World Vision View From the Field

Day 3: FLIGHT TO MANSEHRA

Posted from Pakistan on Saturday, January 21, 2006

By Amber Johnson, Metro Marketing Director
for World Vision in Chicago

After three days in the country, I am convinced that Pakistani drivers use their horns more than their brakes. Whether it's on busy highways or narrow city streets, drivers going both directions use the center lane to swerve around pedestrians and other cars in a series of near misses punctuated by constant horn honking. Continued below.








The United Nations helicopter which flew Katie and Amber to Mansehra.













Katie and Amber enjoying the ride inside the UN helicopter.
















Vendors hawk their wares at the Mansehra bazaar.











For this reason alone I was grateful when we learned we were able to take a United Nations helicopter flight from Islamabad to Mansehra, the basecamp for World Vision operations in the earthquake zone. The helicopter not only gave us a safer (and faster) trip to Mansehra, it also gave us a bird's eye view of Pakistan. We flew over cities and villages that stretched for miles, terraced farm land, and deep valleys; in the distance we could see the snow covered mountains, a beautiful site.

As we neared Mansehra, I began to notice little outcroppings of tents gathered on the edges of fields and in vacant lots in the cities: two here, a dozen there, 40 or 50 in a few places. These tent villages are temporary shelters for some of the 3 million people affected by the October 8 earthquake. Some of these shelters are winterized, with quilts and mattresses and kerosene heaters to keep children and their families warm. But many of the shelters are not suitable for cold weather, a frightful fact considering that winter temperatures in Pakistan hoover near freezing. The Pakistani government reports that 500,000 people are still in serious risk this winter.

Poverty compounds these concerns. In the earthquake zone, 85% of the popluation lives below Pakistan's poverty line; this means they are living on less than $2 a day. Many are without work. Before the earthquake, unemployment was around 16%; now it is 65%.

Today we also went to the Mansehra bazaar, a section of town with crooked streets and crowded alleys, every inch of both lined with vendors selling scarves, chickens, jewelry, and other treats. It was a busy, hectic, industrious place, and it confirmed my observation that the Pakistani people are hard working. They are committed to rebuilding their own country, and I believe they will, with the help of World Vision and other organizations.