Peshawargggghhhhhhh!

Hello to you,

I write to you on Friday the somethingth (15^th?) of November from our flat in University Town, Peshawar whilst sipping a rather cheeky glass of rehydration salts. I don’t have internet access at present so you won’t be able to read this until I get back to Islamabad and post it which could be as soon as later today or tomorrow. Yes, that’s right, we’re returning to the motherland after only 5 days in Peshawar.

As I mentioned in previous blogs I have never been entirely comfortable with the idea of coming to live in Peshawar. I had heard that:

1) It is a very conservative Islamic area where most of the women are fully covered except for the eyes, if not, in full birka with a little grid/mesh over the eyes, which made me wonder how I would be received as a western girl.

2) It is the birthplace of the Taliban and it is still rumoured in the Western press to harbour many Al Qaeda/Taliban sympathisers among its population and

3) There is a general “Anti-Western” Vibe here, probably partly due to the proximity of Peshawar to the Afghan border and a high number of Afghan refugees in the city.

4) perhaps most worryingly of all it has suffered an increasing number of bomb attacks in the past 6-8 months including one on a CD/DVD market around a month ago for being too “Un-Islamic”.

Perhaps you are wondering why I agreed to come here at all, with such a list of concerns floating around my skull? Let me explain using a similar list format to that used in the above “cons” section.

1) Several emails exchanged inboxes between me, VSO UK and VSO Pakistan all of which reassured/placated me to some extent.

2) The placement with DOST sounded really interesting and challenging.

3) We contacted some ex-volunteers who told us that there was a rather good social life to be had among the ex-pat community here, being as there were several NGOs based here and a place called “The American Club” where one can procure alcohol and pork products.

4) They decided to place Sarah with me which meant that I would have someone to play with and it didn’t seem so scary. Of course I’m not blaming her and I think she would agree that having a partner in crime was appealing to her too and we had already bonded at a previous training weekend.

5) VSO UK had always been firm with us young “Youth for Development” ruffians that they would make us an offer of a placement and if it was turned down “it is unlikely that another placement exists”. Having remained months too long in a soul-destroying job on the belief that I would soon be leaving on an adventure and also being really keen to have my year abroad I decided to accept the offer. I have since learned that it is not necessarily the case that other placements cannot be found but it is probably a time-saving tactic the YfD team use to make sure everyone gets placed without fussing too much. I am still seething at myself for not questioning that and at YfD for not having a disclaimer for those with reasonable concerns relating to security.

So now, I need to explain why we’re leaving Peshawar, as if you didn’t already have a good idea. There’s too much detail for a list so forgive me for proceeding thus…On Tuesday, Lovely Uncle Arif arranged a meeting for us and the security guy for The United Nations in NWFP to calm us down. In fact it set our anxieties into overdrive as he chuckled that we had arrived just as the security situation was deteriorating. Peshawar had sustained 7 blasts in 7 days and that some joker had thrown a small explosive into the aforementioned “American Club”. For me this confirmed my worst fears about the rumours of Anti-Western feelings and that we could possibly fall under the category of potential target. He confirmed that yes, there is a definite Anti-American feeling here and that we, as Westerners, would automatically be seen as American. He also told us that there had been bombings at internet cafes as well as DVD/CD markets.

Further to the bombings, he also mentioned that the deploying of female staff was a risky business in Peshawar and he recommended that we avoid taking public transport. (Perhaps due to the risk of kidnapping?) Also, some NGOs have already withdrawn completely from the area as have DfID (The Development agency of the British Government). However those and the organisations that have stayed in Peshawar would have had a proper base here and many more resources than VSO including satellite phones, transport and security whilst VSO in Peshawar consists of little old me and Sarah!

Whilst ending the meeting on a positive note claiming that he felt we would be fine as long as we followed his security advice, we later realised this effectively meant that we would spend a year doing nothing but going to work each day and coming home again in the Dost minibus. Even this was a risky business given his other suggestion that we try to avoid getting into an obvious routine!

After that VSO suggested we take a “wait and see” approach, see a bit of Peshawar and the Dost foundation. This turned out to be impossible since both Sarah and I fell ill with some sort of stomach bug. Last night, after 2 days of barely eating, we ventured out to find a restaurant to eat at. In a short walk Sarah was groped, several groups of men beckoned us over to them, a rock or something like it was thrown at us hitting Sarah on the arm and many vehicles swerved at us. We didn’t feel safe and still having dicky tummies we decided to take a tuc tuc home after dinner only for the driver to grope Sarah as we got out.

At this point I realised I still wasn't over my illness and as I sat on the hard cold stone floor of our bathroom, vomiting my entire steak dinner into a bucket, the vague, unexplained smell of dogfood in our flat making me feeling yet more nauseous I could hear Sarah on the phone to Phil, the Country Director for VSO Pakistan, explaining exactly why we wished to leave Peshawar as soon as possible. In the two hours since I started writing this, I have learned that we are getting picked up in a couple of hours time by VSO. And on that note, I should go and pack. An indefinite period of time in Islamabad awaits while VSO tries to find us placements elsewhere in the country....

Hello again, I'm back in Islamabad now, in the lovely guest house. My friend who owns the guest house has replaced all the soaps in the bathrooms with "Jo" brand soap in honour of his favourite guest and I feel proud. I have just spoken to Arif and he is very hopeful he can find us something else in Pakistan.

Having re-read what I wrote this morning, I feel bad for perpetuating the negative view of Pakistan and particularly Peshawar that is portrayed in the Western media. At this point I would just like to say that all of the people I have met and spoken to, who hail from that area and indeed all of Pakistan have been nothing but freindly, kind and welcoming and I'm sure this is the case with most of the others. There's always a few who have to ruin it isn't there?