Grateful To Have Lived in Pakistan

How lucky are we all to live in Australia?  This post was inspired by watching the SBS series ‘Go Back To Where You Came From.’ I’m very sympathetic to people who want to come to Australia for a better life.  Hello?  That’s why I came here, isn’t it?  I’m even more sympathetic to people who have fled for their lives.

A beggar lady tapping at our car window. Often the babies would be pressed against the windows.

I was fortunate to be born in the west and to find it easy to emigrate here, and now I have two highly prized passports.  Nothing clever or wise about it, just a happy accident of birth.  Born very, very white in very white Scotland.  Very lucky and I don’t take it for granted.

My little family came to Australia, just Intn’l Man of Mystery, first son and myself, via a year in Karachi, Pakistan. We lived a life of expat luxury, of course. I thought I had travelled before, I HAD travelled before, I’d been to Kenya, South-East Asia and even Ghana… but South Asia is totally different.

Living in a country is different too, and having a 3 month old baby makes everything different.  So my emotional reactions to all that I saw was much stronger.  I’ll never forget those beggar babies and the people who have absolutely NO rights at all, no laws to really protect them.

Here are some of the photos I took there, a little of what we saw.

Our most local beggar, looking much more cheerful than I often do. Not an assistive device in sight.

My eldest son, now Giant Teenager with some local kids and their mum, looking very podgy and a bit concerned.

A beautiful building in Karachi, the Jinnah Memorial, I think. Eldest is in his stroller, with Piyari, our diver.

Schoolgirls in a not very well equipped classroom. I did some writing for an aid project that was improving education.

How cool and how proud does this man look? And his camel is no slouch either.

The men have great pride in Pakistan, and the most fantastic moustaches.

Washing day at the ghat and the dhobis (washing men) are working hard.

Local snakecharmer, my baby was equally hypnotised

I was hugely struck and distraught by ‘Go Back To Where You Came From.’  How can people be so unkind to fellow human beings?  Can’t they put themselves in the same position?

Don’t they know that ‘there but for the grace of God go I?’   We’ve all got so much to be grateful for here in Oz.

Have you lived overseas?  Did the experience make a big impact on you?