Sunday, May 3

Sun, May 3
Here is a photo of Sami and I on the swing in front of Hope Centre. I am wearing my lovely pheran with the embroidery, which cost less than $10 US.

The bulbuls insist on coming into the Hope Centre as soon as the doors are opened in the morning, and doing their best to build a nest among the wires near the ceiling. And every morning they are chased out and the beginnings of their nest removed.

I took a long walk this morning -

I dropped off a photo to Sgt Ahmed, the top military man who supervises the bridge next to Hope Centre. But I had no time to stop for tea. Continuing across the bridge, I took some photos of the oats being harvested . This is all done by hand - with a small and sharp sickle.

My photo taking always attracts attention. I was invited in for tea at farmhouse. And this time I accepted. The houses are very interesting. No furniture except a few pillows in the main guest room, and in the bedroom only a bed. I took photos of the family: grandfather and his 'hubble bubble', mother and daughter, daughter and son, and an aunt who stopped by to get some greens from her sister's garden.

I will stop by and give them the photos now that they are printed.

I continued on my walk, greeting everyone with 'hello' if they were schoolchildren studying English at school, or 'assalam alaikum' if they were adults. I found this stone wall very interesting along the way.

Eventually I came to the place where the Sindh River is managed, so that all the numerous streams and canals and ditches get just the right amount of water, no matter what is happening upstream.

I turned around to return, and on the way stopped at a tiny shop to buy some vegetables from this lovely man across from the Police Training Compound.

25 rupees, less than $1 NZ, for 3 large potatoes, 5 big radishes, 3 red onions, and 7 small tomatoes. And he kept putting extra veggies in my bag.

During election time, just like in the US and New Zealand, convoys of local politicians drive through the villages, loudspeakers blaring. The big difference here, though, is that there are hooded men carrying assault rifles riding on the top of the vehicles!

Since it was Sunday, Imtiyaz suggested it be a holiday from computer training. Sami was gone, so I took the opportunity to clean. Scrubbed floors in bathroom, kitchen, hallway. Computer students came anyway, at all times. I am getting too many students coming and asking for help. Few are disabled. I need to change the system. I talked to Imtiyaz and Sami about it. Now only staff and disabled will have computer training. Others may come once a week. This will give me more time to write the annual report, a brochure, and a newsletter. Tahir came over Sun night with an internet stick. This technology is supposed to be 'plug and play'. You pay for the USB stick, and it connects itself to the internet via cell phone waves, and installs itself into your computer. Not surprisingly, it didn't work in my Mac. It works fine on Sami's desktop. But it is slower than dial up. It was supposed to be high speed. But it still might be useful for a laptop if I get one for Sami.
I had dinner at Wani house. Sami's brother Tarik gave me a beautiful scarf. Now, with my pheran, I fit in better. As Imtiyaz says "Who is that Kashmiri girl in the photo?"

Sami received a special government recognition and status letter today. FCRA. He has been working on it for 2 years, and went to Delhi 3 times. Hope Ctr is the only nonprofit organisation in all of Kashmir to have it. He is very happy. It will make it easier for him to get donations from Kashmiris and Indian NGOs, as well as overseas.