Schoolday for Girls

An invitation to inaugurate a girls college in the vicinity of Islamabad brings us with a drive of a few miles into the rural area and a different world. We are faced with great generosity and commitment on the one side and ever growing difficulties in the education system of Pakistan on the other side.

On the way to the school through the suburbs of Islamabad we see hardly any women on the streets and markets and the few we spot are tightly veiled. I put on my sunglasses, to avoid the stares of men even through the tinted windows of the car.

We arrive at the school which started as an elementary school for girls seven years ago. A shelter for women was added two years later and now college education was about to being offered, all funded by a Swiss of Pakistani origin with the help of several supporters from Switzerland and Pakistan.

The two main gates are inaccessible since four days,  blocked by neighbours (who sold the properties to the school) asking now for more money after all seemed to be paid for and settled. The legal outcome is uncertain, we are told, and this not because of an unclear legal situation. One of many obstacles the school faces.

The school collects no fees and provides also food and lodging, shelter and security for many of them. An incredible diversity of family background and education is visible in the faces - and in the way the girls are dressed. Luckily, expressions of curiosity and joy are in the majority!

Pakistan has an estimated population growth of 2.1%, far higher than all countries in the region, four million children every year and the public school system is under growing stress, not only because of lack of money.

Last week a "moral brigade" of seminary students - sixty masked men carrying iron rods - attacked a girls school in the nearby city of Rawalpindi and thrashed and terrorised students and teachers, warning them to dress modestly and wear hijabs. The police refused to file a case against the identified  students, having been instructed by the "higher ups" to do so, according to news reports. An increasing climate of fear takes its toll on the liberal elite in the society.

A morning with no Internet access and a broken mobile phone (bought two months ago), million things that ask for my attention in and around the house, nothing getting done according to plan and just the gorgeous weather to be counted on as a delight. Fortunately an escape in the form of a lunch with my "Wild Gang" - we are testing restaurants for an Islamabad restaurant guide, which does not exist so far. After I initiated this project, we were joined by a friend and journalist who was the star in a TV cooking show and she brought her friends - a growing "staff" of young Pakistani journalists, lawyers who like to eat and write,... a very interesting mix of  Pakistani Yuppies!

So we head to our third round of testing to an Asian restaurant, being very limited in our choices by the security people who like to limit our movements with relentless reliability. We meet at the restaurant, the four of us sit at the table and the first alarm message arrives through sms - bomb blast at police station in F/10, followed by concerned phone calls by our husbands. No, we are safe and at the Marriott. We lean back, it's far enough not to be worried and start ordering half of the dishes offered on the menu - after all, we are here to test!

You might figure out the name of the restaurant!! (It starts with a "B"...) We are hesitant to order dessert, because we do not feel an urge for more food after the numerous main dishes we tested. We decide to order one dessert, shared on four plates, but are being served four generous portions of Nougat Praline, the speciality of the house, after the General Manager paid a short visit to welcome us as the only four guests for today's lunch at the restaurant - it's Friday. Thanks to one of our "Gang"  - carrying here an elegant version of a wine crate, we enjoyed our own upgraded version of a lunch.

Waiting for our drivers to be brought back to safety, one of my "Wild Gang" friends makes a courageous remark that we will keep secret from her husband and her security team: "Mark my words! One day I will walk home from Hotel Serena to my residence! What can happen between me, the Serena and the residence! It's a two minute walk! Come on! Girls!!"