In November 2003 Christin Ormhaug and Trygve Otterson from Norway and Caecilie B. Buhmann from Denmark travelled to Pakistan for 6 days. It was arranged by students from PDPD and IFMSA-Pakistan. The delegates undertook one dialogue at a medical college in Karachi and a 2-day training. A total of 40 students were trained and 100 students participated in the dialogue.

Below you will find some impressions and photos

Being a NWIP Rookie, I travelled on my first mission to Karachi, Pakistan, in November 2003, together with Trygve from Norway and Caecilie from Denmark. As a newcomer I had planned to stay a little in the background, but since our fourth delegate fell ill, I suddenly had to step in and present the medical effects during the dialogue session. The participants were quite unruly, but after a little while I decided to try and step forward to address them more actively. It was a great pleasure to see that some of the most pro-nuclear students from that meeting actually turned up when we held the training sessions (again, with me being a teacher without ever having been a student). The training went quite well, and I would consider the trip a success.

What I have learned is that sometimes you just have to do things you thought you were not prepared for – and surprisingly often, it works out just fine. Be flexible, bring all your documents so that you can prepare during the trip, and use the training manual – bring it, read it and re-read it, because you find new learning points each time.

 
Christin Ormhaug
Sociologist, Oslo

The year 1998, is a year every citizen of Pakistan shall remember as that marked us on the map in many ways. We as a third world country, had become a nuclear power and everyone was proud of that fact. It was a well established defense mechanism.

Two years ago I was introduced to IPPNW and NWIP and by coincidence I was an organizer and part of the first seminar that was held in a local university hospital in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002. For the past two years I have interacted with foreign medical students and attended conflict transformation workshops and conducted a training in Karachi, Pakistan. I never quite imagined myself working on such issues, as I thought I didn’t know how to, but I feel that as a member of health services it is my duty to spread the word of peace, work on unity and eradicate conflicts and find solutions by working on common grounds. I feel projects like this are fascinating and their concepts are quite ambitious! Of course we have to keep in mind that the process of establishing a forum where everyone agrees on decisions is not an easy task, but I believe that with a positive and open mind there is a lot that can be achieved!

So let us work together toward finding ideas and solutions that will help us to achieve nuclear disarmament and conflict resolutions that will lead to a brighter tomorrow for all humanity and peace on earth!

 
Nadia Umar
Student of Dentistry, Karachi