Burkas and Boat Basin

Today at work we sat down with our boss and elaborated our working schedule and plan for the next few weeks which includes a hell of a lot of tasks which we probably won’t be able to finish all in these 6 weeks (I mention the most important tasks under the page “NGO – War Against Rape”) but we also had some fun: Three of our female co-workers take the bus every day for around 1,5-2 hours each way, which is why they cover themselves for with a scarf (meaning they cover their heads) as travelling on public transport isn’t as clean, organised or – most importantly for women here – as safe as in, let’s say, Berlin. It is not that you immediately get raped if you don’t cover your head, of course not, but from what we have heard men here will stare. That is why some women who don’t feel comfortable with men staring at them prefer to wear burkas, and one of our co-workers is one of those women. No, she does not always wear the burka, only when she takes the bus home and needs to change and therefore wait for the next bus about 3 or 4 times for a total amount of travelling time of nearly 2 hours, as stated above. Understandable, right? I wanted to understand that feeling even better and asked her if i could try on her beautiful black burka, which she allowed and which actually brought some fun time to all of us, as everyone was either helping me to wrap the scarf around my head properly once I was wearing the kurta part or commented with a laugh how much I looked like a Pakistani or even a Taliban woman. In fact, I really liked the burka, but after a while you get hot…

In the evening we went for dinner at boat basin with quite a few AIESECers… I am not sure I remember all their names, to be honest, because some of them I met for the first time then, but somehow it is always nice and cute to see how many people are genuinely interested in you just because you are a foreigner and because they feel you are “their” intern. Boat basin is a long “food street” with many small restaurants next to each other, with only a parking lane seperating it from a big and busy street. Awesomely enough, we went to a Lebanese place where you could either sit in normal, boring plastic chairs, or – what we obviously did – on wooden platforms with a big carpet on them and some cushions. The food was served on big plates which were just put in the middle of our cosy round and from which everybody helped themselves. Although everybody got their own plate and spoon, we still ate mainly with our hands and with ruti or naan, as it is commonly done. YES, the food was delicious! And yes, I had a semi-upset tummy the following night/day, but also some of our local friends had, so it’s not a big deal. http://vimeo.com/87774445 My friend Faria was supposed to take a picture of me eating Pakistani food – this is how it turned out 😉 For dessert, Sufian took Faria, Vivian and me for some damn chocolaty ice cream at a place close by before driving us home – and letting me sit on his car’s bonnet for the last few metres. 😀 Goood food day, overall!

The real deal – Zainab market!

Today at work we continued our case studies reading and became more familiar with our co-workers at WAR: Kiran, our boss and program coordinator; Asia, the in-house lawyer who comes to office around noon, because she usually is at the courts in the morning; Farzana, van driver and handyman who doesn’t speak a lot of English but we talk to quite a lot anyway (also, when we go and get food from outside, like chicken rolls from Milano’s, then she is the one who accompanies us and helps us order); Rukhsana and Sheraz, our survivor support officers; and Ayesha the accounts and admin manager. WAR also has a clinical psychologist employed, but she doesn’t work from office, so we don’t really know her.

After work we got picked up by our friend Narissa and her sister and went to drop her sister at their house. Narissa’s family lives in a Parsi colony (yes, gated communities are quite common here) which might just be the most liberal (as in Western-like) place in Karachi.
The best thing about that afternoon, though, wasn’t seeing the colony, but it was that Narissa’s driver tried to teach us to ride his bike and even let us try it ourselves!

It was a lot of fun, obviously! Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to keep practicing, as we still had to meet Moomal at the university.

So my first attempt was also my last attempt…

I nearly drove the bike against a wall. Nearly.

We then drove to uni campus to pick up Moomal and from there to Zainab market. By the time we got there it was dark and dodgy, so I didn’t really feel like taking out my camera.

Zainab market is in the center of Karachi and therefore was our first experience outside of Clifton/Defense which according to Wikipedia is “an affluent neighbourhood located in the Saddar Town of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan“ and has a reputation as a “residential place of the rich and famous people of Karachi since the independence of Pakistan“.

The reason why we just had to go to Zainab market with Moomal out of all people, is that Moomal is very good at bargaining and Zainab market is all about bargaining!
It really came in handy having her there: while I was trying on jeans (in a tiny changing room, euphemistically speaking), she talked to the sales people in Urdu and by the time I had tried them all on and decided for one, the price was already remarkably down. When Vivian and I both decided for the same pair of jeans, she got the price down to 1100 rupees for both, meaning 550 rupees for each – that is less than 4€. Yeah, right?! I know you are reading this, Moomal, so thanks again!

The first stalls we entered were all located outside, along the street where people were selling street food from their carts, but we later also went inside. Inside it was the same scenery of small stalls, overloaded either with clothes, bags or shawls, seperated by narrow aisles. After our glorious jeans shopping we went shawl hunting and let me tell you, that is really not an easy task. With jeans it is way easier to decide because they either fit you or they don’t, you either look good in them or you don’t,  but with shawls… they come in so many different beautiful colours andlovely patterns that all look great and you can wear them here as a shawl (or rebozo as it is known in Mexico) or internationally as a scarf, any way you want – so there is not really a reason NOT to get a shawl if you like it…

So here is a piece of advice to those out there with the same “I like them all” issues as me: Instead of stopping at the ATM on your way to the market, just don’t take so much money with you. At the market it’s all cash; if you really liked something and run out of money, then you can always come back, but be smart and prepare your purse in emptying it to a certain extend in advance – it helped me decide for 2 shawls instead of buying 5.

First day at work

Today is the big day, first day at work. We’re going to start doing what we came for. But what exactly would that be? I don’t know yet.
As you know, I came to Pakistan for “Karachi, my love!” but nearly decided for “HAQ – your right” instead. I had asked my project manager earlier if there was a way for me to do both, to somehow join HAQ while still doing my own project, and apparently there was: Because it had become clear that we would only be two interns (as the girls from Nicaragua and Nigeria couldn’t join us for some last minute problems, I think visa issues or something) now the AIESECers had even more devotion to adapt to us two and please us, so they helped me arrange the two projects in my timetable and with the NGOs.
Btw, have you ever had 30 people offering their help, letting you know that they will do whatever they can and be there for you, in case you have any questions or problems? That you shouldn’t hesitate to contact them, if you need anything? No? Well, we do whenever we meet new people, even more when we’re on an AIESEC event like the one yesterday , where we were treated like celebrities. Everybody, including random strangers whose name we forgot the minute we heard them, wanted to take pictures with us, especially with the tall white Vivian…

Now I will be going to the War Against Rape office three days a week, while 3 days a week I work on my blog for Peace Niche from home.
Last night we decided with Faria that I would start with HAQ, so Vivian and I could go to work together at our first day. It took us a while to find the place this morning, although Faria had been there before, so we drove around the block for a few minutes, before in a small, dirty street they eventually dropped us off and we entered a building, in which all doors were immensely secured. Up the stairs and there we were, infront of a door with a big sign on it: “War Against Rape since 1989”.
When we knocked and they let us in, a man and a woman were reading the newspapers (searching them for any articles on women rights, rape cases and anything else related to WAR’s work; to stay up to date, they start all working days like this, they explained to us later). They welcomed us and briefly introduced us to their work, before the coordinator came and introduced us to WAR’s work on a deeper level. It turned out there had been a misunderstanding and the coordinator thought I was the girl from Nicaragua, but we cleared that up quickly and I sent her my CV, so she could assign me more suited work.

The first day we had to get familiar with the issues WAR deals with every day, so everything we did (and everything we could do as freshly arrived) was reading booklets and WAR’s own publications which include many, many case studies on rape cases, law commentaries and general discussions about the situation and single aspects of it. Some publications of WAR’s are online, on their homepage http://www.war.org.pk, in case you want to check them out.
For lunch, the office workers ordered Pulao for us, a traditional Pakistani rice and chicken dish, after talking traditional dishes with us, explaining how they were differently prepared and eventually recommending this one for not being too spicy. They all had brought their home-made lunch, but it was lovely to eat all together, the 6 office workers and us two interns. Sharing really is a big thing in Pakistan, and again you could tell – they didn’t just share their food with each other, but also made us try everything they had brought and shared their rutis with us.

Office hours at War Against Rape are 9:30am-5:30pm, so when by 9:25 Vivian and I still weren’t sure who was going to come and pick us up, while office workers started packing their stuff together to get on their 2-hours bus ride home, we started to get nervous and I borrowed a phone to call Faria – just to be surprised.

We weren’t picked up by Faria, as we thought, but by Dhanak.  Dhanak, my project manager, the girl who had convinced me to choose “Karachi, my love!” (her project, as you can guess) over HAQ, the girl who I had been talking to on whatsapp and facebook for weeks now; who I apparently have a lot in common with – I mean, how big is the chance to find someone in Pakistan who did rowing in the same semi-professional extent that you did yourself? –  and who gave me valuable advice concerning clothes and packing; the girl whose name means rainbow, as Faria told us, who, according to last year’s intern from Mexico, looks Mexican (which I am, partly) and who I have been compared to so many times now by common friends, without having met her in person… until now 😉

After work the three of us went to Espresso, a normal coffee shop, where we met with Faria before going home and continuing our girls chat there. Spontaniously, our friends Usman and Sufian invited us to go for Sheesha, which Vivian and I happily accepted. They took us to Sattar Buksh (yes, it is supposed to sound like Starbucks), a place with a nice outside sitting area and really good berry smoothies,
but when the guys curiously asked if we had Sheesha in Europe and how it was different, we had to disappoint them and all curious readers: it’s really just the same.
Sorry. I mean, it was still good, but just not new to us and the fun we had was more because of the people we went with and the stuff we talked about 😉

I nearly forgot to mention: Usman is a selfie addict.

So we had a discussion about how selfies were so 2011 but then decided to also give his arguments some credit and just try it. It was quite fun, I have to admit. But then, again, there are different kinds of selfies and not all of them are as cool as ours, right?

Karachi Youth to Business Forum

It is not uncommon for students here to have uni on Saturdays, so if you’re an ambitious student, Sunday is the day for you to attend some other studies-related but not grade-relevant activities to pimp your CV; such as the Youth to Business Forum which AIESEC in IBA held for the 3rd time this year.

This was basically a mix of conference, motivation speeches and tracks sessions at IBA’s main campus in the city center. It was under the motto of planning for success (or not planning, as we heard in the first lecture and I personally tend to believe in).
I had never attended such an event before and was unsure of what to wear, as we knew we’d be the only “internationals” at the conference, and, of course, we showed up over-dressed, but it was too warm for the blazer anyway, so I quickly got rid of it.

“Youth to Business Forum is an international conference hosted by AIESEC around the globe. It follows a comprehensive structure presented by AIESEC’s international community with a common agenda, pressing on economic, social and cultural issues, that is universally followed. The conference aims to develop, hone and transpire the talents of potential young leaders, thus enabling them to impact the community and the world on a much larger scale. Selected individuals are given a unique opportunity to broaden their corporate network while communicating and interacting with distinguished speakers and notable personalities from the social and corporate sector; impelling them to be engaged and inspired by them, and encouraging them to develop actionable ideas for society as mature and sound leaders. This year, AIESEC in IBA aims to achieve this through the theme ‘Planning for Success’.” -http://aieseciniba.com/karachiy2b/

The whole thing started in the morning at about 9/10am – on a Sunday! – and lasted all day long. There were some food breaks, obviously, and the food was great! It was very interested, but still, in the late evening we were quite exhausted by listening to lectures which not all were in English, but also partly or fully in Urdu, so our friends Moomal and Aruba showed us around the campus instead. We found this foosball midway, and just had to play a few rounds – of which the German team won all (two, to be exact) as we are proud to announce! 😉

We took our time, having a chat about different schooling and educational systems in different countries while sitting on the football court (mosquito repellent was working, luckily) and watching the early sunset. By the time we came back to the conference, it was dark and time to take the final pictures (see first and last picture in this post) and then soon to go home – or some other places!!

Aaqib and Sufian (two guys, for those unfamiliar with Pakistani names) took Vivian and me to that coolly decorated cafe called The Hot Spot Cafe where Vivian ordered a Chocolate Fudge Cake with vanilla ice cream and I ordered a Chocolate Chip Cookie Vanilla Ice Cream Sandwich – fancy name, right? 
Two more friends joined us, we grabbed some tea and spontaniously drove to seaview, the commercialised area of Clifton Beach in Karachi. Seemingly (and sadly) it is not a very safe area to be at this time of the day evening, so the guys insisted on sitting in an ugly and loud place, because it was well lighted. Well, I guess you can’t have it all, but we still had a damn good time and conversations as entertaining as eye-opening, before we were driven back to Faria’s place – where we continued chatting until late about deep shit and stuff, ahem. 😉
About these (and also later) conversations I’ll just give away that apparently it is true that commonly Pakistanis (of all income groups) stay virgins until they marry. This was slightly surprising for me, I have to admit, because I had thought it to be just the official version of something still happening in secrecy, but I was wrong and I highly respect the honesty Pakistanis show for themselves regarding their religion / tradition / beliefs. They do have a point in arguing how, because of saving oneself for marriage, problems such as teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases are not an issue in Pakistan, whereas in some so-called first world or highly developed countries they are. It’s not all black and white, guys!

Welcome to Pakistan??!

I would’ve never imagined to have so much trouble entering a country like Pakistan as a German/EU citizen…
So here’s the story of my arrival and first day in Pakistan:

At Istanbul Ataturk Airport I was supposed to meet Vivian, the other German intern who would take the same connection flight to Karachi; but well, let’s say once she had found me (dressed in my bright green hoodie, so she’d recognize me) at the gate, she had to wait a while for me to wake up. (Sorry for that, Vivian, hope waiting alone wasn’t too boring.)
We didn’t sit next to each other in the plane but we both had some serious sleep deficit, anyway, so guess what I did? And that was the problem!
Because I slept during the whole flight, they didn’t give me any food 😦 and they didn’t give me that form, that little piece of paper you need to fill out to enter the country.

So when we arrived and reached the passport control and I didn’t have it, apparently they were thinking I had sneaked into the country illegally or something. It was specially weird, because at 5am there were maaaany men at the airport (either traditionally dressed or in uniform) and just one lonely queue particularly for women and children at the passport control – but as they were all very Pakistani-looking, we queued behind some Turkish men instead.
Vivian, of course, could present her filled out form, but because of me, we were sent from one officer to the next, until one random guy offered his help  – he even gave Vivian his phone number! She is very eqe-catching here in Pakistan, being 1,80m tall and quite white, so no wonder she had a first admirer in less than 15 minutes! 😀 He led us to a desk and jumped the queue for us, where the officer checked all my papers, flight ticket, passport, visa, invitation letter etc. in a quite Germanly accurate way; but he didn’t seem very convinced, not even after ringing the AIESEC Vice President for Incoming Exchange out of bed, who assured him everything was all right.

Eventually, they let us go, but more than an hour had passed and we were afraid the AIESECers supposed to pick us up, had left again – but luckily they hadn’t. They were both male, of course, as no decent woman is on the street at that time of the day, right? (I know my mum will love to read this last sentence, so I’ll just say hi to her: hola mami, espero que estés bien)

We drove directly to our first host family, Faria’s family, where we were greeted warmly by the whole family and got our first introduction into Pakistani culture. Like, did you know that in Pakistani houses they have a room specially for guests, like a second living room but used only for the purpose of receiving guests? It’s also supposed to be the most fancy room in the house.

The rest of the day was all about getting that sleep we so desperately needed, eating delicious homemade

Pakistani food (the grandma here is a great cook! she made it extra non-spicy at first) and chatting with the family members, whose English is very good. In the evening, when Faria came back from uni, we went kurta shopping in a mall in a shop called Khaadi, which is supposed to be the nicest place to buy kurtas in Karachi. While Vivian’s is too short – because, let’s face it, how many Pakistani girls are really tall? – mine was actually a little too big, I keep stepping on it when going upstairs. Still, I don’t feel as tiny as in Germany, I fit in rather neatly here 😉