News from Steve in Pakistan!

[Steve sent me the following letter for a blog post, but he doesn't have any pictures yet, so I just included a cute one of Griffin instead!]

I have wanted to write a lil something for the blog to let everyone know what is going on over here, and why I have left my lovely family. I am not sure exactly where to start, but here it goes.

In July of this year, monsoon rains began to fall on Pakistan, as they do most years. But this year, the rains were much heavier and didn’t let up for weeks. This quickly saturated the ground and caused the Indus River that runs the length of Pakistan to flood, causing massive damage to structures, roads, wiping out crops, contaminating drinking water and destroying millions of lives in the process. The United Nations estimates that more than 21 million people are injured or homeless as a result of the flooding, exceeding the combined total of individuals affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. At one point, approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's total land area was underwater due to the flooding. Floods have submerged 17 million acres of Pakistan's most fertile crop land, have killed 200,000 herds of livestock and have washed away massive amounts of grain.

The UN and many other aid agencies are here trying to assist the local population with shelter, food, and health care, but there are many obstacles in the way. One of the major problems is the infrastructure. Pakistan is very rural and very spread out. Many of the roads and bridges connecting the effected areas have been washed away and damaged, making the delivery of goods very difficult. We are being forced to use helicopters to reach many areas. Helicopters are in very high demand, and do not have a huge cargo capacity. As we have to provide everything to these people as the floods washed everything to the sea, so the sheer volume of goods is staggering. The organization I am working for is the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and we are concentrating on NFI’s (Non Food Items) such as Kitchen Sets, Blankets, Shelter Kits, Hygiene Kits, Jerry Cans, Aqua Tabs (tables to make questionable water potable) etc. We have 3 main distribution hubs across the country, and I am managing them from our office in Islamabad. The items are being brought in by air cargo planes, to Islamabad and Karachi airport, and by sea freight into the Karachi port, and then trucked to the respective hubs, for final distribution to the required areas, by truck or helicopter. Some of the goods are purchased abroad and simply donated here in country and IOM is the lead logistics agency to distribute the goods. Some countries and organizations provide us cash to purchase goods locally and then distribute them. When you are talking about enough goods to satisfy 21 million peoples every daily need that is a lot of stuff!!

Today alone I am distributing from one airport 20,000 plastic sheets, 15 million aqua tabs, 600,000 bars of soap, 500,000 kitchen sets, and 50,000 blankets. This is a Saturday, so it is a smaller quantity than usual. This goes on 7 days a week. I am in the office usually for 16 hours a day arranging teams to receive the goods from the planes and ships, get the items cleared through customs, and on their way to the hubs. It is pretty tricky due to the sheer volume of goods, many times planes will land with donated goods and no one even knew the plane was coming, so suddenly you have a fully loaded C130 cargo plane, with no one to unload it, and no plan for the distribution of items. So it’s a mad scramble to get it sorted out. Another challenge is the local corruption. We agree to purchase thousands of blankets from a local supplier, and he delivers us a top quality sample, then when 50,000 of them arrive at the hub, the blankets are smaller, thinner and of poorer quality than originally agreed upon. Many times items end up missing on the journey from the factory or airport to the hubs.

Enough babbling about the work, now a bit about the country. I think I like the country. It has a certain charm to it, though I really can't put my finger on it. It is dirty, a bit run down, even though the city is only about 50 years old for the most part. It is laid out in different sectors, so places are pretty easy to find. The guesthouse I am staying at and the office are about 10 mins apart by car, but would be a pretty long walk. From my GH, I can walk up to a small market and buy food, jeans, books, electronics, pirated DVD’s etc. It seems quite safe. No one harasses you here either like in some places. Everybody is friendly, and respectful. Sometimes they look a little menacing with the long dark beards and local attire, but I am sure that has to do with how they are portrayed in Hollywood with the movie stereotype. There are a few motorcycles zipping around, but nothing like the numbers I experienced in Sri Lanka or Thailand. Mostly old 70cc Hero Hondas. The cars are all old little Suzuki 4 door hatchbacks similar to a small VW golf. All very old and tired. Very few newer cars here. I have seen one late model Mercedes, one late model BMW, a Porsche Cayenne but that’s about it! Islamabad is said to have some very wealthy locals here. Two men own most of the factories here, so control most of the market. A few Prados and stuff, but those are UN vehicles. No tuk tuks, just the lil Suzuki cars that are painted Black and yellow, and used like taxis.

There are some good restaurants here. A good Japanese and Thai place at the Marriot where they will even serve beer and wine if you want. They bring it out in a tea pot, as to not offend the other guests, and you have to pay cash for that separately. I guess I didn’t mention it before, but as this is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the entire county does not sell alcohol. As a foreigner you can sign a document stating that you are a heathen infidel alcoholic, and get a card to allow you to purchase at a few government run shops. The other option is to purchase through a friend at an embassy, or through a local bootlegger. There are good Chinese restaurants and Afghan restaurants too. A few little coffee places as well. I see myself hanging out in these in the near future. As I can't just go grab a beer at a local bar, this might be the next closest thing to getting me out of the house or office and mingling with the people. There is also Pizza Hut, Domino's McDonalds and a Subway! Here!! I am looking forward to my Pakistani Big Mac experience!! Maybe this weekend I'll go out and find where it is. I hear it is outside town a bit.

There are many interesting people here; many have been coming for years!! I have never experienced this before, but several people that I have talked to have been coming to Islamabad for like 17 years!! My reporting officer and a guy that I played frisbee with last night have both been coming here for over 17 years, went to school here, met here and got married here! Their parents were missionaries and had been coming here when they were young. I just got a message on my Linked in, that one of the marketing ladies I worked with at CARFAX also came here as a kid. She spent 3 years here during middle school/junior high with her family. Several other I meet have also been coming for years before the earthquake or flood. Just crazy!!
It’s a very interesting place and I can’t wait to explore it a bit more. When my counterpart returns next week, I will head out to the field and get to work more closely with the hubs and see the frontlines of the operation. I miss my family a ton, but it is rewarding work. I do get to catch up with them on Skype and listen to Griffin talk and giggle into the computer. I have not had much chance to take photos, so here are some links to information and stories about the flooding and the relief efforts.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11486489