As I promised a
long time ago in an update far far away I reveal a project that I have been
working on for sometime. When I first decided to do this project I had no idea
the amount of trouble it would actually be. How hard could it be to clean up a
bit of land and make a goat pen? Well what seemed like a little project took until
a few weeks ago to finish. Now my goats have a home. Of course tying my goats
up to stakes and trees was fine as well, and as I engaged the culture I learned
that this is the norm here. However, for the situation in the hospital making a
fence made sense. This project has given me great enjoyment and has been a
positive experience for me and those I have been able to interact with because
of it. As well, I am hoping that this project can continue on in my absence and
provide and sustain national missionaries for the work that God has called them
to do.
There
are a few reasons why most Pakistanis would never build a huge fence to keep
their goats penned in. The first, the cost to do it out weighs the benefit.
With labour so cheap here it makes more sense to hire a shepherd boy to take
care of the herd then it does to keep them within a pen. I thought about doing
this, but then I though about how I would be keeping a boy from going to school
just so he could earn a few dollars a day, and thought better of it. Secondly, the goats like to roam around, and
for those that have shepherds taking care of their flocks they will take the
goats (and cows) throughout the city and let them graze on whatever they find
(this usually includes garbage). So small pens might be used at night time to
keep the goats locked up and safe, but big fenced in fields like in Canada
would hardly be used, although I have recently seen some in the northern
regions.
Although
unconventional here in Pakistan to build a big pen, it was needed for the
hospital compound, which has many flowers and plants that should not be eaten
by roaming goats (not to mention keeping the goats from getting into the
hospital; this has happened). The pen helps keep the goats in one area and when
people have time they can let them out to roam while they supervise. Goats will
eat anything, and they especially like the pretty flowers that people like to
look at. The pen also has gates with locks, so the goats can be secured from
anyone who would want to take them.
A few of the
reasons I started this project was for enjoyment and to learn. I would spend a
lot of my time doing ministry, helping out in the hospital, or studying and
reading and I missed some aspects of just using my hands and doing hard labour.
So I started to do the digging and the cleaning, but then my good national
friend informed me that this was not really cultural either. He told me that I
needed to hire people who would do this work for me. As well I started to
realize how much work it really would be, so I asked around for some labourers.
I found out that it would cost very little and still be a blessing to those
that helped out. It is quite difficult to find a job here, especially one that
is secure. Most of these labourers live from day to day not knowing when the
next job will come and anything that provides some source of income is better
then nothing.
The next day a
couple of guys came and started to work for me. As they started to work I
realized that to level the ground by hand would take far more work then it
would be to just hire a tractor, another suggestion from a national. So I had the
labours clean up as much of the junk as they could while I went to see if it
was possible to get a tractor. Sure enough someone knew where to get one and thankfully
the tractor fit through the gate into the hospital compound. The tractor was a
big help as it made short work of levelling the ground. Except, because it was
a big tractor (I tried to get a bobcat; they do not exist here) there was still
debris in the areas the tractor could not get to, so we still had to do a lot
by hand. It did not help either that I found out shortly after hiring my
labourers and talking to other Pakistanis that labourers are notorious for not
really working that hard. The possible reasons for this is because of the
amount they are paid, how hot it is, or because I could not supervise them the
whole time. Regardless, I did not really get mad about their work ethic (even
if I did the language barrier would have made it difficult for them to
understand) because the work was still getting done and it did not cost that
much. After keeping the workers on for a few days I figured that I could do the
rest myself so I let them go.
But as I started
to do the work I realized again it was just too much to do in between my other
duties and if I wanted to get the project done anytime soon I would have to
find more help. So I found another guy who was fairly good, I paid him a little
bit more then the standard wage and he did well. Between the language barrier,
I was able to pray for him and help him on his journey as a Christian. He also
helped me learn more of the language since he spoke simple Urdu.
With the help of
this new person we cleared the rest of the land and dug postholes. I used
bamboo for the posts as it is very strong and there were some already around and
it was fairly cheap to buy when I needed more. Then after putting the posts up
I had a local carpenter build a couple of gates. I could have done it myself,
but things are so much different here without power tools and the locals are so
good at their craft that it is very cost effective to get them to do it. I also
had one of the gardeners at the hospital plant grass, which in Pakistan is not
very easy. There was no seed available
it was just transplanted by hand from other areas. So with this method it takes
quite the while to get a field.
Finally, I had
to locate the fence that would wrap around the posts. I had seen some when I
first got to Shikarpur, but any of the chicken wire (which is the cheapest type
of fencing) I found was very low gaged and would rust. However, during a visit
to the nearest big city, Sukker, I found a roll that was “water proof”
(galvanized). So I finally had my fencing and in the last few weeks I installed
it with the help of a couple of national friends.
Now with the
project complete my goats have a home and it feels fulfilling to see where it
all started and
how it looks today. Instead of a garbage heap that was quite
unsightly there is a field in the Hospital compound that can contain goats. The
plan is that the space can be used to raise goats, so the national workers to
support their ministry can use the offspring of the goats. There is also talk
about opening a tearoom in the men’s waiting area so that the men can have tea
while they browse the different literature available and talk with people as
they wait for their wives who are in the hospital. So the milk can be collected
from the goats and used for making the tea. To help keep the project even more
sustainable I planted a garden to grow the goat food, as there are a few months
that it gets very hard to find proper feed here and if you can grow some it
helps keep the costs down.
Unfortunately
with us going home in August we will not be able to see baby goats or manage
the project. However, throughout my time here I have built relationships with
the nationals and I know I can trust them to do a good job in taking care of
the project when we leave. It is for them and if it works as planned it can be
a great way to help the ministry. It was a fun challenge to get it all done
alongside my other duties. I enjoyed learning how to take care of goats, and
how to construct things here in Pakistan. It is such a different place and so
much of what I did know coming here has had to be relearned in the context of
the Pakistani culture. So it has been a great learning experience and I thank
God for the opportunity and the wisdom that he has given me to do it.
The chocolate
was really good, but Megan had to eat it with a spoon. With such hot
temperatures what was originally chocolate pieces all melted together. Megan
said it still tasted yummy though. The skittles survived the ordeal,
thankfully. We have heard stories of the custom people taking candy or even
sometimes stuff that looks like candy before they reseal the package.
