A White Guy in Lahore

By Derwin Kitch

A month before 9/11, Dana and Derwin moved to Lahore, Pakistan to teach at the Lahore American School. They fell in love with the city, people, and school but found that life in the region changed on that eventful day.

Rumours of American forces in the city and bounties on the head's of foreigners increased concerns to the point that snipers were put on their school roof. Yet, the enjoyable day to day routine of school and life in Lahore were eerily unchanged.

Finally, the expat staff decided to head to Bangkok prior to the forced evacuation notice. Dana and Derwin traveled throughout Thailand and headed to Kuala Lumpur before returning to Canada to live in their parent's basements.

Life continued as normal upon their return. They explored the sites of Lahore, made a trip to Wagah border crossing, and toured Sri Lanka.

Follow the trials and tribulations of living in Pakistan post 9/11, their evacuation to Thailand, and a tense return to Lahore.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Derwin Kitch
• Release date: Feb 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310359286

Derwin Kitch

An avid world traveler, writer, and photographer, Derwin has visited 45 different countries and taught at 5 different international schools. Originally from Swan River, Manitoba, Canada, Derwin was the author of a newspaper series called “Living Overseas” and has a published article on the Matador Network. Additionally, his photographs from his travels can be seen on InTheKnowTraveler.Derwin has endured several life altering experiences while living overseas. He met and married his wife in Kuwait, their daughter and dog were born in Sri Lanka, and their son was born and Chile. They lived in Pakistan during 9/11, were in Sri Lanka during the tsunami, and in Chile during the earthquake. They currently call Yorkton, Saskatchewan home.

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a White Guy in Lahore

A Blessed and Loved Publication

Pakistan

2001

By Derwin Kitch

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Copyright © 2016 by Derwin Kitch

Smashwords Edition

Dedicated To

My parents, Del and Ilene - for starting me on the road to travel

My wife, Dana - who I'll share my travels and life with from now on

My children, Kirsi and Aidan

I love you more than you will ever know

My best friend, Simba

My Brothers and their families,

Ian, Rhonda, Brody, and Hannah

Travis, Rhonda, Carson, and Grace

Trent, Kaz, and Sophia, and the twins

To the schools, students, staff, and countries where we lived, worked, and explored:

ACA and Kuwait

LAS and Pakistan

OSC and Sri Lanka

Nido de Aguilas and Chile

AISK and Jamaica

Disclaimer

This book tells of our one year of living in Lahore, Pakistan. In all respects, I have been honest and truthful. The accounts come from memory, emails to friends and family, travel notes, and other documents collected while we lived there.

Other information comes from our Lahorian friends and I can only trust that what they told us was true.

Please purchase

only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support is appreciated by the author.

Maps and Flags

Source for map and flag images: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

Interior Photos

All interior photos taken by Derwin Kitch or Dana Miller-Kitch.

Cover

Cover by https://www.fiverr.com/jimmygibbs

Donations

10% of all sales will be donated to charities.

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Currency Conversion

$1.00 Canadian equaled 45 rupees in 2001.

TIMELINE

Kuwait 1999-2001

The American Creativity Academy

• Married to Dana in Kuwait 2001

Pakistan 2001-2002

The Lahore American School

• Evacuated during 9/11

Canada 2002-2003

Ecole South Swan River School

Sri Lanka 2003-2006

The Overseas School of Colombo

• Adopted Simba, our Cocker Spaniel

• Tsunami of 2004

• Kirsi (daughter) born

Chile 2006-2010

The International School Nido de Aguilas

• Aidan (son) born

• Earthquake in Chile

Jamaica 2010-2011

The American International School of Kingston

Table of Contents

TIMELINE

CHAPTER ONE - 9/11

CHAPTER TWO - Pre-Pakistan

CHAPTER THREE - Little House on the Punjab

CHAPTER FOUR - The Lahore American School

CHAPTER FIVE - Lahore Lifestyle

CHAPTER SIX - 9/11

CHAPTER SEVEN - Thailand

CHAPTER EIGHT - Malaysia

CHAPTER NINE - Return to Lahore

CHAPTER TEN - Sri Lankan Holiday

CHAPTER ELEVEN - The Home Stretch

CHAPTER TWELVE - Outro

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - The Author

ALSO BY THE AUTHOR

CHAPTER ONE

9/11

Tuesday Evening, September 11, 2001

Lahore, Pakistan

Unknown to us, United Airlines Flight 175 had just plunged in to the South Tower when the phone rang.

Hello, I answered concerned. We never got a phone call this late in the evening.

Hi Derwin, said our Middle School Principal. I just wanted to let you know that school is still on for tomorrow.

What’s going on? I asked. We were unaware that smoke was billowing out of the Twin Towers.

You haven’t been watching the news? There is a terrorist attack in New York right now. This will affect Pakistan. We’ll be sure to keep you and Dana informed. See you tomorrow at school. We’ll meet after school for updates from the U. S. embassy.

I flipped to the news in time to see a person jump to their death. Smoke rose from both of the towers. The death toll flashed onscreen.

I poured myself a cup of orange juice and sat down to watch the events in New York. Despite the talk on the news, I was unclear how events over 11,000 kilometres away would impact Pakistan.

But that was to become apparent really soon.

CHAPTER TWO

Pre-Pakistan

9 MONTHS EARLIER

2001

Kuwait City, Kuwait

Kuwait is a small nipple - some would say sphincter - of sand wedged between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq to the north and King Al-Saud’s Saudia Arabia to the west and south. Iran was perched to the east across the sparkling Arabian Gulf.

While Saddam was licking his wounds from the First Gulf War, Kuwait surged on with its reliance on immigrant workers and production of oil, a valuable resource that was a blessing from Allah himself.

Al-humdulah (Praise to Allah).

I arrived as one of those immigrant workers in 1999. With a university education and white skin, I was valued yet tolerated - a strange existence.

Kuwaitis desired a North American university education so they paid for their children to attend private, international schools. Once their children graduated from these schools, they could apply to any university in the world. Boston was a very popular destination.

I was fond of Kuwait and enjoyed my school, The American Creativity Academy. The students kept me laughing and my colleagues entertained me in good, bad, and weird ways.

The Arabic culture and language were otherworldly. The landscape was beige, the wind gritty, and the buildings grey. The only welcome splashes of colour to break up the grunginess were the odd patch of grass, the leaves of the palm trees, the Arabian Sea, and the neon lights of the shops. And it was hot; 60 degrees Celsius hot in the summer.

I returned for my second year and soon started to date a Canadian prairie girl. Sensing that this relationship was going to be a long-term one, we started to look for teaching opportunities beyond the borders of Kuwait. I had developed a sense of wanderlust and added teaching in every country on the planet to my bucket list. Dana felt the need to leave Kuwait almost immediately upon arrival. Kuwait was a different world for a woman.

January 26, 2001

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Our plane started its descent in to shiny Dubai. Dubai was teeming with shopping, attractions, and nightlife, but we flew there for one reason: to get a job in an international school.

Anywhere on the planet would do.

Months earlier, Dana and I started our application for the Search Associates job fair.

As I was filling out the application in my apartment, I came across the section that asked a question that we had not discussed. Were Dana and I applying as Single, Engaged, or Married teachers? Dating was not an option on the form.

I phoned Dana at her apartment.

Hey babe, what are we checking for Marriage Status? I asked.

I don’t know. What do you think? she replied. I was unable to sense which way she was leaning.

After a short discussion, we both checked Engaged and then hung up.

Holy Crap, I thought. I am engaged.

So, we landed at the Dubai International Airport engaged and prepared.

I had ironed my clothes for the first time in years. Taking the clothes out of the dryer quickly usually worked for me but this time, I was not taking any chances. I had trimmed my bald head and goatee as close to perfection as possible. I busted out a new stick of deodorant. I brought only my serious ties and left my Loony Tunes ties in my armoire in Kuwait.

I packed our research in my carry on luggage. This vital intelligence included details about the school’s contract, student population, extra-curricular activities, nationalities of students and staff, and much, much more. This binder became our Bible during the fair.

We also researched weather, pollution levels, crime rates, price of living, attractions, transportation, and travel opportunities of each country. We were not going to move to a country without an honest sense of what life would be like there.

Conducting the research was fun. We had a complete picture of each school and country.

I had no hesitations of attending the job fair. It was hard for me to contain my excitement. Dana and I could be starting our lives together in some exotic locale. Moscow? Istanbul? Manila? Riyadh?

There were Directors from twenty schools, which made the menu of schools appetizing. There was also eighty teachers who settled in to the Ramada Hotel Dubai for the fair.

Dana, however, was nervous. Those 80 teachers were competition. The possibility that we could leave the fair without getting a job left her anxious.

Search Associates (SA) operated this fair. SA and the European Council of International Schools (ECIS) were the big operators in connecting prospective teachers with international schools.

After we registered and paid Search Associates, we gained access to their website. There, they listed school information and teaching positions available. Their website was the Ashley Madison of international teaching.

As teachers, we entered personal information such as teaching experience, teachable subjects, references, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and an essay on our teaching style and philosophy. Boring stuff but we hoped our credentials would attract at least one Director.

The Directors of the international schools submitted information about their school, contract details, and the positions that they were looking to fill.

We were appointed a personal consultant while at the fair. Harry was an experienced overseas teacher and administrator who worked for Search Associates. He was a vital link between the schools and his roster of teachers.

Harry, with his British accent, interviewed both Dana and I. He made copious notes with only a pencil and a simple pad of yellow paper. He was old school and well respected.

The interview assisted in giving Harry a better feel of who we were and what we brought to the table. If schools were still looking to fill a position, they would go to Harry. He was a match-maker.

While I felt confident going in, we knew that our engagement was both a positive and a negative. If there were jobs for both Dana and I, it worked in our favour. The school hired two teachers for the price of one. This lowered their expenses.

We were out of luck, however, if there was a position for only one of us. If we took a job at that school, one of us would be unemployed. In that way, the engagement worked both for and against us.

That night, everyone prepared themselves for some hobnobbing and mingling. The stakes were high. The teacher’s livelihoods depended upon getting a job. Since we all had to hand in our letters of resignation long before the fair, we all were unemployed for the upcoming school year. Desperation, excitement, and nervousness hung in the air.

For the Directors, the quality of their school and their reputation were at stake. As a teacher, if you signed with a bad school, you had to deal with two years in purgatory. Sign a bad teacher and the Directors faced two years in hell.

Dana and I reviewed our Top Ten lists again that night. Our rankings were almost identical. We both wanted to interview with schools in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Manila (Philippines), Lahore (Pakistan), Colombo (Sri Lanka), and Moscow (Russia).

We reviewed our information packet that we picked up in a conference room designated only for teachers. The Directors were allowed to scatter glossy yearbooks, colourful maps, and other pertinent information about their schools and host country around the room; propaganda at its best.

The Directors also placed notes in the mailboxes of teachers that they had interest in interviewing. We were fortunate as six schools left notes for us. Some mailboxes were empty.

Those notes caused the adrenaline to flow. We were relieved that at least one school had a passing interest in us. Still, we realized that a few notes did not guarantee a job.

The next morning, we had a nervous breakfast. We reviewed our papers