Short layover in Dubai

it is noon on Monday. There is free wireless in the airport. A lovely thing. I have another 90 minutes or so until my flight and thought I would try to update everyone.

The most frustrating news is that both Loren and I have been sick for the last two days. Both of us caught some Pakistani version of Montezuma's revenge and it has limited our enthusiasm for travel and conversation. I ate sparingly this morning on the flight for the first time since Saturday lunch. Oh well. For both of us it is the first time getting really sick while travelling so we have blessed so far. Keep us in your prayers, particularly Loren as he will be travelling for five hours this afternoon to go up to Peshawar. He will be travelling with Mr Munawar, our gracious host in Balakot back in December and meeting with Ali Gohar, one of the founders of JustPeace.

Over the past few days we got to see much of BUgna and the surrounding area. We trekked up to one of the houses where our group cleared rubble and were greeted quite warmly. We also saw the local school and the place where HDF plans to build a girls' school. At present the girls have to go to school with the boys and because the culture's gender concerns many girls are kept at home and not allowed to go to school.

Another highlight was meeting the HDF Bugna director Mujtabar's wife, Mahrukh. She is a wonderful woman, full of life. We had fun sitting together encouraging her to practice her English. It was the first time that I had the opportunity to sit with a Pakistani woman and talk with her.

Overall, the meetings in Bugna were quite promising. Mujtabar is interested in having some short term teams come and has already arranged from possible lodging. While we were there in December the team built a septic tank, toilet and shower for the field hospital. HDF is now interested in duplicating that for the homes in the area. As the government begins to rebuild homes HDF will attempt to come alongside and build these tanks and toilets. It is a way to contribute to the reconstruction without getting to entwined with the government process.

Other big news for HDF is that they have to move the hospital and offices. The man who had donated the land wants it back and so within a month or two the whole establishment will move down the hill to Babar's land. This may be a good thing in the long run, as the location is a bit more sheltered, Babar is committed to community development, and it may be a way to get the villages more invested. It does mean the septic tank and toilet, as well as the stairs, will be less effective. Oh well, they have been well used for the past five months.

Loren felt quite positive about the meetings and sees some real possibilities for short term work. The area could use female medical workers and male construction workers, along with other people. The biggest challenge facing us these days is recruitment of personnel. There are many open doors here, I hope we can walk through them.

I am off to London tonight, staying at the London Mennonite Centre, and then to Wales tomorrow. Hopefully this stomach thing will have worked its way out by then.