Visit to Balochistan
As some of you may or may not know I'm based in Islamabad but much of our work is directed at education in the refugee village settlements. There are a number in and around Quetta and I was doing this trip just to see what the schools are really like in the field. So far I had only read about them. Sohere goes:
In spite of Helen's warnings the flight was absolutely fine, apart from a bit of minor bumpiness as we had to rise over a large hot lump as we dropped into Quetta both flights were very smooth. The airport runway at Quetta is a bit bumpy but not bad. I was picked up by a driver of course and taken to the office there. I shortly met with Julia a quite amazing young Canadian who has made development type work her career for most of her life after taking her first degree in politics main subject 'Conflict in Lebanon'!! Since then she has taken a couple of Masters and is hoping to start her third after she finishes here next June. She is the assistant programme officer in Quetta and I stayed at her house which is really very
nice. Quetta itself is bigger and also greener than I had expected (Julia's house is surrounded by trees.) The town is quite busy and bustling and much more alive than Islamabad , it really just points up what a strange place this really is. There is a largish market area lots of streets and shops mainly bigger and very slightly more sophisticated than Lira or even Kampala but more like those in some ways. There are lots of the little scooter rickshaws like the ones in Delhi only these are all decorated and painted in the style of Bhutan tatas only more so (like most of the buses and heavy vehicles here, even tractors and trailers). there are also lots
of horse and donkey carts. You know they are not allowed in Islamabad nor are the little scooter things or the horse drawn carriages like Luxor which are in Peshawar and Rawalpindi (again highly decorated). There is also a core of expats there which is unfortunately shrinking. They have a Wednesday bar at various houses so I actually got a beer Wednesday night.
The dreaded Murree beer which is actually not bad if you compare it to African and Indian. It falls in much the same category. It did have some flavour. Could be a bit sharper than Bell or Club. So I really must try to find out if it can be obtained in the city if I can manage to make some contacts.(and find the time). So back to Quetta. It is in a very dry area, from the air as you come in you can see there are trees and some green in and around the town and further out there are obviously irrigated areas, mainly apple orchards of which there are quite a lot, but also various vegetables. They also grow quite a lot of wheat but that had all been harvested and although I saw where the fields had been ploughed it hardly looked possible that they had actually had a crop on them. There are a lot of brick making works with kilns with large round chimneys. The other thing I saw were lots of nomadic encampments, proper
sewn-together-skins-on-lots-of-poles type tents as in geography book illustrations part stuffed with straw and surrounded by flocks of mainly sheep but also some goats. Talking of animals reminds me, I think I told you that the cattle in the trucks on the Peshawar road reminded me of water buffalo. Its not surprising because thats what they are. Apparently there are no true cows in this area. The milk I get is actually water buffalo milk! Julia thinks it is much heavier than cows milk but I hadn't noticed. I had thought it tasted a bit more 'processed' but I assumed it was just a different long life system. Back to Balochistan - there are some quite high but absolutely bare mountains rising a little way away and below them more rounded pinker hills which occasionally take on a slightly melted look. The colours are very reminiscent of Sinai and if you got close to or in among the higher mountains I expect it would be much more so.
The Quetta office had planned for me to visit three camps, two on Thursday and the third on
Friday morning so that I could report back on Friday afternoon. They have a brilliant interpreter there, Kulsom is her name. Her English is very good and she translates most effectively. She is very sharp and aware of background influences and also has a great sense of humour. She was to accompany rme rather than any one else from the office so that we could keep it fairly low key. Weeeellll...... yes" but as we arrived at the office Thursday morning Julia casually says 'Oh yes, there are your levies' and behold two large uniformed and well armed guards are standing by the land cruiser. It seems the government won't let us visit the camps without them They were totally unnecessary but no problem although every time I got out of the vehicle one of them got out too, even when I wanted to take a photograph. Thank goodness hospitality stops were arranged, I dread to think what would have happened had I needed to go behind a rock! An insulated container and several large pans were loaded in. At least one contained crockery and cutlery which rattled alarmingly over the bumps. We were taking our own lunch with us. Saranan and Surkhab camps are fairly close together and about an hours ride from Quetta. They are quite similar so I'll try to give you a general picture. They are really referred to as refugee villages and this is more accurate as there are no walls or compound fences. Each village has a fairly central bazaar with shops that sell most of the peoples needs. Around this are the houses, schools and
usually at least one 'beechew' (actually a Basic Health Unit 'B H U' )The houses are quite sound although made of unfired mud bricks plastered over and mostly mud and grass mat roofs. I was glad of a driver because there are no signs and the buildings sprawl together with no discernible pattern all looking very much alike. The schools as such often have a wall round them and some even have a playground. The Non Formal Education (NFE)
centres and the Home Based Girls schools were a different story. Because these are held in women's homes we would get out of the Landy walk among a number of houses and then just wander through a curtained doorway and there we were. There seemed to some intervention from on high making sure it was the right doorway each time! I'll skip the educational bit although it was very interesting to see what was happening. Mostly very teacher oriented
lessons as in Uganda but with better classrooms and much smaller numbers. We had our lunch in a 'rest house' at the camp, mild chicken curry with rice and salads, the inevitable yoghurt and then fresh grapes for dessert. Very nice! There are not so many men in the camps some have gone back to Afghanistan to work or moved out to other places. Many of the Afghans in this area look much like the Pakistan locals as they are mostly from the same tribes, descended from the Pathans. They wear turbans, not the high rounded Sikh type ones. These are wound much flatter often around an embroidered cap and with a longish end hanging down at the side. There are always a lot of children in evidence (mostly boys until you get into the houses) A lot of the girls still do not go to school and the RV schools operate a double shift system so that those who attend in the mornings do not go in the afternoons and vice versa. They all wear traditional dress although some of the very young girls wear a European style dress over a pair of baggy trousers. In fact Afghan women mostly wear a long sleeved high necked dress or blouse and long skirt over their trousers instead of the Pakistani
Kameez. With this they wear a large rectangular shawl, a chardra instead of the Dupatta which is smaller and in Islamabad is often little more than a flimsy scarf. Some women can be seen in a long flowing overgarment but not the Black one with the small eye slit. These are coloured, often, but not always blue. They have no eye slit but you can just make out a kind of fine fabric grille that they see through. This garment is sort of gathered around a head piece and falls directly almost to the ground. In the third camp we went to on Friday morning the physical conditions are much more difficult. The brick mud is not so strong and when there is rain (not often) the walls sort of sag down on themselves. There is no water it all
has to be piped in and yet this is one of the richest camps. That is because of the smuggling which constantly goes on. Goods from Iran, and, although they will not admit it a large traffick in drugs. I'm only recording fleeting impressions because I was hurrying from place to place to see as many lessons as possible in the short time. On the journey home we ran alongside the railway for much of the time it is well maintained but I never actually saw a train. The scenery is very much that of the desert with beautiful colours in the changing light , particularly in the evening. This is emphasized by the occasional herds of camels and the nomadic encampments. These are usually on the edges of towns or large villages. One of the most spectacular sights of my visit was on Wednesday evening. On the hillside way up above Quetta appeared the Arabic 'Allah' sign in fire. A large group of religious types had gone up the mountain and formed this huge symbol which was there for at least two hours. It was
quite amazing. So thats a very rough impression of my travels in and around the refugee villages of Quetta.