I walked out of the Intercontinental hotel in Karachi on the first day of January in 1968. My friends and I were waiting for a driver to take us on a tour of the city on our first day in Pakistan. We were standing there in front of the hotel getting impatient after waiting 15 minutes past the scheduled time when I felt something pull on my arm. I looked down to see an incredibly dirty little girl with big brown eyes looking up at me. She said “bakshees sahib”. She and the other two she was with were begging. We had been warned that we would be followed by these kids wherever we went and it proved to be true. Fortunately our car came just in time and I gave her two rupees and hopped in for the tour.
There is an incredible book called “Three cups of Tea” that I have just finished reading. I had not intended to read it because the author was on Oprah recently but I happened to have it in the car last week as we were coming back from Virginia Beach. A long ride will make you do things sometimes.
It’s over 40 years since that day in Pakistan and I have never forgotten that child’s face. There were many of them and honestly I did not even think there was a way to help them. Poverty in Pakistan was and is endemic.
Now, I read about what Greg Mortenson has been doing and I believe. He has been building schools. Why would he do that? Because nobody else did. But there is more to his story and his story has more to give us that may come home to the heart of Frankford.
If you are a reader, get his book. We have it on page 2 of our book store or go down to the library and borrow it.
