From Steve, in Sukkur, Pakistan (scroll down for lots of photos!)

Hello again from Sukkur Pakistan! Things are getting very busy here. The Pakistan govt has decided that the emergency is over, and it’s time for the hundreds of thousands of families that have been living in the schools and other public buildings to vacate the buildings, so the kids can go back to school etc. One of the problems with this plan is many of their homes are still under water, destroyed or otherwise uninhabitable. It takes one month for every inch of standing water to disappear, so 20 inches of standing water will take almost 2 years to disappear. Hmmm… this might take awhile. So this is why my organization has taken me out of my cushy Islamabad position, and sent me to a town with the unfortunate (but properly applied) name of “Sukkur”. In Odu the local dialect it means “Close to Hell” because it gets so hot here. Over 50 degrees C (or 122 degrees F!) My mission is to get the field office in proper order, ready at a moments notice to assist the 15,000 families currently living in the schools. As my manager here put it to me; “Steve, I need you to go down there and be the Agent of Order!” Really?? ME, an agent of order? I am more likely Captn Chaos, then agent of order, but who am I to argue? I am simply a pawn in this international chess game of humanitarian aid. If they need me to drive a truck, I drive a truck. If they need me to dig a ditch, I dig a ditch, if they need me to write a report to the US secretary of State, I put pen to paper “Dear Mrs. Clinton…, if they need me to be an agent of order, who am I to get in the way, so it was off to Sukkur, with this Sucker!!

Sukkur is a small town almost in the middle of Pakistan. It is very poor, has very little infrastructure and what it does have is very outdated, very run down and overall abandon. The roads are small narrow roads, with pot holes bigger than the roads themselves. As you walk or drive along you will also see holes that go down several feet to a drainage canal below the road, with no grate or cover of any kind. The locals know to watch for them when walking or driving, and new folks need to pay close attention. As these drainage ditches are simply open sewers, not only would the fall into one hurt, but would be most unpleasant as well. It looks like they have the intention of repairing the roads, as there are huge piles of gravel, sand and stones in the road along the way, further clogging up traffic, but nothing ever seems to get done. The narrow roads are shared by many different modes of transportation. Pakistan is second only to China in the number of donkey carts in use. The roads in Sukkur are also used simultaneously by camel carts, cars, horse carts, tractors, bicycles, huge delivery trucks, motorcycles, vendors pushing carts, tuk tuks, buffalos, etc. If you can imagine it, it’s on the roads here, and driving super crazy. Everyone is so slow and mellow for the most part here. Anytime you go to a shop to purchase anything, it’s a production. We went to buy wood to raise some of the goods in our warehouse off the ground, and before we could even discuss what we needed we had to have tea with the sawmill owner. It is a very slow relaxed way of doing business. We even stopped to buy some fresh peanuts and dried figs, and the vendor sent his “boy” out and he came back with cold Pepsis. It is very nice that they are so service oriented. This slow relaxed manner changes as soon as they get on the road. As near as I can tell, it is required that when you are about to embark on any car journey, the driver must first blast the horn for no reason, then repeat every 15 seconds for the entire journey. As I mentioned the roads are narrow, in serious disrepair and shared by some of the slowest, most stubborn animals on earth, pulling loads that would give a tow truck difficulty. Then you have a guy in a car, that needs to get somewhere and is weaving in and out of the various carts, pedestrians, motor bikes, trucks and other cars, on the left, right, center or where ever there is almost enough room for their vehicle. It is utter chaos, and is not an activity for the faint of heart. There are NO rules. It would be an interesting study of human nature to try and figure out why such calm relaxed people suddenly turn into Mario Andretti, with anger issues as soon as the get behind the wheel.

Another antiquated infrastructure is the power grid. It is old and can not handle the current draw, so often shuts down completely. Most offices have generators for back up, and we run the office on generator power for about 12 hours out of the 16 we are at the office. And for the 4 hours we are on the city grid we experience frequent interruptions. The guest house also runs mostly on generator power, but the generator only powers the essential items like water pumps and lights. The AC and TV are not on and will not operate when under generator power, so aside from being noisy, it is hot in the guest house too.

The market is another fun experience. The market is off a small but busy street, and is just a labyrinth of small alleyways that have millions of little shop houses with everything you could imagine. There are fabric vendors that hang their multi colored fabrics out front and are a delight to the visual senses. Then every other shop is a tailor transforming the colorful fabrics into elegant garments for men, women and children. Then there are the gun shops, where anyone can walk in with 5,500 Rupees (about $65 US) and walk out with a fully functional AK-47 assault rifle, complete with ammo. Scattered throughout are little convenience shops, shoe stores, toy stores, electronics shops etc. And then you have the spice section. Before you even see the spice stalls coming up, your nose starts burning, and your eyes sting! There are huge bags of several different curries. Red, yellow and green spices, overflowing their giant bags and staining the floor with their color. Even after you have returned to your car, you still have the smell and slight sting in your nose. While shopping we encountered many different fellow shoppers. Most were local women gathering goods for their daily families needs. Many in full burka, where you can only see their eyes, with their children in tow. Others were younger women in elegant burkas with their face exposed, with a colorful head scarf. I am still not exactly sure the difference and who can wear what. It may be different religious sects, or may be due to age and marital status. Honestly I have not had time to look into it to much yet, but it is fascinating.

Food is a bit difficult in Sukkur. They don’t have a huge variety, and chicken or mutton seem to be the main dish, and are usually served with rice. Beef is rare and expensive. Pork products are impossible to find, as Muslims believe the pig to be a very dirty animal and have no time for them at all. I miss bacon! There are very few restaurants in town. Most restaurants are attached to the guest houses and have a very limited menu. Everything is cooked with a TON of oil. There is one pizza place that boasts “The Beast Pizza in town”. I have not yet found pizza available anywhere else in town, but why their pizza needs to be the “Beast” I am unsure. Everything is spicy, so they even add chili sauce to the pizza sauce. Right next door is KFC. I guess they know their market. The diet of the local population is mostly chicken, KFC is a good fit!! All of the restaurants have a divided dinning room. Usually the men eat in one room while the women and children eat in another. They have somewhat relaxed that a bit now. If you are a group of men (as most diners are) you sit in the main area, if you are a family or a mixed group you eat in the other area. It is interesting to watch the interaction of the different groups. For the most part the women are very quiet, while the men are loud and boisterous. Stories are told with exuberant hand gestures and lots of finger wagging. All seem very friendly and level of English is very good compared to many of the places I have been.

All in all I am enjoying my time here. There is lots of work to do, and very little assistance or direction from the government. In the end we can not do anything without their blessing, so it is a game of hurry up and wait. We have procured and stockpiled many goods so my warehouse is bursting at the seams, and we are waiting on the govt to announce when and where the camps will be established so we can start setting things up. The people are reluctant to move back and start repairing their property on their own, as the govt has pledged assistance, so they are worried that if they clean it up and start repairs the govt will not give them the assistance money. It adds more drama and uncertainty to an already huge and difficult emergency. But if I wanted an easy job, I wouldn’t be here, doing this. I have taken a few photos for you, but hope to have more in the future. I hear Griffin took his first plane journey up to NH to see my parents. I was sorry to miss it. I really miss him while being over here, and can’t wait to see the lil guy again. I am looking forward to hearing how the trip went.

I hope to write more later.

Ciao!
Steve

Donkey Cart

Unloading goods at a warehouse

Cleaning out the open sewer. What a shitty job for about $1 a day

Fancy decorated truck

Family returning home via donkey cart with all their stuff from the camp

Unloading tents

Typical truck here. Not sure why they have the elaborate front bumper on them!

Unloading goods at one of our warehouses

Tent city

Mil in our dorm-type room

Camel Cart