Pakistan Has Chosen

Pepsi Wins over Coke!

Pepsi Wins over Coke!

How do I know this? Well, after unsuccessfully trying to find a Diet Coke for a week while traveling around the North West Frontier Province and in Islamabad – that’s my take on the war. The cola war that is. Sure, there are lots of other, more pressing issues in this country of 170 million people but knowing who drinks what and other points of trivia is important too.

While visiting the Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS) I tool this chance to take a field trip to the earthquake Zone which in the Northwest Frontier Province. While there I toured PRCS earthquake recovery projects and saw first hand the reconstruction efforts following the 2005 earthquake which took over 75,000 lives.

Unfortunately I did not see enough reconstruction to bring the place back up to splendor of what it was prior to the earthquake. And it was a naturally beautiful and historically splendid place. There was little of the “build back better” hype in Pakistan after the Earthquake as compared to “build back better” mantra of the Tsunami affected countries after the 2004 massive tidal wave that tore through a dozen or more Asian countries. Of course the Earthquake didn’t attract anywhere near the level of funding or attention that the day after Christmas Tsunami did either.

The 2005 earthquake destroyed thousands of schools in Pakistan. To help restore a small part of the educational infrastructure the PRCS, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, is constructing scores of secondary schools and turning them over to the Ministry to run them. This is in addition to the regular food, clothing, shelter, and health programs of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. I visited many of the school construction sites and it was rewarding to see the work being done. PRCS is also constructing basic health units, providing water systems for remote communities and assisting communities provide for all types of essential needs. It was a great field visit. We did not run into any Taliban, either – which is always a good thing.

One of the towns we visited in the Earthquake Zone was Balakot, which still looks much like it does in the 3 minute video made three months after the earthquake. (see favorite video list on right column)

Talk about off road driving,while on the field trip, I was on some of the worst roads on which I have ever ridden. At about 1000 feet up the side of a steep mountain road our Land Cruiser (the extra big model) got bogged down in lose gravel - the front left tire was about a half foot in the air and the back end was pointed down a 75 degree angle cliff. Everyone but the driver got out and pushed the vehicle sideways to get it back on the road. On another steep cliff we again had to get out of the vehicle, only this time quicker! The second time the Land Cruiser almost went over the edge as we rounded a very sharp curve. It is all about access and transportation in those mountains.

In one of the communities we stopped at we met with the local organizing committee (all men of course) in a village perched on the side of another steep mountain where the Red Crescent built about a thousand steps up and down narrow trails to allow people to get to and from their homes to markets, school, work and mosque.... the previous trails to the villages had been destroyed in a land slide caused by the Earthquake. Again it is all about access and transportation – only this time people powered...

We walked down about 400 of those steps to meet the residents of one village. It was a memorable meeting and I was humbled to meet such stoic people who were all so very grateful for the steps the Red Crescent/Red Cross had built. The climb back up was a lot tougher that the walk down though.

Women are practically invisible in rural areas and none to visible in towns either, and never without a male escort. Along one mountain road three fully burqa cloaked women were walking (with male escorts); when we drove by, they turned and faced the hillside.

On a Pakistani road there is nothing more colorful than a painted truck. They are everywhere and truckers take enormous pride in their handiwork. These trucks are beautiful and unique and a lot of fun to look at. They make trips happy. I wish every kid in America could see them. Seeing one makes you feel like a kid!

On the ride back to Islamabad, I spent five hours in a car with a really interesting retired Pakistan Army colonel who now works for the Pakistan Red Crescent Society. We had a fantastic conversation about Islam, Judaism and Christianity.... it was enlightening. He was engaging and made a lot of sense. At least he helped me see things in an interesting and different way. Every time the “colonel’s” phone rang it played a bad rendition of Santa Claus is Coming to Town... I wish I had a tape recording of that ring tone..... We stopped at a restaurant for lunch on the way back to Islamabad.... you ain't been nowhere until you have been to a rural Pakistani restaurant... the bread (roti) was good but the mutton did not sit well.... I really don’t like mutton.

I went to Pakistan immediately after a four day trip to Sri Lanka. I travel too much in this job. But like I said this was a great trip, I even had a Sunday off. I did not go out of my room at the guest house that day except to the front desk to let them know when the Internet went down. I did this about 20 times!!! When the Internet goes down the clerk at the front desk rushes back to a closet in the back of the inn and reboots the server... when the internet was working it did so at a pretty good speed but it did go down a lot… The guest

house staff was great though. Really kind and gentle people in Pakistan, except for maybe the Taliban.

When I got back to Islamabad from the Northwest Frontier Province I went to a local market and found a set of four nesting tables. They were done in a plain matte finish and were not ornate, like so many of the crafts in Pakistan. Four tables for 39 bucks, what a deal! I did not have much time to shop and there was not a lot to buy in the market I went to that wasn’t made in India or Afghanistan. If I want crafts from those places I’ll get them in there. That reminds me, I gotta get a few rugs next time I go to Afghanistan. Great rugs there, it’s a must. Nice people in Afghanistan too, again notwithstanding the Taliban.

I wonder what the Taliban prefer, Coke or Pepsi?