Thursday in Lahore

Thursday in Lahore

Okay, this day was completely beyond belief.  I will attempt to capture the highlights here.  We were picked up by the wonderful Dr. Nighat Ahmad at our hotel and driven to Fatima Memorial Hospital where Dan gave a presentation to the medical staff.  I was able to escape to a private office and work on a project for the lecture I would give later in the day.  Dan was very happy to tell me that after the lecture one of the older doctors (I think it was Dr. Arif Amir Nawaz, but Dan isn't here so I am not sure) came up to tell him that he knew Dan's father and had worked with Bill and Dr. Williams at UCH in 1965.  He was very happy to see this returning Lahori son, as have been many, many people. 

Dan did some other medical consults and then we were driven to meet with Dr. Bhutti at United Christian Hospital.  This was a sad, sad experience.  This hospital, the work, home and playground of the Sagers, Bowes and Dunlaps for many years, is in a very bad state.  Although there are staff people and doctors in attendance, there were only a handful of patients.  Many areas are closed off and non-functioning and one of the 3 houses had actually been burned, only the bricks remain, a hollow shell of a house.  The one positive is a Eye clinic that is operated with a Korean charity and was in good condition.  Dr. Bhutti invited us to his home (the middle of the three houses) for lunch.  We met his sweet little mother, his Phillipino wife and her visiting sister.  Of course the food was amazing and we had our first chapatis, but we were in a complete rush to leave.  


Dr. Mira Phailbus, former president of Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore kept calling to remind Dr. Bhutti that she was expecting us at 2:00.

The traffic at that time of day is impossible, so, of course, we were late.  We later found out that Mira had almost been late herself, due to the traffic standstill.  We were warmly welcomed with two bouquets of huge gladiolas (see picture).  Mira is much loved at Kinnaird, which she ran for decades.  We later toured a beautiful dormitory and amphitheater which were dedicated to her.  I didn't really know what to expect at Kinnaird, but thanks to this connection through Sue & Bill, I had been invited to address the English Language Teaching graduate students.  Many of them are already teachers.  It was a full classroom and Mira and Dan also stayed on.  I gave a complete overview of the way I teach reading, all of the factors that can make it difficult to learn to read English, etc.  I think I talked way too long, but everyone was very engaged and they didn't want me to stop.  It was definitely one of the highlights of my professional life.  Afterwards we had tea with a small group and the whole event was very enjoyable. 

Next we drove to Mira's beautiful home in the Lahore Cantonement.  One of her daughters is an architect, living in New Zealand, and she had designed the house, which featured multiple exterior patios and 15 foot tall windows.  We met Mira's sister, Neva, who is retired physician, also living in New Zealand.  In addition, Mira's sister-in-law came over to meet us, she lives 5 doors away.  We were impressed to find pictures on the wall that showed Dr. Phailbus meeting Princess Di, Mother Theresa, Benazhir Bhutto,  Hillary Clinton, Archibishop Tuttu, President Zia and others.  Wow.  We had a very nice dinner, dessert and coffee and can't say enough about these inspiring women.  Funny how this part of our trip has been so dominated by women!  But our evening was not over.  We went back to our hotel, I put on a borrowed shalwar kameez and we were picked up by Dr. Samaira to attend a pre-wedding party set up in huge (embroidered) tent at Forman Christian College.  The saris and shalwar kameez that the women were wearing were unbelievably beautiful, there were some really fun dances performed by the wedding party, henna painting was happening, lots of food, etc., and finally a musical performance by a Sufi band (I am forgetting the name of this).  Samaira translated the words they were singing and it was very, very worshipful singing, very devout, but very joyful.  I think Sufis really have figured it out.  Dan would have stayed forever, but we finally made it home by 2 a.m.  I cannot even remember the last time we have been out past midnight!

We can't say enough about how welcoming people have been here.  But, everyone is so sad to see all of the changes that have happened here in the last 10 years.  Samaira said that their religion has been highjacked and she compared it to the Ku Klux Klan in that what has happened to Islam is that it has been used as an excuse by a fringe group.  She asked us how we would like it if all of the world thought that the Ku Klux Klan represented Christianity and didn't believe there was any other way to be a Christian.  That is what Al Kaeda and the Taliban have done to Islam.

Okay, enough!

All our best,

Julie & Dan