I’m missing it partly because I’m up at 6am for work tomorrow, but mostly because I’m ill, otherwise I’d happily be sleep deprived! I’m especially gutted because it looks like its going to be a cracking game (as most of them have been!). I can’t decide who to root for – I really like Tom Brady as a QB and because of how storied his career has been, how much he overcame to become “Tom-Terrific”; but as much as I like Brady, I really like Eli Manning’s ‘I don’t give a crap what you think’ attitude – especially with him being a QB in New York – home to sports prima-donnas and divas!

We all know that Brady is one of the greatest QB’s to grace the game, if not the greatest. Eli never seems to get the love he deserves from commentators, bloggers and so many people talking about the game. Obviously both teams have worked and played hard to get here – but it’s the QB’s I want to focus on – partly because that’s my position, partly because there’s some good stories there!

Brady is playing in his 5th Superbowl, with a chance to win his 4th ring; Eli in his 2nd Superbowl with a chance for his second ring, by taking down the same team as last time! If New England wins, Brady will become only the 3rd QB in history to win 4 rings, If New York wins, Eli will become only the 11th QB to win more than 1 ring, and he’ll be a ring ahead of his brother. Peyton, who is without doubt one of the greats of the game.

I love an underdog – how couldn’t I being Scottish!?! So I’m going to be rooting for the Giants – although I’ve no doubt though that either will have another Superbowl appearance in their career.

Tomorrow I’ll be trying to avoid Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, texts, emails, phonecalls and people until I’ve watched the game – we’ll see how that goes! In the meantime, you can read more about it from people more knowledgeable than me here: NFL Blogs or follow along on twitter hastag #SB46

If you’re watching tonight – enjoy the game – but don’t be telling me the score!

Peace Out

So far the biggest thing for me has been other people’s reactions to this challenge.  I spoke a little in church this morning about it (In a very tongue tied, probably un-informative way!) and some comments afterwards really surprised me. For me this is all about sacrifice. Today I have already thought about those who live this way, prayed for them and prayed for the work of tearfund more than I probably ever have in one day. For me this is a big deal. I want to be the type of person who is compassionate and who is generous and who is thoughtful and caring. I realise I won’t achieve all of this in 5 days of a challenge but if I even come closer that is good enough for me.

I have realised a lot about myself just in today, how much I nibble on things for no other reason than just because. How much I LOVE fruit and seem to ‘need’ it as part of my day. That with the power of the brain you can make a hot cup of water taste like tea!! I am sure this week will hold a lot more lessons for me, less shallow than these.

So I will leave you now with Dave’s take on the day and will speak to you all tomorrow!

Linda

We’ve started then!
Day one and I’ve survived so far.
First some good news – I went to Asda today and stocked up on rice and beans – brown rice, red kidney beans, butter beans and black-eyed beans – total price for my week’s food £4.75…..result!

So what have I had to eat today?
Breakfast 30g porridge, made with water, no salt.
Lunch 60g brown rice.
Dinner 30g brown rice, 30g butter beans
The back of the rice packet suggests 75g as a single serving accompaniment to a main course so to have 60g as the only food on a plate made it look just a little lost!

Already missing not having any coffee, Diet Coke or chewing gum

Am I hungry? of course I am, but that’s the whole point though. I’m not on a diet, I’m trying to experience what it’s like to have just enough food to keep you going. I do recognise that at any time I can raid the cupboard / fridge / freezer or phone up and get a takeaway delivered, millions of people don’t have that option open to them.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.
Dave

Starting tomorrow myself and our friend Dave will begin the Tearfund rice and beans challenge.  The basics of this is to bring more awareness to ourselves about those who are going through severe poverty. To relate to them about how they eat, how they possibly feel when hungry, to of course pray for them and to donate any money we would of spent on groceries to the charity of Tearfund.

Chris was hoping to do this challenge also but due to a throat infection he is unable to take part at this stage but will hopefully we doing it in the near future.

I have to say as the day draws closer I am apprehensive about beginning this challenge.  I have treated tonight as if it was my last supper! This probably defeats the point on lots of levels but I am hoping to give this a go and see if I can do it.  I make no promises however. If it turns out I am a mere weakling and need my food too much then shame on me but I guess we will find out…..

Dave will be contributing to these blogs also. I encourage you to follow the blog posts, to pray for us (!) and to try and support us if you either see or hear from us over this next week.

Here’s to the challenge!

Our first day in Karachi ended up being more touristy than we expected – our meetings for the day had to be postponed until the Friday, which gave us a chance to explore the city and orient ourselves to the culture we had just landed in. You can read more about that first day on the Church of Scotland World Mission Council Blog at www.cofswmc.wordpress.com.

Here, I’ll be sharing photos with a few stories:

The Central Brooks Memorial Church compound was our home for our time in Karachi. It was a homely wee place, with a beautiful Church in the centre of it.

Muhammed Ali Jinnah was the founding father of Pakistan, our first stop as "tourists" was to his Mausoleum. A very grand, empty building. Few people around - probrably due to the time we were there at.

Jinnah's Mausoleum is surrounded by extensive grounds, a fine place to go for a walk or grab some shade to hide from the sun!

The mausoleum has a permanent armed guard (although I"m pretty sure the 'arms' date from WWII). A mark of respect for the nations forefather.

The Mausoleum's Architecture is incredibly intricate, a very stunning building. As westerners visiting, we caused a bit of a stir - all curiosity, something we soon got used to walking around the streets!

Mohatta Palace was built by Shivratan Chandraratan Mohatta, an ambitious self-made businessman from Marwar as his summer home in 1927. The architect of the palace was Agha Ahmed Hussain. However, Mohatta could enjoy this building for only about two decades before independence of Pakistan and he left Karachi for India. He built the Palace in the tradition of stone palaces in Rajasthan, using pink Jodhpur stone in combination with the local yellow stone from Gizri.

The Palace is a beautiful building, as you would expect from a Palace in this area of the world. When we visited there was an exhibition displaying the work of Asim Butt, a local artist.

The streets of Karachi were interesting to drive through. From this sculpture of the word "Allah" to donkeys, intricately decorated buses and Transvestities, you could never be sure what you would see next!

Fiona had a bit of a soft spot for the donkeys we saw, so this photo goes out to her! We spent a lot of time driving around, so numerous photos were taken from moving vehicles - not so easy! Combine the speed, jolting and the reflections coming off the inside of the glass (In Karachi we were advised to always keep out windows up) and any photo that came out vaguely in focus and without a reflection was a huge success!

During rush hour, quite a few motorcyclists and cyclists would use the pavement instead of trying to weave through the traffic!

Delivery options for white goods are slightly different in Pakistan! Riding a bike also requires much more determination, bravery and balance!

This was one of the sadder things we saw whilst out and about in Karachi. We were just leaving a fairtrade shop and I spotted 2 boys, perhaps 8-12 years old, going through a rubbish pile for whatever they could use. :-/

Peace Out

Holy Trinity Cathedral - as most Cathedrals are, is an impressive building. We never went inside (or up the tower as I like to do). But it does give an impressive welcome to the compound as you enter the gate and look up the avenue towards it.

The Bishops Residence - another beautiful building. A warm welcome inside too. There are diocesan offices in the house as well as the Bishop and family. It transpired that I already knew the Bishops daughter and son-in-law from the conference in Nepal last year!

Rev Fiona Gardner, Bishop Saddiq Daniel, Sandy Sneddon and Chris Hoskins

Suniya and Serena-Zoe James - Suniya is one of the friends I made at the SACYN conference in MAY 2010, she also attended the Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly last September.

Bishop Danie took us on a tour of the compound - showing us the various buildings and resources in the compound

IBTIDA means “New Start” and the project works with people who have abused and become addicted to drugs attempts to give the clients just that – a new start in their lives.

Through a process of cold turkey, prayer and counselling, support over a period of several months, 40%-45% of the people who come to IBTIDA stay clean or reduce their dependency to less harmful substances.

Just across the wall from the Bishops Residence lies Trinity Girls School. The Principal, Mrs Irene Pearl, took great pride in telling us about the school and showing us around.

The girls in the school were delighted to see Fiona. In no time at all she was surrounded by a massive throng of pupils, all wanting to say hello and shake her hand.

As with everywhere else in Pakistan, the kids were wonderfully curious!

Instead of playground footie, they were playing playground cricket here! A chair instead of wickets!

We visited the Seminary in the Holy Trinity Compound, it has limited resources and a small staff, but its dedicated

Peace Out!

Tonight was such a contrast to last night (we’ll blog about today’s experiences on the World Mission Council blog later). We (Sandy, Fiona and myself) went out for dinner with 2 friends we’ve made here in Pakistan. Two incredible women: Ayra Inderyas and Alice Garrick, women whose determination, faith, strength and passion you can read about on the Council blog soon.

They took us to a highly recomended resturant called “Cooco’s Den” (number 2 in Lonely Planet’s list of places to eat in Lahore, number 8 in Pakistan). It truly was an incredible cultural experience. Firstly, it’s sits in the middle of the red light district, although this being Pakistan everything is much less obvious than in UK red light districts. The resturant itself is hosted in a Haveli, a traditional Mansion in this part of the world (often based on Middle East Islamic architecture or Mughal architecture). The owner of the Haveli, Iqbal Hussain, is an artist renowned for portraits of some of the women in the area. Some of his art is very graphic, some is very tasteful, some is very wierd. But it was kept alongside various other Asian art pieces – beautifully carved wood, incredibly vivid cermaic tiling, statues etc A very interesting exhibition to walk through to get to the Resturant.

The whole place had a very…rustic…atmosphere. And I mean that in the most positive way possible! I was enamored by the quaint sight out of the back of the building – an incredible weaving network of building, cables, streets and homes. I was wondering if the night could get any better. Was I in for a pleasant surprise! I was the last to reach the top of the stairs, having stopped to take numerous photos (shocked?). When I reached the top, I was greeted by one of the most magnificent, man-made, sights I’ve ever seen:

Badshahi Mosque

Tonight is the first time since we arrived here that I really wished I’d brought my tripod. I spent the first half an hour of being on the roof terrace finding places to steady my camera – chairs, random bits of wall, notebooks,bags, railings. I was captivated. To add to the stunning view and atmosphere, the food was amazing as well! Good food, good chat, great people and that view. What a night! Fiona kept saying that she expected it to disappear at any moment as if it wasn’t real. I had a very surreal moment thinking “Am I really here? How is this happening to me?”. It all felt so unreal, so incredible.

We were all struck by that contrast tonight. The contrast of 1 night breaking our hearts with a beautiful, but melancholy family, the next night experiencing the direct opposite end of the spectrum in Pakistan. We all felt that it was good to get a bit of a lift after last night, which is great for us, but what about that family? I’m sure their food and their view wasn’t as esquisite as ours. Is it right for us to enjoy such things on this kind of trip? I don’t know. On one hand, it would be a shame to travel this far and not take note of some of the finer, positive, rich parts of the culture (if we make sure to remember the context in which we are experiencing them). On the other hand, there is so much need, so much want, so much injustice, so much inhumanity in this land. It is a dilemma, with no easy answer. Because these cultural experiences do help to enrich our understanding of the whole culture. How? What connection does a 400 year Mosque have to anything else we’ve done? Everything! Set aside the biggest connection – the tension between different faiths – and you have the fact that this is a land with thousands of years of history, rich history, diverse history. The Christian community in Pakistan is a vital part of that history, but to truly start to understand the current context, we must be aware of what went before.

Now I know that what I’ve written sounds an awful lot like I’m trying to over-reason our experience, but it is more than that. Perhaps I am trying to assuage some feeling of guilt for enjoying the experience, not perhaps, I am. I do have some guilt that I can enjoy these beautiful places and experiences whilst others cannot. Is that wrong? One of my great passions is to travel, to explore different cultures, to experience a few of the incredible things this World, this life has to offer. Is that wrong? I am here for a specific purpose, to take pictures, gather stories and encourage council use of social media. I have done that, I think well, is it ok to, when there are no projects to visit, people to meet, that I (we) take advantage of the amazingness of where we are? The official part of the trip is THE most important part of the trip, it is the part that we put most focus on, most effort into. And yes, it is draining, we’re generally on the go from 7/8am until, well now (1am). I don’t know what to think :-/ I know that I have been incredibly fortunate to be able to travel to places like and hear such moving stories directly from the people involved. I am blessed for that, and I pray I have blessed through that.

I’m not sure how to view, to judge,  this evenings experience (ethically). It was an amazing experience, one that a few years ago I would never have dreamed would come to me. One thing that I do know for sure is that it once more brought to mind the beauty and brokenness that exists in Pakistan (in so many countries). So many of our experiences here have been a mixture of beauty and brokenness, some have been pure beauty, some pure brokenness. There is so much that needs done in this World, so much that we have to pray for, to praise for, to persevere through, to have faith for/ through. But prayer is where we must start.

Peace Out

“When clouds veil sun
And disaster comes
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rise
And hope takes flight
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Ever faithful
Ever true
You I know
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go
You never let go

When clouds brought rain
And disaster came
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
When waters rose
And hope had flown
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul
Oh, my soul

Oh, my soul
Overflows
Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, my soul
Fills hope
Perfect love that never lets go

Oh, what love, oh, what love
Oh, what love, oh, what love
In joy and pain
In sun and rain
You’re the same
Oh, You never let go”

By the David Crowder Band, youtube clip embedded below:

I got very frustrated with myself on Thursday. We were out visiting projects in Thatta and Badin, in the Sindh province. Areas affected by flooding this year and last.

One of the places we visited was a village called Bachyo Jogo. A village of maybe 15 huts, perhaps a population of 90 (these numbers are very rough, not exact!). About 50 people in all came to see us.

My job was to note stories and take photos. Both of which I managed. But, I’m not happy with the results of my photography. The images are good, exposed well, composed fine. But none of them really stand out to me. I had high hopes for what the results would be and didn’t hit them.

Some people will say the photos are great and I should be happy. But I’m not. I know I can do much better, and it highlights, to me, reminds me, humbles me into remembering that this visit was my first ever of this type. It was my first chance taking photos in this setting. So why should I expect my photos not to reflect that!? I know as I gain more experience I will improve, but it frustrates me now that my pictures aren’t as good as I’d wanted!

There are a few challenges about taking photos out here in Pakistan. Firstly, the biggest problem is the light. Being so far south means that the sun sets very quickly and early. This gives less daylight hours to use. The light is also extremely harsh between 10amish and 4pmish, it glares on everything, creates very harsh shadows and flattens everything. It keeps photographers on their feeting and constantly trying to adjust settings and lighting to make it more flattering.
Secondly is the time span. We were in the village for less than an hour. To get the kind of images I’d hoped to, I now know that it involves spending more time in a village getting to know the people, getting comfortable with them and allowing them to get comfortable with me. But I won’t always have the time, so I know within myself thay I need to cut out those brief seconds of hesitation and just do my job.

It’s good to be reminded of my shortcomings, to not let me become big headed!

I find it hard while we are travelling, driving in our cars. We drive past so many excellent photo opportunities. But I know we have little time to stop!

This week I will have the chance to spend longer at the projects we are visiting, and I’m confident my photos will reflect that increased comfort around the people I’m with.

Peace Out!

Beauty for brokenness, hope for despair,

Lord, in your suffering world this is our prayer.

Bread for the children, justice, joy, peace,

sunrise to sunset, your kingdom increase!

God of the poor, friend of the weak,

give us compassion we pray.

melt our cold hearts, let tears fall like rain;

come, change our love from a spark to a flame.

Shelter for fragile lives, cures for their ills,

work for the craftsman, trade for their skills;

land for the dispossessed, rights for the weak,

voices to plead the cause of those who can’t speak.

Refuge from cruel wars, havens from fear,

cities for sanctuary, freedoms to share.

Peace to the killing fields, scorched earth to green,

Christ for the bitterness, his cross for the pain.

Rest for the ravaged earth, oceans and streams

plundered and poisoned — our future, our dreams.

Lord, end our madness, carelessness, greed;

make us content with the things that we need.

Lighten our darkness, breathe on this flame

until your justice burns brightly again;

until the nations learn of your ways,

seek your salvation and bring you their praise.

(God of the poor, friend of the weak: Graham Kendrick)

“Although Asim Butt used the camera as a tool with which to build the theme and composition construct of his painting, he relished the idea that the camera could see beyond the confines of the apparent and superficial and reach into the realm of inner consciousness”

Askm used his camera sometimes in place of, or to supplement his sketch book. What intrigues me about this statement is last phrase. I’m not sure if I agree with it, if I see that as part of my photography, but it’s most certainly making me think.

The poem is:

“I paint because it allows me to stare shamelessly,
To be able to flesh out an idea, emotion or commit to an image,
a shadow of the world around me.

I paint because there is a spill-over of energy within that must find form or else it will haunt and twist me.

I paint to commit to an act of magic and pleasure,
for myself, for the love of my audience,
and for an abstract notion of my myse’s gaze.

I paint to validate mysrlf
And to discover surprises within and without.

I paint as a penance for my inadeqaucies.

I paint to understand the World around me and to own and disown what I desire and dislike about it.

I paint as a political act:
to express my power over power larger than myself.

I paint to create what it is I want to see,
to fill an absence in the World”

Again, I’m not 100% what I think, but I am provoked to though, perhaps to flesh out my own version of the poem : “I photograph because….”

Art was certainly not a side of Pakistan I expected to see, and perhaps such exhibitions aren’t common, buf this is a nation who are not shy at expressing themselves, especially not with colour! I think art is a window into a society, a culture, so I am glad we were able to experience it to this extent!

salam-o-alekum