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2 Former Terrace resident
Heather Bellamy stopped in
town last week on her way to a

new job in Port Hardy after
spending two years in-Pakistan,

‘helping Afghanistan refugees

fleeing the war in their country.
While international politics
dominated the headlines as the
U.S.S.R. agreed to start pulling
out troops, Bellamy: discovered
the personal is political in her
experiences as a woman living in

‘a fundamentalist Moslem com-
munity,

by-Charlynn Toews

Three to four million people -

have entered Pakistan and
another million have gone into
Iran since the Mojaheddin
guerillas’ fight against the

_ Afghan army escalated with

Soviet intervention in 1979,
Pakistan has supported the
U.S.-supplied Mojaheddin and
allowed them to operate from
Pakistan. Even with the recent
withdrawal of troops, a cease-
fire is not assured. In fact, the
same day Bellamy was interview-
ed about her two years in
Islamabad, guerillas there an-
nounced plans to attack Kabul,

the capital city of Afghanistan.

Canada has been providing
more than $20 million annually
in humanitarian aid for Afghan
refugees in Pakistan, and may
increase this amount until the
conditions for their return im-
proves.

Letter

As a World Relief Canada
volunteer, Bellamy worked with
refugee women in Islamabad for
two years, teaching them

' English as a Second Language.

She explained that while
refugees in camps received food
and public health assistance
from United Nations commit-

tees and relief organizations,.

this group of urban refugees
were financially able to take care
of themselves but: needed social
services.

“Since many of them wanted
to immigrate to the States,
Australia, and other English-
speaking countries, language
classes were started. What began
as a small, grassroots kind of
program grew, with over 500
students a day now going
through the program,”’ she said.

Bellamy had been interested in
the Middle East for some time
before taking the volunteer posi-
tion, but was not’ prespared for
the dramatic differences in
religion and culture she found,

She worked: only with the
women because it was not cul-
turally acceptable to associate
with men. These Islamic. refu-
gees followed their traditional
roles, with women staying in the
home and wearing concealing
chadors, ‘‘Afghan society is
controlled by the Mojaheddin,
who want women more conser-
vative and are becoming more
fundamental in their’ religion,’’
Bellamy said. To show respect

for their traditions, Bellamy and ©

other ESL teachers wore the
chalwar chameez, or the draped
dress and loose-fitting pants
considered ‘‘acceptable for
modern women.”

_ Not only did her dress change,
she said she also. ‘‘walked with
my nose to the pavement,”
stayed indoors after dark, stop-
ped cycling and jogging and
restricted her hiking, sat
separately with women and
children at public events and
cafes, and used the back door of
the post office. ‘‘I spent the first
year and a half being very angry.

It was very difficult — to have to

suddenly strip yourself of all the
rights you take for granted as a
Canadian woman.”

She said even the limited
orientation she received to learn
how to behave in an acceptable
manner made her feel patroniz-
ed, like a child, “I was told,
‘Don’t sit like that, don’t act like
that,’ like a child who has to
grow into the culture.’’

Realizing that women hoping
to emigrate would also face such
culture shock, the ESL classes
included information on West-
ern habits, like dating. ‘‘One
woman said she’d shoot any
man coming to her door to ask
her daughter on a date,’’ she
found it so shocking.

Day-to-day activities like
making appointments, spelling
names in’ English, work ethics,
visiting and child care were

Record calls for examination

To the Editor;

This (Kitimat-Terrace and
District Labour) Council has
studied the decision of Dave
Parker’s ministry to award the
timber rights for the Takla-
Sustut area to Prince George.
We have noted his comments on
the Dease Lake extension of the

BCR and on the layoff of

workers in Hazelton. We have
also reviewed his failure to
penalize Mac-Blo for its prac-
tices on the Queen Charlottes
and followed reports on the
harvesting in the North Kalum
area. His record is less than ad-

mirable,
Qn numerous occasions,

statements have been made that
there is a threat of wood supply
shortages in the province. Yet no
action was taken against Mac~-
Blo for waste on the Charloites,

-and reports from North Kalum

indicate extensive failure to con-
trol waste. Further, export of
raw logs is proceeding at an
enormous rate from: Stewart
despite the original com-
mitments by the firms involved
to construct certain manufactur-
ing facilities by as early as 1986.
Why are these things allowed to
happen in light of the fall down
of adequate timber supplies?
This has been defended on the
basis of preservation of jobs.
Numerous reports have come to
us that wages and working con-
ditions in the North Kalum Icave
much lo be desired. There needs

to be an inquiry into the prac-
tices in this area which will cover
all aspects of the harvest from
waste to export to wages, safety
and living conditions.

It does not appear that there is
a sound management plan for
B.C,’s forest resource. In fact, if
you add the reality of land
claims and the pressure for
preservation of specific
ecologically significant areas
(Moresby, the Khutzeymateen),
the situation appears chaotic.
Even once a decision is made, as
with Moresby, the follow-
through is not carried out. On
the Queen ‘Charlottes, the pro-
vincial failure to live up to its
commitments is costing many
construction jobs as between $40

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and $50 million in projects is on
hold.

There is a tendency to focus
all attention on the Premier of
the Province and blame all the
government’s shortcomings on
him, It is our opinion that closer
attention must be paid to some
of his subordinates. It appears
to us that Dave Parker has failed
both his constituents and this
province in many ways, We
think it is time to not only
replace Premier Vander. Zalm;
for the ‘sake of our future, it is
time to replace all of his elected
associates as well.

Paul Johnston, President
Kitimat- Terrace and District
Labour Council

-Tervace Review — Wednesday, July 13, 1988 7 _

"culture shock in ‘embattled d Afghenistan ue

Strong friendships grew among teachers and students of English during
Heather Bellamy's two years In Islamabad, Pakistan. The former Terrace
resident, second from left, is pictured here with mother and daughter ESL
students and a volunteer from Calgary.

discussed. Some women found
the idea of day care unaccept-
able, although those without
children said they would likely
look for work outside the home
in their new countries. As for

» socializing, ‘‘Here it is nothing

to spend four, five, six hours
visiting,’’ Belllamy said. ‘‘And
if a relative comes to visit, or a
member of the family is sick, the
women just drop everything.”
ESL students-would drop classes
for weeks at a time to attend to
family matters, such as births,
weddings and funerals, and
return expecting to pick up
where they left off. ‘‘If they
were half way to the market and
met someone who was on their
way to visit them they’d say,

‘Come over for tea,’ and walk
back home with them. They
have a saying, ‘A guest is the
friend of God.’ ”

Within the more restrictive
lives of women that she found,
Bellamy saw some very positive
aspects. ‘People come first with
them, and I grew from that. |

“hope I can become more

unselfish in that way.”
‘*Women here are expected to

continued on page 14

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