Putrajaya is a planned city constructed in the 1990s and has most ammenities that its residents need. However, apart from the government offices that are based there, the city has no life, compared to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and its rapidly expanding suburbs and twin cities. Islamabad is a similarly planned city, though done much earlier in the 1960s, after the then capital, Karachi began to get too congested. Now people from Karachi and Lahore tell me that they consider ISB to be a "dead city". Now there is certainly more life here in ISB than in Putrajaya, but Islamabad certainly lacks the conventional nightlife to which I have become accustomed in other cities across the globe - KL, Singapore, Boston, New York, Hong Kong, Nairobi etc.
One of the issues facing Pakistan is an apparent scarcity in electricity supply (though most people seem to think it's just a political ploy). Load-shedding (the scheduled interruption of power supply for a set period of time) is a daily occurrence here. In Islamabad, it happens about 2-3 times a day for an hour each time. In some other cities like Lahore and Karachi, it happens more frequently. Still in some other areas it can happen for up to 12-hours at a time, which is simply mind-boggling. Interestingly enough, the government is asking businesses to close at 8 or 9 pm to conserve energy. This is absolutely ridiculous from my point of view as it stifles the economy and interrupts people's lives significantly. An obvious alternative is for the government to increase the power supply to meet the demand of its people. There are a wide range of sources - solar comes to mind given the amount of sunlight Pakistan receives. Granted that this is an expensive method, but like most countries, I don't think that there is a shortage of money. The resources just need to be channeled appropriately and leakages (read: corruption) plugged. But the other consideration here is that a majority of this country's resources and money is channeled towards the military. The Military in Pakistan is the country's leviathan and the most established institution - larger and more powerful than the government itself. I will visit this topic later.
Well that's all I have for this round. So till the next time, I bid you Khuda Haafiz...
Monday, April 26, 2010
Arrived at destination
Ok folks, just a quick update to note that I have finally arrived at my destination - Islamabad, my new home for the next 1-3 years. I arrived on Friday evening (23rd April 2010) just a little after 10 pm and am now settled in my new apartment, which I'm sharing with 2 other colleagues in what is known as Staff House 2.
Islamabad is an interesting place. I'm impressed with the roads - wide boulevards and highways. Traffic isn't as chaotic as I expected it to be. The houses that I've seen in this city so far are MASSIVE. The streets are relatively clean and the views of the Margala Hills are just magnificent. I have however, been told that Islamabad is not representative of Pakistan at all and is a rather "fake" city. Islamabad's twin city, Rawalpindi, which is located about 15-20 km away is quite the opposite, or so I'm told.
From what I gather, Islamabad is a planned city that was built some time in the 1960s. The city is divided into "Sectors" and each sector is self-contained with its own markets/bazaars. One thing that I do like about this place is that there are hardly any shopping malls here. Coming from Malaysia where almost everything is located in one shopping mall or another, it is nice to see smaller businesses thrive in an urban environment.
I will write more on this subject later as I have to leave the office now. Till the next post, khuda haafiz.
Islamabad is an interesting place. I'm impressed with the roads - wide boulevards and highways. Traffic isn't as chaotic as I expected it to be. The houses that I've seen in this city so far are MASSIVE. The streets are relatively clean and the views of the Margala Hills are just magnificent. I have however, been told that Islamabad is not representative of Pakistan at all and is a rather "fake" city. Islamabad's twin city, Rawalpindi, which is located about 15-20 km away is quite the opposite, or so I'm told.
From what I gather, Islamabad is a planned city that was built some time in the 1960s. The city is divided into "Sectors" and each sector is self-contained with its own markets/bazaars. One thing that I do like about this place is that there are hardly any shopping malls here. Coming from Malaysia where almost everything is located in one shopping mall or another, it is nice to see smaller businesses thrive in an urban environment.
I will write more on this subject later as I have to leave the office now. Till the next post, khuda haafiz.
Friday, April 23, 2010
In Transit
Ok.... so I've been putting off creating a blog for the longest time but I think it's time I went ahead and did it. So, as I sit here in the CIP Lounge at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, I finally bit the bullet and signed up for an account on blogger and created this page.
Alas, I can't really update it too much as I have to leave the comforts of this little slice of heaven to go catch my connecting flight to Islamabad where I will begin my new adventure as a humanitarian aid worker.
With that stated, I will end this for now and get back to it later once I've settled in to my new "home" in "Isloo" as what I understand the locals call their capital city.
Cheers for now!
Alas, I can't really update it too much as I have to leave the comforts of this little slice of heaven to go catch my connecting flight to Islamabad where I will begin my new adventure as a humanitarian aid worker.
With that stated, I will end this for now and get back to it later once I've settled in to my new "home" in "Isloo" as what I understand the locals call their capital city.
Cheers for now!
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