My Week in Pakistan

June 1, 2008
It has only been a week since I landed at Islamabad airport but it feels as if I have been here forever.

After spending Sunday and Monday in Islamabad at my aunt’s house I came to Tarbela, about 120 km from Islamabad, accompanied by Farrukh, my cousin and Akif, my nephew.

My aunt has two live in maids/servants; one is just a child of 9 or 10. I kept thinking of all the discussions we had in Peoria about child labor and sweat shops. Is this a kind of child abuse?

The child, Sanya, does not go to school, but it is not so unusual in this country. I asked my aunt if any attempt is being made to educate her. I was told the girl is not interested in education. She did not go to school before coming to Islamabad . But my aunt is trying to teach her to read the Qur’an. Even that is a struggle.

I am also told that two of Sanya’s sisters – one younger and one older – are in my aunt’s older daughter’s employ. Before we pass any judgment whether this is a child abuse, lets look at the situation.. The parents are poor and uneducated. the girls are provided room and board and parents receive monthly stipend for their wages. If these girls were not employed at my aunt’s house they probably would end up in some other household. It is unlikely they’ll be better off.

In Tarbela Khalida, my sister and her daughter, Seemab, are winding down their school year. On Friday evening we all went to their last of weekly women’s Qur’anic session. There were three of them, my sister, her daughter and another woman, taking turns reciting the ayas and explaining what they meant to about 20 women of all ages to an audience of 25 women ranging in age from ~12 to 50+. It was quite impressive how keen the women were interested in listening to a different kind of interpretation of the Qur'an.


Today, sunday Khalida, Farrukh and i are going to Peshawar, the big city closest to Afghanistan border. Seemab could not join us. I'll write about our visit to Peshawar another time