“The security situation has become worse in the last year. In Pakistan, especially in the north, it is very bad,” said Shama Mall, deputy director of Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan, an overseas partner of Presbyterian World Service and Development. “We never thought Pakistan could become another Afghanistan but it has, and right under our noses.”
Mall was in Toronto in October for PWS&D meetings, and addressed church offices to tell of her work in the Middle East.
According to Mall, the Taliban’s influence is being felt in Pakistan’s northern areas just as it was in Afghanistan in the mid-1990s.
“Around 12 Christians have been killed in the last several months,” said Mall. “And over 100 Christian homes have been burned.”
CWS employs people from numerous faiths (70 per cent of Mall’s colleagues are Muslim) which can be a blessing and a curse. While some of her Muslim colleagues have been threatened because they work for a Christian organization, those same colleagues can often work amongst very conservative groups where a Christian would not be able to go.
“It sends a very important message,” said Mall. “We don’t discriminate on the help we offer – it is based on need – so we employ all faiths.
“There shouldn’t be boundaries to our work.”
CWS is a main player in the Action By Churches Together partnership – PWS&D’s go-to organization when responding to emergencies overseas. The PCC developed a more intimate relationship with CWS following the earthquake in northern Pakistan in 2005, when PWS&D was part of a group of churches that provided $250,000 through Canadian International Development Agency to help provide shelter for the thousands who lost their homes.
Stemming from this work, PWS&D continues to work with CWS in Pakistan and Afghanistan, assisting them in their community development and food security programs. One of their current projects helps internally displaced people produce enough food to eat, something they’re doing alongside the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, of which the PCC is a member.
Mall noted that of the 121 districts in Pakistan, 95 of them have been declared food insecure by the World Food Program. Of these, 65 per cent are in the southern Sindh province where PWS&D is supporting projects on food security. Poverty, poor soil, primitive farming techniques, lack of land and water, and no quality seed mean many locals can’t produce enough to feed their families.
So, CWS is building water reservoirs, teaching better farming techniques, and using food for work programs, where farmers are given seed in exchange for work. They work with 1,500 families each year. People who are trained in new techniques are then commissioned to teach others.
CWS also helps women create self-help groups to secure loans and start their own small businesses. “It’s very hard to engage with women in Afghanistan,” said Mall. “You have to gain the trust of the men first. The decisions are made by men.”
Their girls’ education program in Afghanistan (supported by PWS&D and slated to run until April 2010) aims to enroll 1,650 girls each year. CWS is also upgrading schools, distributing textbooks, and encouraging teachers to visit parents to convince them of the importance of sending their girls to school. There is, on average, one teacher to 83 students in Afghanistan, so teacher training is desperately needed. So far they have trained 100 teachers.
Mall recently completed a master’s degree in applied development studies (she also holds a masters in English literature), where her research focused on engaging young people in socio-political change, believing that Pakistan’s future is dependent on the participation of its youth. She noted that young people often have few opportunities in Pakistan. Parents send their young boys to madrassas (Islamic schools) knowing only that they will be educated and fed. But that education could be an extreme form of Islam.
“Military intervention alone will not bring peace,” commented Mall. “There is a need to enhance commitment and contribution towards the development of Afghan people and increase their participation in instituting peace processes. Local capacities to promote peace need to be developed and strengthened as a long-term approach towards ensuring and maintaining peace in Afghanistan.”
Guy Smagghe, PWS&D’s senior program coordinator, echoes the need for peace.
“Our partners at the local level put their heart and soul into their work, motivated by their calling to help build better communities where all people can live with dignity,” said Smagghe, who has travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to forge partnerships and monitor the PCC-funded projects happening there.
“We can’t lose hope in the face of the challenges in these countries. Our support and solidarity are needed more than ever before.”
