Monday, May 4 to Wed May 6

Mon May 4
Rainy. It was hard to walk along the roadside to get bread and milk and stay clean. And safe, because there are now many puddles along the roadside. I marvel at how the girls who wear white or brightly coloured saaris and salwar kameez pants can keep the bottoms clean in these conditions. I am grateful for my black pants!

After breakfast of fresh bread rounds and oatmeal with raisins and almonds I headed to Srinagar with Sami. Two patient's surgeries were delayed due to election protest strikes. These people cannot well afford to pay city prices for their food, and the country father and disabled son - where will they stay for a few days while waiting for elections to be over?

We also visited a government lady who is organising a 5 day conference on rehabilitation of the disabled. She invited me to attend. Not for 5 days! She also wants Sami to speak. I will ask him if he would like me to put together a presentation for him. They may be coming out to visit us during their field visits. The shop may be open by then. Maybe not.

I offered to buy windshield wipers and a flashing red light for the ambulance van. We also looked at a siren, but there is no way I will add to the noise level and disharmony of the Kashmiri traffic. The light is silent but will command more respect from other drivers than a nasty hurtful siren, and will not damage the ears of the pedestrians. The guys in the shop did not cover their ears when it was tested. Not a wise move. One of them jumped out of his skin when it was tested.

On the way back to Wayil we dropped off photos to be printed for me in Ganderbal town. A couple of army men spotted me through the shop window and came into the store to check me out. I don't fit the profile of a militant terrorist, but any foreigner is suspect here. I fully expected them to ask me for an ID. I carry my NZ driver's license and a copy of my NZ passport with me. But they must have been satisfied that I was not a serious threat to their authority, and let me leave the shop without comment. We also picked up some fresh cheese and yogurt. They do not have aged cheese here, only fresh. It is usually deep fried and added to vegetables with spices. Very nice!
There were students awainting computer training when I returned, and in between helping them I started work on the Annual Report, using the outline Tahir gave me. We had dinner at Sami's Aunt and uncle's house, in a nearby village - this one is on the way to the Police Acadamy. To my surprise, this prosperous engineer in the small village in Kashmir is an Amway dealer. We had some very interesting discussions about capitalism and politics and western culture.





Tuesday, May 5
Today is a CBR: Community Based Rehabilitation visit. Sami brings hearing testing equipment and we go to a village to find disabled people who need help. The village was Kulharna, and it had been arranged by the newspaper reporter who had stopped by a week before. Our first stop was at a school where there were two disabled teenage boys. The school superintendent asked me my opinion of Kashmir, and was pleased with my answers. Yes. I like it here. For many reasons. And I am finding more all the time. When funds become available, these boys will have surgery. In the meantime, exercises can be done to help. On our way to our next stop, to a house in the village, the ambulance got stuck in a deep hole and had to be pushed out. There were enough men at hand, so I just documented it.
There were 4 disabled family members in the house we visited. All were rickets cases. The 21 year old girl had never been seen by a doctor, nor had the 12 year old. The grandfather also had a hearing problem, and Sami was able to give him one of the used hearing aids from New Zealand during our visit, after testing him. I videotaped and photographed the people we saw. The 21 year old will be coming for computer training next week. As we left the house, Sami offered to take a photo of me as the three of us tried to pick our way through the mud. I gave him my camera. My mistake was that I stood still just a moment too long, and my shoes became so stuck in the mud that my feet slipped out of them every time I tried to take a step. It was very comical. I almost gave up and walked barefoot, but somehow managed to get out with my shoes still on my feet. 5 pounds heavier.

Tomorrow is a major strike protest against Indian rule. No one will be allowed to vote. People go along with it because they feel all the politicians are crooked anyway, so which one gets elected hardly matters.




Wed, May 6
Very cold! Last night I only took off my jacket before climbing into bed. Too cold too change into my sleeping clothes. Fortunately, my clothes are very forgiving of being slept in, and looked fine the next morning.On the way to get bread and milk and bananas for breakfast, I took this photo of some neighbours. No school today because of the strike against the election. And the sky was clear, so I took this photo of the bridhe and mountain right by the Hope Centre.



There were many Indian army soldiers around today. On every corner. Some come into the compound and wander around. I ask to take a photo, but was denied. Later in the day, however, I did manage to get a photo. The day was clear and cold, and the mountains were beautiful. My main activity for the next 3 days was working on the annual report and brochure.

I have come up with an idea for funding. When I was contacting organisations around the world for volunteer opps, one of them sent an application form and required $800 US per month to stay with them and volunteer. I didn't mind because I knew my money was going to run the centre, and the people there would make sure my time was well used. So we are going to do the same thing at Hope Centre. It is such an amazing experience to live here, where there are no tourists, that this experience is well worth paying more than backpacker rates for. And it will bring in, after expenses, about $600 US per month in the summer when volunteers are most likely to visit. I am contributing much more than this, and am happy to do so.

Continued work on the Annual Report. Tahir came by and worked on the ledger books.






This boy is named Ishtyak. He was orphaned in the earthquake in 2005, and now lives with Sami's mother and father in their large house in Wayil village.








Sami's father is a construction contractor, and is building a new house a couple of houses down, for the family. The wood is hewn by hand!





Tahir took me over one day to take a look at the construction. There is a warm room being built in the house - where a fire is built under the room and the heat rises through rocks and the concrete floor to keep it nice and toasty, without carrying around the wicker basket with the coals in it. Another great idea!