March 20, 2006

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to give you a little update on my life here in Pakistan.

So far, most of my ministry time has been spent doing those 700 interviews of children for next year's kindergarten class. Two of the Pakistani sisters, Violet and Monica, are working with me on this, thank goodness, because I'd be sunk in trying to communicate. Most places at home would be happy to have so many children competing to get into their schools. However, it does have its problems, not the least of which is telling 630 parents that you are not accepting their children. Then there are the parents who demand special consideration, those who try to bribe their way in, and those who lie about their children's ages, or even find ways to learn what the children have to do so they can coach them before the interview. It is very interesting, to say the least!

Other than that, I have been visiting classrooms and helping teachers with various needs. Some teachers need explanations of things they read in English but do not understand. A couple teachers have needed help in classroom management. Others are looking for ideas in teaching the children. I haven't had too much time for them yet, but once the interviews are finished, I'll be able to help them more. I am also learning some of the routines, so when Sr. Anna, the principal, is not in, I am present for morning assembly and afternoon dismissal. I know there is more to come.

The students are becoming even friendlier as they get used to seeing me around. Particularly if they see me at the end of the day when they are free, they will come running up to talk to me. Boys and girls alike come right up and want to know where I am from, if I like it here, when I will come to their classroom, or a thousand other things. The young ones just want to be acknowledged. Sometimes they just come and smile at me, or invite me to play cricket with them. It is sweet, but no I have not played cricket yet!
The first graders did a presentation for their parents today. It was so good. They did a traditional dance, and quite well too! Then they acted out a story about a girl who sold her hair to help her parents who needed money. They also did other dancing and singing and a skit about saving the environment. It was a lot for such young children, but they were wonderful. All of their speaking parts were in English. I wish you could have seen this performance because the children did such a fantastic job, all in a second language! I was very impressed.

Mary told me that there was a breath of spring one day, but then a quick return to winter weather. Sorry about the return of winter, but spring will come. It was starting to get very warm here, but last night a strong wind came up and a breeze has been blowing all day today, which has cooled things off a lot. I am grateful. I do prefer to be warm rather than cold, but from all they tell me about the summer weather here, it takes warm to an unreasonable level, and I am not really looking forward to melting.
Each day in walking out in the gardens, I find some more beautiful flowers that I hadn't seen before. There are so many varieties! The rose garden would be good competition for the one in the Bronx Botanical Gardens. We always have fresh flowers in our chapel, which is really nice.

There are also many birds I have never seen before. I haven't had a chance to look them all up, but discovered today that one is called a Bulbul. It is mostly shades of brown, has a crest similar to, but not as big as a cardinal's, and has just a few red feathers sticking out under its tail. It's cute even if it is a bit fat.

I met another interesting person named Sr. Chris. She is a German woman who is a protestant sister. She has been working in Pakistan for 18 years. She works mostly with the lepers in finding ways of treating them. She is very friendly and cheerful, and very dedicated to her work. There is no one place where lepers are settled, so she has to travel a lot both to treat patients and to give lectures. It has to be very tiring since travel here is not easy, but she is very happy to do it in order to help the people. There are four sisters from her community here in Pakistan, and it was even noted in the news that this Christian group was the first to arrive in the earthquake area to give aid to the people. Sr. Chris told us that more than 15,000 people have been severely crippled due to their injuries from the earthquake. Many of them are paraplegics, and there isn't the type of care available for them that they would need. Also, many areas, because of their remote locations are not getting the aid they need just because no one can get to them. It has truly been devastating in so many ways.

I love you all and miss you. Take care of yourselves and each other!

Anne