The flood pole

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

This pole is in the middle of the village and marks where previous floods have come to. The worst flood of recent years was in 1972 when the water reached to 14 feet!!

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Cows in amongst the oil seed rape

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

The landscape tends to be rather muted in colours but oil seed rape is commonly grown and provides an incredible back drop to everything. Here a small group of cows are grazing contentedly in amongst the oil seed.

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Cows being fed

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

This is a typical early morning scene of cows being fed and milked at the same time. The whole area is often covered in cattle being administered to.

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Bullock cart

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

This is a typical bullock cart of the area, which is being driven to market. This is one of the main modes of transportation and in the early morning it's possible to see lines of them going out to the fields to work.

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View from the river bank

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

This is a view of the village of Karma taken from the opposite side of the river. The view is taken in the early light of morning with mist still in the air. On the opposite side you can see houses which have been raised onto a clay platform to protect them against the inevitable flooding that happens each year. In 1972 the flooding reached a height of 14 feet, a fact poignantly marked on a post in the centre of the village that lies way above any of the current houses.

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Milking

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

The calf was born the night before this photo was taken and is still very tottery on its feet. It's mother is being milked and it encouraged to suckle but it seemed to take quite a long time for it to get the idea.

The milking of the cattle takes place twice a day and the cattle are very domesticated particularly at this time of year when they are kept tied up and fed by a cut and carry method to avoid them eating the crops in the fields.

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School boy cleaning his writing slate

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

The village of Karma hosts a small primary school, with about 60 boys. This is Zulfi who is cleaning his writing slate after a mornings work.

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Luch at a truckers cafe

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

We took a long drive down to the Punjab to visit a project and on the way stopped off at truck stops that were unfailingly clean and friendly. It seems that the truckers have high standards and dislike sharing their stops with busses who have to go to other places. We often stopped just to have a cup of tea but also ate fantastic curries with chapattis. Highly recommended.

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Discussions with Ifti

Posted by Brian Jones, Monday, February 23, 2004

Today I am still in the office waiting to find out whether my visa extension has been approved. I am sitting with Iftikhar trying to work out what I need for the nutrition survey and the plan is to go down to Quetta tomorrow.

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Arrival in Pakistan

Posted by Brian Jones, Wednesday, February 18, 2004

My physical arrival in Pakistan was yesterday, 17th feb at 6 am, after two changes of plane and no sleep. Waking this morning I discovered that I had mentally arrived (it's always useful when the two coincide).

I'm currently in Islamabad, which seems to be a bit sterile and devoid of life and not at all like the rest of Pakistan. The plan is to head out to Quetta in Baluchistan in the next couple of days, and do a nutrition survey followed by a livelihood's analysis. I'm not at all sure what to expect but have heard great things about Baluchistan and the hospitality of the people there.

I'll keep you posted..........

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