Pakistan
Rushing from a pick-up soccer game, these schoolboys in Pakistan’s southern Punjab Province greeted us warmly, eager to practice their budding English skills. In addition to Urdu, English is one of Pakistan’s official languages, and is part of school curricula at all levels. Most Pakistani schools are gender-segregated, with the majority being boys’ schools—but varying by province and whether rural or urban. Malala Yousafzai, the education activist and Nobel laureate from Pakistan, is helping to address this disparity.
Jim Schumaker © 2020
PCV Sierra Leone 1970–1972
Education
Islamic Republic of Pakistan
Jamhuryat Islami Pakistan
Southern Asia
Area 307K mi2; 796K km2
Arable 28%
Population 238M (775/mi²; 299/km²)
Gov’t Federal parliamentary republic
Capital Islamabad (1.2M)
GCP/Capita $4,690
Unemployment 6%
In Poverty 30%
Infant Mortality 55/1K live births (18th)
Life expectancy 69 yrs
Children Aged <15 Yrs 36% of pop
Median Age 22 yrs
Literacy 98%
Languages Punjabi, Sindhi, Saraiki, Pashto, Urdu (official), Balochi, Hindko, Brahui, Burushaski, other, and English (official and lingua franca of Pakistani elite and most government ministries)
Religions Muslim (official) 96% (Sunni 85–90%/Shia 10–15%), other (includes Christian and Hindu) 4%
Health 3% of GDP
Education 3% of GDP (137th)
Military 4% of GDP (13th)
Labor Force Agriculture 42%, industry 23%, services 35%
PCVs 1961–1967, 1988–1991 CURRENT: 0 TTD: 521
Adult Books
By Daniyal Mueenuddin
Genre: Fiction
Publisher: W. W. Norton (2009)
ISBN: 978-0393337204
Summary:
Ranging from the grand interiors of Lahore’s privileged to a rural estate in Punjab province, and from modernity to a place of seemingly timeless feudalism, interlocking stories explore the lives and worlds of an aging landowner, his extended family, servants, managers, and the peasants working his land.
“In his gracious stories, Mueenuddin ponders that imperative of Pakistan, asking whether a home can be made among a people and place so splintered by change.” (The Boston Globe)
“If one of the aims of fiction is to create empathy with those outside one’s ken, Daniyal Mueenuddin’s short stories score a bull’s eye. Each room in this world is worth lingering in.” (The Indian Express)
Winner of the Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book – Eurasia (2010)>
Winner of the Story Prize (2009), Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (2010) and the National Book Award (2010)
Short-listed for the Ondaatje Prize (2010)
Kids' Books
By Rukhsana Khan
Format: Unpaged; color illustrations
ISBN: 978-1-64379-056-5
Age Range: 4-8 years
Publisher: New York: Lee & Low Books, Inc, 2014.
Summary:
Malik, a Pakistani boy, wants to be the king of the Basant kite festival. He has built a special kite named Falcon for the contest, but Malik must overcome the neighborhood bully in his attempts to become king.
Films
Film: Zinda Bhaag
Director:
Country: Pakistan
Release Date: 18 October 2013 (USA)
Filming Locations: Lahore, Pakistan
Language: Punjabi, Urdu
Run Time: 115 minutes
Color: Color
Storyline:
What makes a man step into a cargo container that is going to be sealed for days? Why does he step into a flimsy overloaded boat to face a stormy sea? Or dart across international borders dodging bullets? What are the compulsions faced by men in Pakistan, which make them take extreme risks to chase a mirage of a secure future in alien lands?
Set against the backdrop of the world of illegal immigration, Zinda Bhaag is a film about three young men trying to escape the reality of their everyday lives ... and succeeding in ways they had least expected. In a nondescript neighbourhood of Lahore, three friends are desperate to get on to the fast track to success. Khaldi, Taambi and Chitta, all in their early twenties, believe that the only way out ... is to the West. The journey that unfolds through the story of this film gives us a peep into what constitutes the everyday in the lives of many young men and women in Pakistan—a sense of entitlement that cannot be fulfilled, desperation to ...
Official submission of Pakistan to the Oscars 2014 best foreign language film category.
Music
Parveen is referred as one of the world's greatest mystic singers. She is a Pakistani Sufi Muslim singer, composer, and musician, and is also a painter and entrepreneur. Her singing and music have earned her many accolades, and she has been dubbed the “Queen of Sufi music.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBIHNVfg9AA
Recipes
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