Daysed and Confused

I can’t believe it has been nearly a month since I arrived in Pakistan.  It seems like a long time ago that I was at home, yet weeks seems to go very quickly here.  The only way I can keep track of what day it is, is from the day printed on my malaria tablets (I have to take them daily and they are helpfully labelled with the day of the week!).  Goodness only knows what’ll happen if I forget to take them one day!  Time is another concept that is very different here to at home, with everything (and everyone) working at a ‘slowly, slowly’ pace.  This can be rather frustrating and leave you feeling as if little is achieved in a day.

We had our first difficult meeting last Friday when we were told that everything is ok with the primary schools (not what our first hand experience from visiting rural schools had told us!) and that they wanted us to sort out the teaching in the secondary schools.  I think stunned silence would best describe what followed, swiftly replaced by declarations of incompetence in the areas of secondary teaching.  This didn’t seem to deter them – apparently the British education system is so far ahead that teaching the secondary school teachers primary methodologies would be more than good enough.  (This is actually not true.  The knowledge they gain from the Pakistani education system is of a far higher level than that gained from the British education system.)  A bit of a stand off ensued and we left on somewhat uneasy ground.  Confused, angry and disillusioned are probably the words that summed up how I felt and at this point a year seemed a very long time to be out here.  Mike was far more proactive in his approach to this problem and that evening wrote out a proposal as to what we were going to do during our time here.  I know I said previously that I was here to do whatever it was that they needed me to do, but I meant within the limitations of my skills and experience!  The proposal was handed in and no more has been mentioned of secondary teaching since.

So what am I actually doing?  Well I have got my hands on English versions of the Punjab syllabus text books for science, social studies, maths and English which has been really helpful.  These books are poor quality and badly printed (most of the pictures ideally require the reader to be wearing those red and green 3D glasses to avoid headaches!) but they are cheap which is good as the children have to buy their own books.  So I’m now going through the science topics and trying to work out a spiral curriculum as currently all topics are covered in all years, with new topics added each year.  This means that Class 4 cover 14 science topics and Class 5 16 topics in a year!  No wonder they can’t find time to do any practical activities or investigations.  I’m also looking at how science can link in with other subject areas and will be producing a long term curriculum plan in consultation with the teacher trainers and primary school teachers in Sher Ghar.  Hopefully next week I’ll be able to do some science observations and have a meeting with teachers to work out what it is they would like training in.

Sunday was our day off and we had been offered a lift into Lahore by the factory manager as he was going to pick up his son from boarding school for the day.  We accepted his offer (nothing ventured, nothing gained being the motto) and ended up having a fantastic day.  I thought he’d drop us off in Lahore and then pick us up later but no, we had a full on guided tour accompanied by his poor 6 year old son (who suffered from travel sickness!).  Firstly we went to the Badshahi Mosque which dates from 1674 and is built from red sandstone.  It is a beautiful building but photographs don’t do it justice because of the atmospheric haze (pollution?).  We then went to Shahi Qila (Lahore Fort) which in its current form dates from 1566.  It was good to see that they are carefully restoring parts of the fort.  We particularly liked the elephant steps – a stairway that the elephants used to climb up to reach the ladies’ chambers when they wanted to go out!  (Wouldn’t it just be easier for the ladies to walk down the steps?!)

We were then driven around the narrow streets of the walled old town, something not seen by many tourists I think.  The roads were barely wide enough for the car and the buildings on either side leant in towards each other.  I’m sure the people living in the top storeys could have shaken hands with the people living opposite by leaning out of their window.  It really felt as if I had travelled back hundreds of years in time.  It was a real contrast to the modern part of the city that we visited next where there are European brand shops, coffee shops and smart restaurants.  However it wasn’t a smart restaurant that we went to for lunch.  Instead we found ourselves in McDonald’s, an establishment that I haven’t set foot in for about 15 years on ethical grounds.  As this was the only wish of a 6 year old boy on his only day off from school in 2 weeks, I think it would have been somewhat churlish for me to have protested.  I’d forgotten how vile the chips are – very salty!  (Aside:  People in Pakistan put salt on everything, including their fruit!!)  The burger was rather tasty though, even the plastic cheese.  After lunch we were taken to a couple of shopping malls and an international food store where I spent a fortune on a block of cheese from Cheshire and a pack of Digestive biscuits.  Felt very guilty when I equated the amount I had spent to 2 months’ salary for a local teacher so I will be more restrained in future.

The afternoon was spent at the Lahore Polo Club watching a polo match which was fast and furious.  Then we went back to the boarding school and were shown round the facilities – a far cry from what we had seen in the rural schools!  We had dinner before being returned to the farm.  Not only was Khaleem incredibly generous with his time but he also insisted on paying for everything (except my cheese and Digestives!) and this really is a reflection on how amazingly friendly and welcoming the people we have met have been.

 Other Observations

The dupatta (scarf worn with shalwar kameez) is the singularly most frustrating item of clothing I have ever worn.  It is forever falling off the shoulders or tightening itself around my neck.  It falls off when you bend forwards and dangles precariously if not removed when using a squat toilet.  Women in Pakistan spend more time adjusting their dupatta than doing anything else as far as I can tell.  However recently I have discovered that it has hidden uses.  You can dry your hands on it having used a public toilet, you can dry glasses in restaurants with it to remove traces of suspect water and I’m convinced that old ones can be used as backing for classroom displays!!

Most of Pakistan is pre Industrial Revolution, ie things are created using man power and skills, not machinery.  On our drive to school every morning we pass a number of brick making sites where clay is dug from the ground and put into wooden moulds.  They are then left to dry in the sun before being fired in a huge chimney shaped kiln.  The finished bricks are then piled up before being taken away by donkey carts.  There is another site that makes cardboard and we see large sheets of it drying in the fields by the side of the road.  Metal workers weld large metal gates that it seems everyone puts on the front of their houses and I have seen beautifully carved wooden furniture progress each day that we drive past.

The variety of traffic on the roads is astounding.  There are pedestrians who take their life in their hands every time they cross the road.  There are cyclists, motorcyclists and motorcycle rickshaws.  There are donkey carts, ox carts and camel carts.  There are vans and fabulously decorated buses.  Occasionally you will even see a car.  It seems that anything with a horn has right of way over everything else (no, not the sort of horn an ox has!).  The donkey cart seems to have the hardest time and on more than one occasion I was convinced that we were going to hit one in the school van but disaster was averted at the last second with the cart veering off the road.

I had my first experience of threading today whilst sitting in the training centre at school.  Suffice to say it hurt.  A lot!

I’m having a slightly strange experience as I write this in the sitting room at the bungalow.  Two of the children of our attendant are here whilst he is cleaning Mike’s room (it must be very dirty, he’s been in there for nearly 2 hours!).  They have been utterly delightful – we have made them a cuppa and they have peeled our potatoes for dinner and done the washing up.  I have practised my limited Urdu, they have practised their limited English and we are now sitting listening to Elbow on iTunes on my laptop and grinning at each other!  They love English music and it is much better than Pakistani music (at least that’s what I think they meant!).

Well that’s all for now folks.  Thanks to all once again for your correspondence this week, it has been lovely catching up with all the news from home.  Who’s still in Strictly Come Dancing?!  Take it easy and wrap up warm – it’s cold out there!!

Lots of love and huge hugs

K xx