By Aamir Latif, IOL Correspondent
Many Pakistanis remain grateful to the assistance of Mrs Ann. (Google photo)
LAHORE — Most Pakistanis are angry with White House hopeful Barak Obama's adventurous intentions to mount attacks inside their country, yet many of them feel otherwise about his mother who spent five years in the eastern Punjab province. "Obama is the son of an honorable lady, who has served for Pakistan. I am sure he will not turn out to be a dangerous person for our country," Jamal Hassan, a student of Ann Dunham, told Islamonline.net.
When Ann came to Pakistan in October 1987 to serve as an Asian Development Bank consultant she used her full name, Ann Dunham Sudoro, because by the time she had divorced Obama's father and married an Indonesian.
She supervised the implementation of an ADB project for developing the agriculture and cottage industry in the rural areas of Punjab, the most populous province of Pakistan, through micro-financing.
Her additional responsibility was to train the mobile credit officers of Pakistan’s agriculture development bank.
She stayed in Lahore’s Avari towers hotel and used to out-back daily from Lahore, the capital of Punjab, to the northeastern city of Gujranwala, some 70 kilometers away.
"I had never thought that the son of my teacher would become such an important figure," said Hassan, who was one of 30 mobile credit officers trained by Mrs Dunham Ann in Gujranwala.
He has been in touch with Senator Obama.
"When I introduced myself to him (through email) as a student of his mother, he thought that I was an American. But when I introduced myself as a Pakistani citizen, he expressed his happiness and thanked me for remembering him and his mother."
Obama's mother died of ovarian cancer in 1995 at the age of 52.
Helpful
Mohammad Aslam, who served as a peon at Mrs Ann’s office from 1987 to 1992, shares many happy memories.
"She was a wonderful lady. She never misbehaved with us," he told IOL.
"The best thing I found in her was her punctuality. She used to travel 70 Kilometers every day, but during five years, she had never been late," Aslam remembers.
"We still miss her."
Mrs Ann’s had to convince the people residing in villages to borrow micro-finance loans and establish their own businesses.
"Though, she didn’t know much about the local language, she had a great communication skill," Hassan remembers.
"She convinced scores of women (belonging to cottage industry) to establish their own businesses and earn while sitting at home. They (women) otherwise could have never thought about establishing and running a business in a feudal society."
Mohammed Arif, whose parents borrowed a micro-finance loan through Mrs Ann and established their own businesses, remains thankful to her.
"She convinced my mother and father to borrow loans and buy sewing machines and a buffalo respectively," he told IOL.
"Many years have passed but we still remember that lady because it was she who played a major role in changing our lifestyle.
"She sincerely wanted to alleviate poverty from the area," says a grateful Arif.
Rakhi, a 70-year-old local woman who too borrowed a loan under the ADP project and established a small cottage industry at her home in Gujranwala, recalls some interesting habits of Mrs Ann.
"She turned out to be very fond of Pakistani spicy food. Initially, she felt hard to digest the spicy food, but soon she got used to it."
Rakhi says Mrs Ann knew how to make friends.
"Many of us observed Pardah (veil), and were shy to meet a Gori (white) modern woman. But believe me, we became good friends soon though we didn’t know each other’s language."
Peaceful Obama
The Pakistanis who have been touched by Mrs Ann are very hopeful her son will not do any harm to their country.
"We exchange emails on and off. He has always been very polite and humble in line with his mother," says Hassan.
Although a recent survey by the Washington Times shows that a majority of Pakistanis consider Obama a danger man, he disagrees.
"Obama has been cherished by his mother, who is so kind and polite. I am sure, she has instill that kindness and humbleness in him.
"I am sure, he will cause no harm to us. He will think and do for the betterment of humanity."
Arif, whose parents borrowed a micro-finance loan through Mrs Ann, agrees.
"I wish him all the best. I am sure he will take care of our interest while keeping his mother’s relationship with Pakistan in view."
Rakhi, the elder woman helped by his mother, wants Obama to win the US presidential elections.
"Though, I have never seen him, he is the son of my friend and benefactor. My wishes are with him."
SOURCE
Obama is no stranger to Pakistan
Thursday, November 06, 2008
By Amir Mir
LAHORE: The 44th president-elect of the United States of America Barack Hussain Obama is no stranger to Pakistan as he had travelled to Karachi in 1981 as a college student at the age of 20 and stayed in the Sindh province for full three weeks.
Obama’s mother had also worked as a consultant to the Asian Development Bank for five long years in one of the least developed cities of PunjabóGujranwala—considered one of the biggest slums of South Asia.
Addressing a fundraiser at San Francisco on April 5, 2008, Obama, an African-American, had referred to a 1981 trip he made to Pakistan during his college years. A New York Times report of April 6, 2008 quoted Obama as having said in his speech that he actually came to know of the disparity between Sunnis and Shias only after his Pakistan visit.
The paper said his mentioning of Pakistan was apparently aimed at boosting his foreign policy credentials to offset those of his contenders Senator John McCain and Senator Hillary Clinton. “Foreign policy is the area where I am probably most confident that I know more and understand the world better than Senator Clinton or Senator McCain,” the newspaper quoted Obama as having said in his April 5, 2008 speech.
His campaign press secretary Bill Burton subsequently gave inquiring journalists more details of Obama’s Pakistan visit. US Today of April 10, 2008 quoted Bill as saying: “Mr Obama had visited Pakistan for three weeks after visiting his mother Mrs Ann Dunham and half-sister, Maya Soetoro, in Indonesia.
He had travelled with a college friend whose family used to live in Karachi.” As a matter of fact, Obama had travelled to Pakistan after leaving Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1981 to transfer to the Columbia University in New York.
The Afghan war was at its peak at that time and the US State Department had already issued a warning for Americans travelling to Pakistan.An August 14, 2008 report by the Associated Press even alleged that Obama had actually travelled to Pakistan under his Muslim name—Barry Soetero—while using an Indonesian passport.
As a matter of fact, Barack Obama Junior was born to Barack Obama Senior, a black Kenyan, and Ann Dunham, a white American. Barack Obama Senior and Mrs Ann Dunham were divorced when their son Obama was two.
Obama Senior, who had died in a car accident in 1982, met his son only once after the divorce. Ann Dunham later married Lolo Soetoro, an Indonesian Muslim.
A news report carried by a US-based website www.pakistaniat.com http://www.pakistaniat.com/ in Sept 2008 stated while quoting the US media that Barack Obama had many Pakistani friends during his college days, and it was friendship that brought him to Pakistan. In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama talks of having a Pakistani roommate when he moved to New York, a man he calls Sadik (his 1982 roommate at an apartment at a sixth-floor walkup on East 94th Street). Obama describes Sadik as a short, well-built Pakistani who smoked marijuana, snorted cocaine and liked to party. During his years at the Occidental College, Barack befriended Wahid Hamid, a fellow student and an immigrant from Pakistan. Wahid Hamid is now a vice president at Pepsico in New York. His third Pakistani friend was Imad Husain, a Pakistani, who is now a Boston-based banker.
According to www.pakistaniat.com , during his Pakistan visit, Obama stayed in Karachi with the family of his college friend Hassan Chandeo. Now a self employed financial consultant living in Armonk in Westchester County of New York, Hassan Chandeo took his African-American college friend on traditional partridge hunting trips to Hyderabad, Larkana, Shikarpur and Jacobabad districts. Partridge hunting is considered a symbol of good hospitality in Sindh. Barack Obama made friends with a Sindhi politician Muhammadmian Soomro as well, who hails from the Shikarpur district of Sindh and is Senate Chairman. The newly elected American president reportedly lived at Muhammad Ali Society residence of Ahmad Mian Soomro, the father of Muhammadmian Soomro.
Another US-based website www.freerepublic.com quoted Time Magazine on September 1, 2008, stating that Obama may have visited Pakistan again in the second half of 1980 and stayed there for a month with his mother who was an employee of the Ford Foundation and posted in Gujranwala as a microfinance consultant for an Asian Development Bank micro-credit finance project that ran from 1987 to 1992.
The report said Mrs Dunham, who died in Hawaii—Obama’s birth place—in 1995 from ovarian cancer, used to stay at Hilton International Hotel in Lahore. She travelled daily from Lahore to Gujranwala and Obama stayed with her in the same hotel which has been already renamed as Avari Hotel, the report added.
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