Post (what # are we on now, No?)

I'm in Karachi now, the 7th largest city in the world. It's dusty, polluted, smelly, & crowded. Tomorrow morning I'm leaving to Thatta (Keenjhar Lake) to interview some fisherfolk, then I'll be off to Nawab Shah to meet farmers. Basically, I've met tons of bureaucrats, NGOs, & researchers about the freshwater issues in Pakistan. Now it's time to meet those who are most harshly affected- the poor workers who live closest to the land & depend most on the Indus Basin. I'll be back in Karachi tomorrow late afternoon, where I'll meet an aquaintance & his wife (both water rights activists in Sindh). They'll take me & Jawaria (the friend from WWF who is serving as an interpretter & assistant) to meet the villagers of Karachi (ironic sounding, I know, but that's what they're called), people who used to farm or fish, but have been forced to move to the city for a host of reasons, usually including lack of water in the lakes or rivers to irrigate their fields or for fish. We'll meet & interview some of those people, who are struggling to eek out a living in Karachi. Then we'll have dinner with Mr Memon & his wife at their place.

This is one thing I really appreciate about the people of Pakistan. Everyone seems to want to be a good host. No one allows me to pay for dinners out, even if I am the one who invited them, because, "you are a guest here". Loads of individuals have introduced me to their families & shown me their homes. A perfect example of this hospitality was just last night. One of the WWF staff took Jawaria & I to Hyderabad to meet a guy who wrote a book about the Kala Bagh Dam issue & to meet several people from SIDA (the Sindh Irrigation Development Authority, a really excellent group which has given over 5 million farmers the opportunity to manage their own water resources collectively). We then sat in on one of the initial Friends of Indus Forum meetings, & saw about 40 activists planning to develop this advocacy group to improve the livelihoods of those living in Sindh Province, all of whom are suffering because they in the lower riparian section of River Indus (including Karachi- very close to the outlet of the Indus into the Arabian Sea), where the riverbeds are essentially used as drains for the sewage & industrial effluents to flow into the sea. Not much potable pani (water) actually makes it down to these people, as it's all dammed up or being used/wasted by those living in the upper riparian areas.

Anyway, so Jamal is one of the WWF-Karachi guys who was facilitating our meetings in Hyderabad (about 2 hours north of Karachi). He took it upon himself to take us to his hometown, Kotri, which was just a few km from Hyderabad. There, he showed us the Kotri Barrage (the last one in the Indus Basin before the water/waste reaches the sea). He took us to his brother's home (where half a dozen of his & his brother's children were running around, not to mention his sister-in-law, his wife, his auntie, uncle, & a few other sisters). From the roof of the house we could see children playing in the small amount of water that was present in the usually dry riverbed (it's monsoon season for the next month & a half, so they see a bit of rain this time of year). Luckily, I brought the camera for the interviews & meetings early in the day, so was able to take some footage. His brother & his wife had to play host at their house, & even though we told them we'd already been given at least 4 chais (lipton tea, with milk & sugar that Pakistanis drink hot- even in the summertime) that day, they adamantly insisted that we enjoy some of the delicious roh-afza, a rose flavored red beverage whose name literally means "soul blessings". Then we went a few houses down the street & visited his house & a whole host of other family members. They presented us with a few glasses of Pepsi & we chatted for a while. Jamal even said we could stay in Kotri if we liked, as it was getting late. But we opted to go back to the place we were already paying for in Karachi, even though the laidback, comfortable nature of Kotri was much more appealing.

As soon as we hit the super-highway we were met by monsoon rains & flooded streets. We eventually made it back, thank goodness!