The Standard, December 29.
GLENORMISTON schoolteacher Jim Burrell still feels safe in Pakistan, despite recent deadly bombings.Two suicide bombers last week killed 24 people and wounded 200 others in Lahore - the city where Mr Burrell and his wife Denise are living.The blasts happened about 15 minutes apart in two different areas of the city.Mr Burrell said the blasts were huge and "felt in our housing estate (Defence Housing Authority) - about nine to 10 kilometres away as the crow flies. It was certainly upsetting for the local people as well as the small ex-pat community living in the city."The Burrells moved to Pakistan last month to work on an aid program in the troubled country's dairy sector.Mr Burrell said he was saddened the bombings would change many injured Pakistanis lives forever. "It is particularly sad to think of the injured ones, as there is no safety net in this country and those with horrific injuries are likely to be condemned to life as a beggar. Beggars are doomed to a life of absolute poverty - usually living in tents, on public land, beside roads and rail lines, and with no access to water, power or sewage."Mr Burrell said an "informal" mobile network of volunteers had worked around the clock to connect people with their loved ones.Despite being surrounded by devastation, the Cobden Technical School teacher said he felt safe but he did not have a carefree attitude.As Australians, he and Denise were not suicide bombers' targets - they were mainly police, army and government officials."Denise and I do not feel in any way under personal threat. We continue our daily business today as we did yesterday and the day before," he said."We are not cavalier and we do have an informal threat analysis on activities we undertake."The Burrells will spend the next two years working with the Pakistan Dairy Development Company in small communities to increase dairy productionThe bomb attacks had outraged the local community, Mr Burrell said. "They (locals) cannot understand the motives or reasoning of those responsible."Pakistan was plunged into civil unrest following the assassination of Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto late last year.The killing alarmed the Burrells but did not deter them.They told The Standard in December the riots which followed Ms Bhutto's death would not affect their trip. "We aren't being asked to go to areas that we wouldn't feel safe. Our extended families are concerned and wary," Mr Burrell said.