Beautiful Pakistan

From Pakistan

In September I went to visit my brother Tom and his wife Erin and two kids Oliver and Madison. My sister Niki and her husband Neil were there at the same time - it was really great to see them all again!

Pakistan is in the foot hills of the Himalayas and is very beautiful! It was mostly hazy as all the pollution (and there is lots of it!) gets trapped in the valleys, but on occasion get got a clear day.

Tom and his family live in a Christian School, where they work and are kept safe by huge walls and armed guards. The school looks after the kids of the doctors and aid workers that are in Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. giving sight to blind people and prosthetic limbs to people who have stood on mines etc. so it is work worth doing.

Pakistan itself is like most other 3rd world countries - people living in little huts, poor hygiene etc. Where I was staying, Murree, was 2km above sea level, in the mountains. In the winter it gets very cold and it often snows so deep that the locals can't get out of their houses, and if they're not prepared, they die. But otherwise they look to be very happy people.

The culture was interesting. I had all sorts of preconceived ideas about a Muslim country, most if not all of those were shattered by the time I had left.

Alcohol is prohibited - that means that the bottles of Baileys, Port and Ginger wine were illegal. I was assured that nobody would want to look in my luggage and if they did, just offer it to them!

Woman are not allowed outside without their husband or older brother, or without a gaggle(flock, heard, school?) of other woman. They had to be fully covered, which meant that my sister had to wear beautifully coloured, handmade, silk scarves - she loved it.
We had the impression that Muslim countries were hard on woman, and bound them to the house etc. In reality, the markets seemed to be completely focused on them! Clothes, silks, scarves, hats, shoes, jewelery, food etc. The colours were amazing and the most beautiful
handmade materials that I have seen. The woman here like to look and feel beautiful.

The men are hospitable and funny. My brother could speak a little of their language and could say something like "Difficult wife/children!" which always made the men laugh. Apparently the Qur'an insists on hospitality to travelers, so on a trek through the hills we stumbled upon a village and the men invited us into their house for a cup of Chi tea - a very very creamy tea (not my cup of tea!)

When our car broke down, high up in the mountains, in true Pakistan tradition, within moments 10 men arrived and started planning how to fix the car. We took (one of the many taxis that turned up from nowhere) to the local spare parts shop, returned, and one of the men who happened to be a mechanical expert, with a flick of his wrists and a rock of the car, the broken fan belt came off (to the amazement of the western men). The new fan belt turned out to be too big so the mechanic performed his trick again, the next thing we know the air con belt was removed to replace the broken belt! We offered money as a sign of gratitude, but be said he did it for "merit" - points for heaven!
Pakistanees have no concept of preventative maintenance. When something breaks, you fix it - you fix what aint broke or braking. Because of this they will often work their machines to death, scavenge parts, then leave it where it is, where it will stay forever.

They have a complete and utter faith in Allah (God). When we asked if something can be done the answer is most likely "Ish Allah" - God Willing. "Can you make one of these by next week? - Ish Allah". Which really means "if we ever get round to it you might get it by next month". Tom reply is "No Ish Allah - don't blame god. I will pick it up next week." "Will this car really make it up that hill? - Ish Allah!" Oh my!