91热爆

We have been several times to AJK and the never ending support of the locals is unbelievable. The Sehunta residents by our standards are poor, yet they share everything with us. The people are willing to learn and we need to pass on basic technology.

When the electricity fails, the only answer is a head torch and a candle. Steve and I have听spent many hours sitting reading by torch light.

Rebuilding work is slow

Kashmir villages are not tight clusters of houses as we are used to in the UK.听 They can be clusters, but also relatively isolated settlements covering a mile and maybe a 1000 feet.听 The terrain is very rugged with steep valleys and high mountains. At night the effect is spectacular, with isolated lights dotting the mountain sides.

When returning to Islamabad, we pass through the beautiful former British favoured hill station of Muree which is now a favourite tourist attraction. In sweltering heat it has a ski lift type cable car and a public school. The students wear uniforms just as in the UK.

It is interesting to see old UK brands of cigarettes on sale, Players, Capstan, etc. 20 cigarettes cost 8p a packet. Near Sehunta, in the river, an excavator extracts stones from the banks which are taken by agricultural tractor and trailer 'trolleymen' to be crushed into hardcore.

When constructing the road, our Pashtun labourers could reduce a rock the size of a transit van by hand with a 14lb hammer to 'soleing', or stones the size of a small football in a day.

Ibadat Hospital, Gaziabad Poonch

We have become supportive of a Lahore based charity which has a prefabricated community hospital about 7500 feet above sea level. The hospital is permanently staffed, but does not have running water. We fervently hope to install a relatively low maintenance piped water supply.