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!
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