Trapped!

The weather’s been horrific: rain like masses of mini buckets of water falling from the sky, wind so strong you could barely walk outside, and bitter, biting cold (remember, radiators and such likes do not exist here!). And to top it all off, there was no access into/out of the village via the lift because the wind was too strong and there was no electricity for the tv or computer/internet.

So, charity work was not going to be possible during these few days. This was actually a very big problem for the work because I am due to leave on Sunday. The days were instead filled with practicing more urdu (and learning bits of Hinko, Pasto and Parari dialects) and just observing conversation of others. I noticed that people were talking much more about the predicted earthquake, understandably (in fact, apparently, there was a tremor on Monday night, but I didn’t feel it). However, when asked directly about their feelings, the topic was either met with descriptions of not being bothered/it being fate or was dismissed as unimportant to discuss.

I also noticed that people were talking more about their general worries and were describing recent symptoms of anxiety often in conversation. For example, I met a woman who has been suffering with sudden bouts of crying and heart palpitations, a young woman of 21 whose throat felt like it was closing and concerns of death, and a young boy who has been unable to sleep recently. All f these cases were people who were aware of the prediction due to emerge this month and experienced great loss in the 2005 disaster. I’m not saying that anxieties, fears and worries do not exist in life without natural disasters, but I suspect that an imminent earthquake would bring many issues to the fore. I truly fear for them. I pray for these people, I really do.