all the fun of the fair
on Pak'd Off (Pakistan), 10/Jul/2008 09:28, 34 days ago
The ubiquitous know-it-alls“They” say that living and working overseas is an emotional rollercoaster. Those daily ups and downs can feel ten times magnified when coping with the fun and games associated with living in an alien culture. The previous two entries were definitely tales from the trough or more accurately the office or the tr’office! But this week saw a change from the usual routine in the shape of some fun training sessions and a weekend away in the mountains.On Tuesday and Wednesday the whole team took time out from our busy schedules to take part in some training sessions given by a refreshingly straight-talking American lady from UNICEF. On the first day we had a lot of fun performing role plays designed to help us come up with advocacy strategies to combat stigma and discrimination faced by children affected by HIV& AIDS. I gave a heart wrenching performance as a HIV + child being harassed by the ignorant owner of a fairground played to comic perfection by my colleague Moin, with Mary as a passing healthcare worker persuading him to let me playwith the other children.The second day was even more fun as we learnt how to give sessions on a creative therapeutic technique called“Body Mapping” which has been used among people living with HIV in Africa. The process starts with participants lying down on an enormous piece paper and having a partner draw around their entire body twice (in two different postures). Through a series of exercises participants build up a picture, in and around their silhouette, of their life, environment, their feelings about HIV and the challenges they face along with their support networks and positive thoughts that help them keep going. We made one between the whole group, so ended up with a wonderful mess of child-like drawings and amutant body with a blobby hand protruding from what was meant to be my face.The weekend started at 4am on Friday in Islamabad F11 Market when three other volunteers and I stood in strong winds, our faces getting whipped by sand waiting for a taxi to the airport to catch a flight to go Chitral in the North of the country. I say tried as we never succeeded. Although the others had spent about 5 hours trying to book and confirm the flights it turned out that they hadn’t played the game according to the elusive Pakistani rules and our booking had been cancelled. There was still hope however, we could go along and put our names down for tickets on thechance that some passengers don’t turn up. This option is also available on the Buses for anyone who doesn’t have a booking. In Pakistan anyone can phone up the bus company and book as many seats as they like without having to pay until half an hour before departure. 15 minutes before departure, unclaimed tickets become available and passenger-hopefuls rush to the counter, elbows a blazing, to get their tickets. This process is all part of the aforementioned ‘game’ and is aptly named “Chance” after the yellow cards in Monopoly (I hope). After 8 months in the country, I have become quite skilled at forgetting myBritish queuing etiquette in favour of elbow justice, however there were no chance options available on Friday’s flight to Chitral; it was fully booked. We spent a further 45 minutes trying to get a refund from the airline before catching a cab back to Islamabad. I wonder if the outcome would havebeen different if we had opted for “Community Chest” instead...Contingency plan was implemented as follows... We took another chance on a bus to the mountains north of Islamabad. Thanks to some hardcore elbow action, within less than half an hour we had boarded a busto Abbottabad where we stayed with an older Canadian/Pakistani volunteer called Mubarka. Mubarka was a great host and the fuss she made over us made me feel like I was visiting my Grandma! Abbottabad itself was unbelievable; a beautifully decaying colonial town set in the hills and filled with the friendliest folk I have met in my life. Before coming to Pakistan I had heard much about the legendary Pakistani hospitality but although I have made many lovely friends here, I had not quite been convinced by my experiences in Lahore as a whole, possibly because it is suffering from the same big city syndrome one finds in London or Paris. Having spent just a day in Abbottabad, I finally understand what the guide books were saying about the friendliness and warmth of the country. Locals were actually shouting“welcome, welcome!” as we walked in the bazaar. As usual we elicited some staring but it was modest and curious not sleazy as has unfortunately been my extremely common and very daunting experience. I felt really uplifted and just wanted to talk to everyone and thank them for being so hospitable.On Sunday we went to Nathiagali and walked through the mountains: superb views and rolling fog giving an ethereal atmosphere which just cannot be effectively portrayed by photos. The small mountain town was full of Punjabi holidaymakers hoping to escape the humidity! As is frequently the case when we go to tourist attractions, we became the centre of attention while every passing tourist group asked us to stop for a photo. Being a bit mean and suspicious I refused to take part, Corrie agreed a few times before getting sick of it as well and giving flat refusals, much to the disappointment of our fans including one 12 year old girl who followed us into a restaurant and stood at our table for ten minutes having a tantrum! She had the most extraordinary howl I have ever heard but we did not wish to pander to a spoilt child so ignored her as best we could!My final piece of news regards progress on the troffice side of things. Yesterday VSO came to visit for a partnership review on our tip-off that our placements aren’t working too well. One would expect that details like those I described in the last few entries would deter VSO Pakistan from investing time and resources in our organisation. We were disappointed but not surprised when the HIV& AIDS Programme Manager announced that, whatever the outcome of the review, VSO would continue to work with them because there really aren’t that many HIV organisations working in Pakistan. I have to say I find it amazing that VSO Pak have recently managed to procure a substantial amount of funding from the Dutch Government for the HIV programme when there are so few HIV organisations to work with in Pakistan and even fewer of any quality when you consider that ours is supposedly so pivotal.Fortunately for us, the HIV team arrived accompanied by a visitor from VSO head office. He told us that VSO country programme offices were under a lot of pressure to form partnerships and place volunteers as the only means of quantifying the work of VSO to satisfy donors. However, this does not mean we should compromise on quality and he agreed that VSO should not continue to work with an organisation where volunteers can’t be effective just because there is no one else to work with. I am hoping that he will hold VSO Pakistan to this and that they will keep their promise to stop further volunteer placements if no improvement is forthcoming.To finish on an upbeat note, it’s mango season here in Pakistan and I have been eating 1-3 of the heavenly fruits per day. The method of eating is to gently squash the mango so it becomes mushy below the surface of the skin, then you make a hole in one end and suck out the contents. Today I have already had two and it’s onlylunch time. For lunch I had my favourite; potato cakes made with chilli and coriander. Small things! Ooo more mangoes have arrived!