Page 291 - James Caan - The Real Deal

29 · Getting to Know Pakistan

with EduTrust in the UK funding schools in some of the most
depressed boroughs in the country.
Following on from my work with CARE, I was asked to help
Pakistan’s Human Development Organization, which takes a
different approach to education. It sends teachers or craftsmen into
villages to teach skills that can secure people a job, and it’s
effective because it doesn’t wait for schools to be built: classes are
offered in people’s homes or even simply under a tree. To thank
me for the support I’d given the HDO, I received an invitation
from President Musharraf to attend a state banquet at the
President’sofficial residence.
I had been visiting Pakistan for less than a year by this point and
wasn’t that well known there, so to receive an invitation from the
President was both a surprise and a real ego boost. I bought a
traditional outfit to wear – a sherwani with a long black coat and
white trousers – and took my cousin Muneer with me to Islamabad
where the President’s palace is.
The dinner took place in October 2003, and there was
something quite strange about entering such an opulent building
in what is still, in many ways, a Third World country. It’sa
modern building with beautiful grounds and magnificent views
from every window – it’s absolutely stunning – and walking into
it is a moment I will never forget.
‘I’ve been here all my life, and I’ve never had an invite here.
You’ve been here five minutes and look where we are!’ my cousin
teased.
The dinner was a chance to meet the kind of people you just
don’t normally get to meet. I was introduced to the Prime
Minister, heads of government departments and very senior
officials. I found myself talking to a minister from the education
ministry and took the opportunity to ask him how his department
was going to spend the £100 million in aid the US government had
just donated to Pakistan’s education system.

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