UPDATE FROM PAKISTAN
Dear Friends,
Good News to Share
It is indeed my pleasure to share the good news from Pakistan that the Sargodha School property has been successfully returned to PEB, through the PC(USA). This property had been illegally occupied by affluent Muslims of the community of Sargodha since October 9, 2005. Praise God that on April 23, 2009 the Senior Civil Judge in that city gave a verdict in favor of returning the property. The total area returned is 5.25 acres. It is now in the possession of PEB. Historically this property was used as agriculture land to produce vegetables and wheat for the girls of the Boarding House. But with the passage of time, the irrigation (water supply) was terminated so that most of the area could be converted to commercial use.
PEB reconstruction of the boundary wall. The original wall was destroyed by the illegal occupants.
The Christian Girls High School in Sargodha educates girls and boys, side by side. Because the locality has no quality boys school, boys continue their education in this school until grade 8. The Government of Pakistan does not allow co-education and gave the school a warning to separate the boys from the girls. PEB is dreaming dreams to use the newly returned land to construct a boys school, which is desperately needed in Pakistan.
Please pray for wisdom, guidance, and support for this future endeavor. Please remember the PEB Staff in your prayers, too. They are working day and night to supervise the construction of the boundary wall. It is worth mentioning here that if the property is not secured by a boundary wall, it is always in danger of encroachment by illegal occupants.
HERE’S THE LATEST INFO
Many of you wanted, that I should write about the situation in Pakistan, the whole country is in deep pall and gloom over the situation in Swat and every Pakistani is sharing the agonies of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons, people are generously depositing relief goods in camps established by welfare organizations.
Street battles were reported on Saturday the 23 in Mingora city of Swat Valley and security forces have taken back the district of 300000 population back from the Taliban's, The security forces have been closing in on Militants, The truth of the matter is that military forces are tightening their grip around the leadership of Tali-bans who have escaped all previous operations, Majority of Pakistani are of the opinion that we Must win this War in Swat , It is so heartbreaking to see this beautiful valley turned into a war zone, where in 2006 we conducted our teacher training program in summer and 8 of our American Friends joined hands, The general people of Swat are innocent, loving and caring group, people think that Taliban are sponsored by our enemies and Army is at war to free that land from the hands of these infiltrations Now Majority of Pakistanis, civil society, media and people from all walks of life along with the leaders of all major political parties have unanimously agreed on effective military operation and support the courageous efforts of our Army Pakistan is facing a huge challenge, as never before have been 2.5 million people have been force to migrate in their own country, The government will face huge challenges of rehabilitation of these IDPs(Internally displaced persons)
Having said all this , dear friends the good news is that PEB schools are all safe, Government is providing us security on precautionary basis, The enrollment is increasing, people feel the need for regular schools more and more, The life is going on normally in the remaining cities of Pakistan, Due to security reasons this year we will not be conducting our annual teacher training program in Murree , but we will be conducting the training program in Forman Christian Collage It is such a joy to see the schools progressing, and children eager to learn , I am so happy to be back in Pakistan( means Land of Pure People) On the family side, two of our son's graduated from Colleges in USA, Javaid is still with them, and will be coming back on 1 of June, It is always my pleasure to communicate with all of you, and express my gratitude to each and every one who helped in supporting my trip to USA, which had been really very productive for PEB, Together we all are working hard for better Pakistan, better World and We all believe Education is the Key
P.S. there was a huge bomb blast in Lahore today i.e. 28th May 2009(Report of this will follow) Please please Pray for my beloved Pakistan
Peace and Prayers
Veeda Javaid
Executive Director
Presbyterian Education Board in Lahore - Pakistan
http:// www.peb.edu.pk
Lahore Rocked again
It was May 27th, 10:30 am. The PEB staff was preparing for full board meeting of governors to be held on May 30, 2009 and PEB academics team was gathered for planning of the summer teacher training program when the windows and doors of PEB office started rattling, Sana (IT Assistant) came in, really upset, tears rolling down, she was sobbing, she informed that her mother called from Saint Anthony’s School and informed about the bomb blast, but then the phone was disconnected. It was my turn to panic as my sister teaches in the same school. As she was sharing the news the power went off.
Every member of PEB staff was on their cell phones, calling their loved ones inquiring about their safety. Akhtar's (Driver) brother works near to that place, Khurram's (IT Coordinator) sister was working in the adjacent school too. Simon went out and saw a ring of smoke on the sky.
After an hour the power came back and we were able to get the correct information. Yes the correct information was that Lahore was attacked again. It was the third major terrorist strike in Lahore in 3 months.
The explosion was so intense that it created a 15 ft wide crater on the road, razed the rescue 15 building and badly damaged the building of the Intelligence agency. The flying debris was all over Saint Anthony’s School which was a block away. This school had suffered once before as well, at that time the attack was on its west side and this time it was on the East side of the building.
Jean Albert's husband (PEB, FCC & PCUSA Travel Agent) had a real narrow escape. It was a miracle that saved him. It was a miracle that all the loved ones of PEB staff were safe. We offered our thanksgiving prayer.
The media was showing the injured and the people who were desperately searching their loved ones under the debris.
One big question which was asked repeatedly by many people is
what have we done? What have they done who are injured or killed? Why is it happening? There is no answer to many why` s, but the truth of the matter is that militants are now pushed further away by the army. The need of the day is that the Pakistani's should fully support the Army, Police and Rangers who are fighting this battle.
The full level of the human tragedy can never be understood as many Events are not even reported.
Pakistan is facing huge humanitarian crisis because of displacement of people of Swat as result of the military operation against Taliban’s, The camps are packed to capacity with IDPs( Internally displaced people) with nearly 2 million people.
Wish Government of Pakistan had anticipated these problems before the operation in Swat.
Wish Government had focused on the root cause of the problem.
Wish Government of Pakistan can make sincere efforts to resolve these issues.
Wish Government of Pakistan had taken serious action on this kind of Madrass's 20 years back.
Our prayer is that Government focuses on Education of the children of Pakistan so as we can save the next generation.
Please pray for people of Pakistan.
Veeda Javaid, Executive Director
Presbyterian Education Board in Lahore - Pakistan
http:// www.peb.edu.pk
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NEWS FROM AFRICA
Hi,
I thought I would send a couple of photos from a rural church we are supporting just outside Blantyre. The little boy was cute so I took his photo. He is in the pre-school that we run. His hat is from the candidate that ran for the President of Malawi and won. The election was last Tuesday. The other photo is the rural church which we completed last year and also the shallow well that our denomination, through Tom Logan, is putting in all over Malawi. Our team who visited this year met Tom one morning at breakfast in Lilongwe.
Blessings, Nancy
Little boy from pre-school
Rural church
Shallow well
