Dear Fr. Tim and Parishioners of Blessington,  

Greetings from Pakistan!

When I received your letter asking me to become your ‘missionary connection’ I was deeply touched by this request. And I responded by saying that I would love to, as I spend much of my vacation in Blessington with my brother Pat and family and have thus got to know some of you so I feel I am talking to friends. I am not big into I.T. but Frank has given me guidelines and is willing to make up for my inadequacies so with that assurance I take up the challenge!

I wish to open up a window into Pakistan for you and share with you its culture, life and people. I have fallen in love with the people of Pakistan as I have been here since 1990 when five of us Columban Sisters came to start a new mission. Our Motherhouse is in Magheramore, Wicklow, just beyond your Wicklow Hills!

Our focus when we came here was and still is: Dialogue with peoples of other faiths; work among and with the Christian Community; and to accompany women who have been pushed to the margins of society. I live in Hyderabad, an urban city in a Muslim area, while we have another house in Kunri in a rural setting, which is a four hour journey from here into the Thar Desert where we work among Christians and Hindus, especially the Parkari Kholi tribe.

To start off, I have given you Pakistan’s Story which is an introduction to the country. I would like if this venture could be interactive as it would be good to know your interests so that I could see how to accommodate them?

It is indeed ‘a long, long way from there to here,’ so congratulations, Fr. Tim, on this novel idea of yours, showing how we can reach out and touch the world from our own homes and thus become part of God’s concern for our broken world.

As we’ launch out into the deep’ using this worldwide net, I pray that God will bless our reaching out so that by learning to understand another people and culture, our hearts will become open to dialogue and befriend the Other.

Let’s enjoy the launch! (Sorry no champagne here for the launch… alcohol is forbidden!)

Salaam, Peace,
Rebecca. (Conlon).

Crossing from Pakistan into China. The world's highest border crossing (Khunjerab Pass)

K2, the second tallest mountain on the planet, officially measured at 28,250 ft. (8,611 m).

Welcome to Pakistan! Be prepared to be surprised by the unexpected as together we traverse this vast and exciting land.

Pakistan is situated in South Asia bordering with Iran and Afghanistan to the west, China to the north, India to the east and the Arabian Sea to the South. It is about nine and a half times the size of Ireland with a population of 160 million people.

Its cultural roots go back to the third millennium BC and we have excavations here dating back like Newgrange. Yet it is a young state formed in 1947 as British rule came to an end in India. Prior to this there was much unrest in India between Hindus and Muslims and a new movement came into being for a separate homeland for Muslims. This was taken up by the lawyer Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah and the Hindu leader Mahatma Gandhi succeeded in achieving independence from British rule. Jinnah pressed the issue of a separate homeland for Muslims and achieved it in the form of a new state, Pakistan on August 14th 1947. Thus, Pakistan was created and became the Homeland for the Muslims and Mohammed Ali Jinnah became the father of the Nation. At this time Pakistan gave up three million Hindus and received five million Muslims. It was a huge migration born out of conflict.

Pakistan is an Islamic State and is 97% Muslim. It was founded in the name of Islam and it is a very God conscious country. The Call to Prayer is heralded from the mosques five times a day and the devout Muslim, where ever s/he is, will kneel down and perform the required ritual and if you are being served in a shop, you just wait! Praying is a natural pause in the rhythm of life here. Christians, Hindus, Parsis etc. are Minorities making up the 3%. The Minorities are a tiny drop in the ocean of the majority but when their voices cry out for justice, they make it loud and clear!

There are 4 provinces in Pakistan: Punjab, Sindh. Balochistan and North-West Frontier and each province have their own ethnic groups. Urdu is the national language, while Punjabi, Sindhi, Siraiki, Parkari Kholi, Kutchi Kholi and over 300 dialects in all are spoken in the country today and each is distinctly different from the other. Being a foreigner here one understands the Tower of Babel story!

It is a county of magnificent contrasts. The most dramatic landscape is in the northern areas where the Himalayas, including the (Hindu Kush,) is home to some of the tallest peaks in the world. Here it is known as the Roof of the World, a magnificent sight with its highest peak K2, the second tallest mountain on the planet, officially measured at 28,250 ft. (8,611 m). (See above right). This northern part of Pakistan borders with China and is linked by the famous Khunjerab Pass. (See above left).

In the south east we meet Thar Parkar, which is the barren desert province of Sindh and it stretches eastwards to India and south to the Arabian Sea. People suffer from drought and hunger in this area because of the harsh hot conditions; feudalism and scarcity of water. This is the region we live in and as I write this in mid May it is already 45°C. These temperatures will reach 50°C in time!! We receive less than 13 centimeters of rain annually… roughly 3-4 days rain, if we are lucky! These rains do not come every year so we know what the Psalmist means when he talks about ‘being parched, lifeless and without water.’ Our winters drop down to 23°C, the equivalent of a good summer’s day in Ireland!

The mountainous area of the west-central that borders with Afghanistan is rugged, arid and dry and south of this is the Baluchistan Plateau which extends its border to Iran. The fertile heartland of Pakistan, the Punjab plain, is irrigated by the Indus River and fronts its border with India.

Looking at all the countries that surround Pakistan and knowing its dominant religion, it is obvious that Pakistan is in a very strategic position in the world today and a much needed ally for the powers in the West!

It is out of this context that we will be opening up and looking at this culture and its people so that through sharing, dialogue will happen and this will lead us to understanding the other so that the Other will no longer be stranger.

Sindh. Introducing you to the Desert.

Cholistani Nomads