Just came back from my 2nd trip to Pakistan, so much to say and do not know how to begin. Maybe I will start with a typical day in the base camp to give you an idea of what the team is doing there.

Everyday is a challenge to get out of the warm sleeping bag, so it depends on who has the courage to get out of the comfortable sleeping bag and tent first, as he or she will boil the water so that everyone in the base camp can wash up with warm water. Someone will also boil the water for hot drink and serve each other; coffee, cereal or milo. Breakfast is free and easy, just dig into the food box and find what you fancy or wait for our local guys to buy bread and cook the omelet. One day we found a packet of otak paste and everyone agrees that it goes well with bread, thus everyone was perked up and all ready for the day’s activity.

Morning devotion is usually around 8 am with worship alternating between English and Urdu, and then a time of sharing.

As we are there to serve and to support our local host, Shahid the Base Camp Coordinator will decide on the villages that we will be going for the day. It could be nearby where we will just walk from the camp to hike up the mountain or it could be an hour drive by van or jeep before we begin the hike. We went to new places to assess needs but some day we went back to villages we have visited to change dressings for those whom the doctors have dressed. Shahid has amazing memory and he remembered who need their dressings changed. We packed our food ration for the day; water, energy bar, chocolate, fruits. We also pack simple medication such as vitamins, pain killer, antiseptic creams, eye drops and dressing sets to do simple first aid along the way. Usually when we reached the village, we split into smaller teams so that we can cover all the households in the village. We go from house to house to ask them about their needs and our local partner will go into the house to verify their requested needs and issue coupons according. The relief supplies given are iron sheets (8 pieces per household), tents, blankets, mattresses or food (flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil and tea). Surprisingly they were very open and we have the opportunity to pray with them, to ask God to bless their family and heal them. A few of the women were reduced to tears because of the loss of their loved ones and their houses. They were extremely hospitable and most household would offer us ‘chai’ (tea) and biscuits. When they see us coming, they will bring out their chairs, cleaned them and offer to make tea for us. We tried to reach base camp about 530 pm which is already dark and cold. In total we have covered 40 villages whether it is for medical or survey of needs.

Usually our host will cook for us, but for the first few days, we cook our own dinner as there are just too many of us (Koreans and ourselves) for them to cater. The key to good partnership are sensitivity, flexibility and accommodative.

The Koreans arrived at the same day as us, so 7 of us and 7 of them plus 7 from CCC Karachi Church and 5 others, it certainly was busy at the Base Camp.

Early evening, someone would have started a fire and all of us would naturally gather around the fire to talk about our day while waiting for dinner to be ready. Fire fellowship continues throughout the evening, we usually have our debrief around 8 pm and by 9pm most of us will seek the warm and comfort of our tents and sleeping bags.

Through our sharing, the testimonies that touch my heart most are the following 2 testimonies:

Malik
He is a young man of 19 years old living in Darlakot Village, about an hour walk from our base camp. He told us that on the day of the earthquake, he and his brother ran outside to help their neighbors. After which they went to Bagh town to see how they can help. He was saddened by the widespread looting, everyone for himself. He saw a woman pinned under some structure, the people instead of helping her took her jewelries. When the Koreans came to his village to give out blankets and mattresses, he was deeply touched; foreigners came all the way to render help as compared to his people. The Koreans left medicine for the dispensary but the person in charge instead of using them to help his people, sold the medicine for his own gain. Malik could not do anything as he could not communicate with the Koreans as he does not speak English. He decided that he would come down to help the foreigners instead. Since late October, he has been helping us; guiding us to the villages, helping in the cooking and washing of the dishes. At first he would come during the morning but now he considers himself as one of the volunteers, eating and sleeping with our hosts and joining in our devotion!

Morris
He is in the Army attached to the Squadron that we based our camp. He is a believer. When the earthquake happened, he told God that he wanted to help. However, as he was in the Army, he is not free to help. He offered his blood for the victims but it was not needed. God answered his prayer when our host came to set up base in his Squadron. He was sent to be a guide when we go into the mountain. Now, he is very much a part of the team, eating and sleeping with our host and joining in the daily devotion. He is a great asset to the team, carrying the heaviest backpack, cooking and unloading the relief supplies. He is a very humble man and goes about doing his things quietly. He dug the toilets for the base camp and took upon himself to scrub the toilet clean so that we are comfortable.