Back to Pakistan a Fifty Year Journey by Leslie Noyes Mass.Pdf
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Back to Pakistan Map of Pakistan Back to Pakistan A Fifty-year Journey Leslie Noyes Mass ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK Published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2011 by Leslie Noyes Mass All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any elec- tronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, with- out written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Noyes Mass, Leslie, 1940- Back to Pakistan : a fifty-year journey / Leslie Noyes Mass. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-4422-1319-7 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4422-1321-0 (ebook) 1. Noyes Mass, Leslie, 1940—Travel—Pakistan. 2. Noyes Mass, Leslie, 1940— Diaries. 3. Volunteer workers in education—Pakistan—Biography. 4. Volunteer workers in social service—Pakistan—Biography. 5. Teachers—Training of—Pakistan. 6. Pakistan—Description and travel. 7. Peace Corps (U.S.)—Pakistan—Biography. I. Title. LB2844.1.V6N69 2011 371.10095491—dc23 2011019782 ™ ` The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America For George, with me since the beginning, and for the children of Pakistan, with us now and in the future v Contents Acknowledgments ix Prologue xi 1 Arrival in Pakistan, 1962 1 2 Work Assignment, 1962 5 3 The Vision, 1962 11 4 Living Village Life, 1962 19 5 The End of the Beginning, 1962 29 6 Arrival in Pakistan, 2009 35 7 Work Assignment, 2009 43 8 A Clearer Vision, 2009 49 9 An Introduction to The Citizens Foundation 57 10 Setting Up Training, 1963 and 2009 67 11 Behind The Citizens Foundation 79 12 Training in Karachi, 2009 87 13 Arrival in Lahore, 2009 97 14 Training in Lahore, 2009 109 vii viiiâ vâ Contents 15 Summer Science Camps, Lahore 117 16 The Gymkhana Club, 2009 125 17 Sheikhupura and Dhamke, 2009 135 18 Khanewal and Harappa, 2009 145 19 Leaving Lahore, 2009 157 20 Islamabad: Modern Pakistan 163 21 Hunza: Another Pakistan 173 22 Pakistan: Unfinished Business 189 Notes 197 Index 205 About the Author 211 v Acknowledgments any people are responsible for the creation of this book and deserve Mmore than thanks—they deserve a medal for forbearance, patience, and humor. Among them, I’d particularly like to acknowledge: Barbara Janes (Taffy) and Nancy Parlin, my Peace Corps friends and trav- eling mates, for their consistently valuable information, advice, and details about our 2009 return trip to Pakistan; The Noorani family—Danial, Karen, Sofia, and all of their Pakistan-based relatives—for their superb organizational skills, lavish meals, and gracious hospitality; Everyone at The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan for sharing their ideal- ism, dedication, and practical experiences with me; My Dhamke families, for welcoming me when I was young and remember- ing me so many years later; Mary and Larry Hasiak, for opening their Florida garret for a quiet place to write; and My patient and loving husband, George, for his encouragement and wise counsel, then and now. I thank you with all my heart. ix v Prologue ff To Pakistan” read the headline of my hometown newspaper in 1962 and the subject line of some of my email correspon- “Odence in 2009. Both times, the first question from my friends and family was “Why Pakistan?” and the next, “Why you?” The third was usually “Do you really want to go so far away from us?” and finally, “Will you be safe?” In 1962, one month past my college graduation, my answers were glib: Be- cause that’s where the Peace Corps is sending me. They need my liberal arts skills. The people want us to come to their villages and schools and work side by side with them as they build their cottage industries, agricultural exports, and rate of literacy. I can keep in touch with you by airmail letters. And yes, of course, I will be safe! I am an American. Our vice president, Lyndon John- son, and First Lady, Jackie Kennedy, have just been to Pakistan. Pakistanis love Americans! The media tells me so. Why not? In 2009, a lifetime later, the answers to those questions aren’t quite so glib. I really question this time whether I should go off to Pakistan to revisit the country where I had come face-to-face with my own naïveté, youthful arrogance, and inexperience. But I am curious about what has become of the people in my village outside the city of Lahore, and whether the women are still in purdah. Do the girls in my village have any better access to education now, I wonder, or has my village become a hotbed of Islamist extremism, further denying books and education outside the purdah wall? xi xiiâ vâ Prologue Since leaving Pakistan in 1964, my career has been in education, creating hands-on learning programs for teachers, children, and parents in a variety of school settings. Now, knowing more about education, I wonder what has happened to Pakistani education over the past forty-five years. I have read that Pakistan continues to have one of the lowest rates of literacy in the world, with more than 50 percent of the population illiterate, and I wonder if my work experience with education and literacy as an adult might be of some use in Pakistan now. Can I finally contribute something to the people I tried to help so many years ago? The question about my personal safety in 2009 is appropriate. The world press reports Pakistan to be one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Will I encounter Pakistanis eager to retaliate against me as an American for perceived foreign policy injustices and disappointments? Will I be safe? I do not know the answers to these questions. But I am eager to find out. Over the course of my life, I have learned the importance of acting on my dreams, however foolish or ill conceived they might seem to others. Return- ing to Pakistan is a dream I have long held. So with the opportunity to revisit Pakistan in the summer of 2009 presenting itself, I jump at it. One of my friends, Barbara Janes, a former Peace Corps Volunteer known affectionately as Taffy, has been invited by The Citizens Foundation, a Paki- stani nongovernmental education organization, to participate in a project to train science teachers, using hands-on learning activities, and then to super- vise these teachers as they work with children in Summer Science Camps in Karachi and Lahore. Taffy calls for assistance from the Friends of Pakistan USA, a group of former Peace Corps Volunteers to Pakistan. Would any of us like to accompany her, she asks? I would! Taffy invites me to Chicago to meet Danial Noorani, the chief executive officer of The Citizens Foundation USA. Nancy Parlin, another Peace Corps Volunteer from our era, will also be participating, Taffy says, and Danial will organize our stay in Pakistan. “Danial’s wife Karen and daughter, Sofia, will be with us, as well,” Taffy assures me. “Danial will know if we are in any danger. We can be sure, if he is in charge, we will be safe.” My husband George and I drive to Chicago the day after Thanksgiving 2008 to meet with Taffy and the Noorani family. They describe the work of The Citizens Foundation and their ideas for a summer project. I am drawn as a moth to flame. I can’t wait to go. And, even though I know our trip might have to be canceled at the last minute because of terror- ist activity, I am not afraid. I feel that I have unfinished business in Pakistan. Prologueâ vâ xiii In 1962, when I first arrived in Pakistan, the country was just fifteen years old. The nation existed in two wings, partitioned from India when British colonial rule withdrew from the subcontinent in 1947. At that time, most of the fifty million people in East and West Pakistan were Muslim and were either original inhabitants of their region or emigrants from India. There was an elite middle- and upper-class minority employed in the civil service, mili- tary, and professions, but the majority of Pakistan’s citizens were displaced and illiterate farmers, shopkeepers, or landless tenants. In 1971, when East Pakistan broke away from the western wing and be- came Bangladesh, West Pakistan became the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, or simply Pakistan. Since that time, civilian and military rule have governed alternately, the population has tripled, and the government has not been able to fully address the social and educational needs of the majority. Today in Pakistan, of the sixty-two million children eligible for school, less than half of them are enrolled. Entering Pakistan in 2009, I initially view the country through a lens of memory and the current Taliban-focused stories of the Western press. As I travel around Karachi, Lahore, Khanewal, Islamabad, and Hunza, however, I talk with Pakistanis of all ages and every level of education and sophistica- tion. I interview those engaged with The Citizens Foundation, from the orig- inal founders and CEO to the humblest school ayahs. I talk with Pakistanis from other philanthropic social and educational organizations and with the descendants of my original village in rural Punjab.