End of finals
Today I officially begin my semester abroad. Had to give a Harvard exam here "exam in absentia." Boy, did that sux or what. Yucky science cores. Right now I'm trying to not think of the exam and thinking of ways to entertain the 4-5 friends that I have coming over to Cairo within the next 48 hours.
So Professor Granara is also in town and he took Senait and I to a lovely dinner last night. Tried
molekhya...a traditional Egyptian dish and was done nicely. Doesn't go too well with the Lebanese red wine. You gotta have the wine first! Ok so Granara was in Egypt during 1973-75 which is an extremely interesting time to be in Egypt as it was in war. So stories from that time and then in the early 80s with economic depression and its effects were very interesting. On top of that his scandoulous tales of Arab women flirting with Western men. He was great!
Oh ya the African Soccer Cup is being held in Egypt so the South African team was at the same restaurant as us last night.
Hmmm...a little about first impressions of Egypt. A city of 15 million people with an additional 5 million people coming in and out of the city for work. Haven't been around at all so far. Have only see a little bit of downtown (where AUC is), the neighhborhood I live in and Zamalek (where the student dorms are). Zamalek is uber foreigner friendly. There are "western" restaurants or Egyptian food anglicized.
Downtown for Pakistanis...reminded me a lot of Karachi. Excited to go to the Islamic part of the city.
So we are taught fusha or Modern Standard Arabic in school and people on the streets speak a dialect..a'amiya. This is true for the entire Arab world. And a'amiya is pretty different from MSA. They conjugate their verbs weird and don't pronounce certain letters or pronounce them differently from MSA. Have had some funny incidents coz of this.
However, I had an entire conversation with the cleaning lady in which I explained a lot of things to her and we communicated pretty ok. Was quite proud of myself. Well she was pretty darn patient (and uber strong) but come on I just came out of a bad exam...gimme some credit.
However, soon Arabic classes are going to start and grammar will continue to smush my brain everyday.
Was thinking how easily I've moved myself from the "Pakistani government frustration with earthquake stuff" mode to "yay! I'm in Cairo" mode. Everytime I think of where I was only a few weeks ago I am strongly reminded of the phenomenon "survivor's guilt." Now now don't barrage me with e-mails saying that we all need to enjoy ourselves etc etc. I think that we all need to be also reminded of what we have so we stop taking things for granted.
And yes sooooo much easier said than done. And yes the idea is cliched and the concept not in action.
In Cairo
Not much to say for now. Settled in my apartment (or as settled as you can be after being in a country for 2 days). Getting used to Friday and Saturday being the weekend and Sunday being a work day. Jet-lagged, nice weather, arabic not too terrible...doing ok so far.
On my way to Cairo...
Just wanted to drop in a line to say that I'm on way to Cairo. Will be writing about Pakistan but would also be including experiences from Cairo.
Photos
This is taking way longer than expected but here is a start...
Heavy rain on the way to Kashmir
Note how much of the tents are submerged in water
Tents collapsing after rain and snow
The biggest tent city in northern Pakistan. This is in the valley after Gari Habibullah and is run by the Pakistani army. This picture was taken about a 1000 ft over the city.
On my way to Balakot.
Snapshots of Balakot
Once a school
Once a college
One of the 2 standing buildings in Balakot
Graves everywhere. Sometimes it seems like people are living in a graveyard.
How they get drinking water.
Trying to save what they can.
From one place to another
Have been out for a bit because I've been getting ready to travel and then been travelling. Pretty disoriented right now which in other words is called being jet-lagged. More to say about what was up in the Northern Areas in Pakistan but for the latest take a look at what good old US has been upto in that part of the world.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/15/international/asia/15pakistan.html
This article is about protests in Pakistan against the recent US airstrikes.
Politics behind the devastation
Folks have asked me to talk a little more about the whole Kalabagh issue and what it’s all about. Well I’m no expert on the issue and knew very little about the issue till before this trip home. Pakistan is an agrarian economy and thus where dams are built and who controls the flow is an important issue. The Kalabagh dam has been in the public discourse for a number of years now. Sindhis and Pathans are of the opinion that the construction of the damn would give more water control to the Punjab area and they obviously wouldn’t want that. Punjabis obviously deny that. Musharraf and other folks like the ex-president of WAPDA (Water and Power Development Authority) are very pro-dam as they think that such structures are necessary to prevent the desertification of Sindh and Punjab and flooding of NWFP. There are several other dams whose construction is on the table. This probably all sounds very confusing and this is because I’m summarizing decades long discourse in a paragraph.
Just wanted to give you an idea that there is a contested public discourse going on. Now what our lovely President or Chief of Army Staff (whichever you prefer) has been kind enough to do is that he has started up this whole issue which takes away a lot of media attention from the earthquake hit areas. At one-point earthquake hit areas was all that was being talked about on some TV channels and now its Kalabagh dam. For once regardless of ethnic differences the country was united behind a cause and now we’ve disintegrated into our various factions. The colonial legacy of “divide and rule” is still alive and kicking.
As for the government…there is no concrete plan of rehabilitation or reconstruction. Here we’re talking about entire villages, towns, cities and districts destroyed and the rubble, disease, trauma and helplessness that comes along with it is not just going to magically disappear. Kashmir might have seen less of the physical damage (well relatively speaking) but the amount of work being done there is pretty low as well. The government has done a very good job of getting the roads back in working condition to allow better access and is good about distributing food. So they might not die of hunger but they will die of disease and cold if their condition isn’t approved. The lack of coordination means that organization X doesn’t know what Y is doing and there might be 20 organizations in one place and none in another.
We find our usual cases of cronyism. Contracts for tent materials being assigned to good old buddies. And when I say that the tents are pathetic I mean it. Don’t think hi-fi Pakistani army tents in Siachin. Think about tents that can NOT stand rain or snow. When last week a journalist asked a government official of his opinion on the failing condition of tents that keep falling, he said, “Tou kiya howa…agar tents gir rahay hain tou unhay uthaya bhee ja sakta hai.” (So what if the tents are falling…we can lift them as well.) Real smart guy I must say.
Then we also have our “militant organizations” going all gung-ho in these areas. And by this I mean that there are a couple of religious organizations that have been titled as militant by the US State Department but they’ve done a good amount of work. There is political tension between them and the secular organizations. Nothing dangerous (or so I think) but it still becomes apparent.
What pissed pissed me off was soldiers standing around with guns in Balakot, Mansehra, Gari Habibullah etc. Now why the hell do we need that? There is one thing to be available near areas where people are living to offer security and there is another to be standing somewhere all pompous useless. I admit this is a gross generalization and not every person in the military is like that. It’s probably my strong bias against the military/defense industrial complex coming out again.
From NWFP...
I’ve come out of Balakot and adjoining areas. In case folks don’t know, Balakot is in the NWFP province of Pakistan and is one of the areas which has gotten a lot of media attention. The devastation there is unbelievable. There are only 2 building that still stand in the entire city and adjoining villages. Just 2 buildings. There is so much rubble everywhere. The worst is that you can see whats happening in the city. There are so many areas within the mountains where one can only reach by foot. The extent of destruction there is still not fully known. There are tons of NGOs doing work within Balakot. Even the military is active. This is both good and bad. Good because Balakot has resources to develop and bad because these resources diminish exponentially as you leave the city. As Balakot got a lot of media attention many people have been focusing there.
The amount of work that needs to be done is gigantic. Entire cities need to be cleared up off all the rubble and then built all over again. Once you cross Abbottabad you’ll see tent villages/cities everywhere. Its looking at the amount of those tents that the amount of people homeless really sinks in. the majority of these tents are not winterized so the insulation against cold temperatures in minimal. Also, these people can’t light fires to warm themselves, as open flames within tents is a big fire hazard. Along with this, as the snowfall increases these tents can’t take the weight and are falling.
How the hell are these people going to survive? I don’t know. Its not even capital that is the problem anymore, it is the lack of coordination and lack of human power within these areas. The government/ military is best suited for the job and they’re definitely not doing it. As the winter sinks in the amount of volunteers in the area is reducing.
Balakot feels like living in a graveyard there are graves everywhere. People live next to these graves. Can’t even imagine the psychological effect of this. I was talking to a woman, Khadija, who is now responsible for 5 kids and has lost her husband and has no source of income. Kahdija was telling me how her brother and sister-in-law left their 4 year old son and 6 month old daughter with her on the day of the earthquake as they were going to go to the market to buy some things. They never returned and neither did her husband and oldest son. She said, “Tussee dassoo jee main kee karan. Aina bachian da khiyal karan yaan the bahir jaa kar rozee kamawaan?” (translation: Now you tell me, should I take care of the kids or go out and earn to feed them?” There are thousands of stories like these.
Every single person I talked to has lost someone. People there were very friendly. As we walked by people would greet us. It’s a big tea culture there so people would be like “As-salam-alaikum, chai piyain gain?” (Muslim greeting, would you like some tea?) I was surprised at the willingness of people to be hospitable even in conditions like these. Day before yesterday the weather was really good so people were out doing things. It seemed like every single person was doing something or the other. May people are trying to salvage what they can out of the rubble to rebuild houses. That usually means getting bricks and lead rods for the house structure. Young children would carry water or other things in wheelbarrows to their houses up on the mountain.
Gotta go for now.
Devastation...
Last night I came back from visiting Abbottabad, Mansehra and Azad Kashmir (mainly Muzaffarabad). I spent most of my time in Muzaffarabad. It was everything I could have imagined it to be but worse. I thought I was pretty well prepared to see all that I did see and hear. And come to think of it I was. I mean I did what I needed to do without bursting out crying. On my way there I read a billboard with pictures of earthquake victims and it said, “ Imtahan un kee bay basee ka nahin hamari insaniyat ka hai.” Rough translation, “ This tests not their hopelessness but our humanity.” Very true.
This is going to be a ramble more than anything else. I don’t think I’ve sorted out all that I saw in my head yet. On the way there imagine the sharpest bends you’ve ever seen and multiply it by 4 or 5 times. Its all through mountains and not for the faint of the heart. On our way there we stopped to help out in rescuing a car that had fallen into a ravine. Thank God it wasn’t like 8000 feet deep. The car was resting on a couple of tree trunks. The people in the car were injured but alive. A lot of time I would just close my eyes while we were driving.
You see tent villages all along the way from Abbottabad. A lot of UNHCR tent sheets and a couple of UN cars. The amount of volunteers that has gone down is HUGE. As the cold gets worse people want to leave and I can understand that. It’s COLD and it is raining or snowing continuously for the past 3 days and there are no radiators in the tents.
About tent villages….man people need to get the hell out of there as soon as they can. Its so damn cold and almost all the places have no sanitation or garbage disposal system. Children play near all the garbage and temporary latrine places. Oh man….I haven’t yet talked to a child who hasn’t lost either a parent, grandparent or sibling. That’s true for all. Muzaffarabd has been destroyed. There is rubble and broken houses everywhere. It feels like death resides in the city. Why the hell doesn’t the Pakistani government clear it up? Why the hell did the government started the whole Kalabagh dam issue when we need to be focusing on the survivors? There is no way NGOs can do the work that the Pakistani military can. They need cranes and more cranes and a LOT of human power.
There are huge puddles of water everywhere. The water seeps into the tents. People especially kids and older people are dying of pneumonia or are sick with chest infections. I was talking to folks from Doctors without Borders that are working in the Nilam Valley and they say that it’s the same everywhere. This isn’t even counting the psychological trauma people are going through. People have made tents over the rubble that was once their house. They refuse to leave that place.
At first I used to think that all these people need to be moved out of their areas but looking at what’s happening in the tent city in Islamabad I think otherwise. People who have been moved have no source of income and are extremely dependant on aide. They are also frustrated as they don’t have any idea of when they’ll be sent back. If they will be sent back or how will they be rehabilitated?
I’m rambling…..
I’m mainly working with Edhi Foundation on their shelter program. Its pretty well documented and seems to be working well. More to come on that next time.
Right now I’m also pretty sick, I’ve had food poisoning so I’m throwing up even if I try to drink water. I’m at my aunt’s place in Islamabad and was going to go to Balakot, Battagram and Bagh today but got sick (damn it). Hopefully I’ll be able to go tomorrow.
More to come….let me know if you guys have specific questions or want me to write in detail about something. Also, any suggestions on what’s the best way to upload pics on the web for people to see? I already sux at taking pictures and I honestly tried some time but after some time you just give up. Coz you don’t know what to picture anymore…I don’t think the devastation can be summed up in those photographs.
I haven’t gotten a chance to reply to e-mails so sorry about that. Haven’t had a lot of internet connection.
