...and Brendan rode a camel

Posted by Rich

It's 9:58pm on Tuesday July 31, and we just returned to the Guest House from the first-ever Family Literacy Night held in Pakistan. Modeled after what ABL has developed in Lawrence, and propagated throughout our network, it's a very simple model: invite families to come to a space, write together following simple prompts, and share, with the goal of building community. We don't pretend to have invented the idea - community literacy circles are a very old and very powerful idea, built by giants before us (including by US civil rights leaders in the 60s, and South African post-apartheid healing circles in the 90s), but ABL has done what is can to refine and implement a model that works in a lot of contexts. So thanks to Mohsin and The School of Writing, we led a workshop for about 30 folks at the Pakistan-American Cultural Center this evening. Check out social media for more photos and video.

Two moments stuck out for me. The first was a woman who came with her 14-yr-old daughter and 12-yr-old son. She shared her dream to complete her own education. She married and had children young, and was not able to complete her education when she was young, but now that her children are growing, she is studying alongside them, and they attend workshops at The School of Writing together. Another participant was a young man, perhaps 18, who told Brendan that when he first discovered The School of Writing three years ago, "I was a zero," and that The School of Writing's programs have changed his life. Alan opened the evening with a stunning performance of "Avalanche" on the drums - three buckets with drum lids, an improvised musical platform that left everyone speechless. I led the writing workshop, and at the end of the sharing, Brendan, Alan, Julia and I were presented with gifts from the Pakistani-American Cultural Center. Mohsin hopes to host Family Literacy Nights once a month from now on, possibly hosted at T2F (The Second Floor, a local community center and cafe.)

But, the really cool thing that happened today was that Brendan rode a camel. Oh, and the Yankee hat thing.

We got to The School of Writing offices about 8:30 this morning. As we waited for the students to arrive, Alan presented gifts to Anny and Ali, Mohsin's 20-something children: baseball caps from the New York Yankees. There were very excited. As a card-carrying fan of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, I objected to the team logo on the front of the cap, but even I had to admit it was pretty cool:

I, meanwhile, wore my Andover Wrestling hat today:

When the students arrived, Mohsin explained that we would split into to groups for our work documenting the life of the city, and distributed a handout with a brilliant model. We would visit three spaces: a religious space, a public space, and a market space, for one hour each. In each space, students would spend 20 minutes observing, 20 minutes making photos, and 20 minutes writing about the experience. Each student was provided with a camera. We split into two groups, and we were off.

I was in Group Two, with Mohsin, Anny, Basil, Brendan, and about 15 students. We boarded the bus and headed out. Our first stop was the Empress Market Sadder. It's an open-air roofed market place with many stalls, each selling various goods: toiletries, henna, foodstuffs, meats, nuts, animals. We roamed the alleyways lined with small shops. The foodstuffs area was an eye-opener. One stall sold chicken, with a cage of live chickens and a man butchering the chickens fresh. There were a lot of bugs about, and I suspect that the health authorities might have an opinion on the proceedings. There was an area that sold pets, including a parrot whose asking price was $2500, and also monkeys, rabbits, cats, dogs, and smaller birds. I was disturbed by the conditions in which the animals were kept. There are indeed laws to protect against animal cruelty, but not the budget to enforce them. Although I was dismayed, I had to remind myself of what I know about the US agriculture industry, and the way animals are often treated in our slaughterhouses. We keep such ugliness out of sight... Other parts of the market were awesome. In one area, men used a turning device to grind the oils out of nuts, including coconuts. Anny bought some henna and has promised to decorate my hand with mendi later in the week. Our students photographed and interviewed shopkeepers.

Later, I head a story of the market. In 1857, local people rose up in revolution against British colonizers. The British army suppressed the revolution with brutal violence, butchering people and displayed the bodies in this area, to terrorize the populace. Local people began to leave flowers and turned it into a kind of shrine. The British didn't like that, so they build a marketplace on the spot, to serve the shopping needs of British folks. Nearby is St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and St. Patrick's Catholic Church (to serve the Irish impressed into service in the British army.) Today, the market is decidedly Pakistani - some students in our group called it "the heart of Pakistan."

Second stop was Mohatta Palace. Built in the 1920s as a Hindu Temple, it has undergone various purposes and is now a museum. It's a gorgeous building with lovely gardens inside a wall. We walked the grounds and explored the exhibits, including the work of Imran Mir, one of Pakistan's most famous designers and artists. I remembered seeing his work at a museum in New York. A quote of his on the wall struck me as profound:  “I enjoy art. I am an artist constantly, not just when I am creating it. When I walk down the street all of my senses are open to the influx of sensations. I see the sharp lines of a small Zach three building, the swaying branches of the trees, the showering droplets of the fountain, and I am filled the a yearning to incorporate these visual experiences in my art.” - Imran Mir, 1950-2014.

Last stop was at Sea View beach. Beach culture in Pakistan is not like that in the US. There were a bunch of people at the beach, but nowhere near what you'd expect at a US or Caribbean beach on a 90-degree day. No one was in a swimsuit - folks wore regular clothes. Only a few people went in the water, most just wading in the edge. Mohsin explained that the tides are so strong that it's actually prohibited to swim in the ocean in July due to safety. There were a lot of horses and camels to ride, food vendors, and dune buggies to rent. It was pretty dirty with litter and a strong wind blew sand, making it not an entirely pleasant experience. Still, the ocean is the ocean, and so I waded a bit in the Arabian Sea, and Brendan rode a caml.

In case you're wondering, it costs Rs. 100 to ride a camel - about 80 cents. I declined, as I had my camel ride when I visited Karachi back in 2000. 

We returned to the The School of Writing about three, then had a one hour debrief session with the students. I asked them to write a quick five-senses poem (I went, I saw, I heard, I smelled, I tasted, I touched, I felt) about the day, and we shared in small groups, then as a whole. The kids are having a great time and had some profound observations about their experiences, and the day.

While we were visiting Empress Market, Mohatta Palace, and Sea Side, Group One was visiting three different sites. Tomorrow, we will switch, and our group will see three new places. On Thursday we will reconvene as a big group to try to make sense of it all, and prepare for Friday's exhibition.

Julia missed part of our work today, as she conducted a workshop for 35 teachers at the SPELT offices (Society of Pakistani English Language Teachers), using the texts of Shakespeare to teach close reading skills.

It's a tremendous gift we have this week as educators, to work together with a small group of students and teachers to build models that can be duplicated at TSW and as after-school programs throughout Pakistan. When does a teacher get the chance to explore a new culture and work with a group of master teachers like this? I am indeed grateful.

Thanks for reading,
Rich