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| German embassy holds Christmas Bazaar |
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Ishrat Hyatt
Islamabad
Keeping up its long time tradition of having a Christmas Bazaar to generate funds for charitable organisations and NGO’s, the embassy of Germany held this annual event at the embassy premises amidst tight security.
This was a bit of a hassle for the many people waiting to get in but once inside the premises the tedious wait was soon forgotten as everyone kicked into gear and began to enjoy themselves. A Christmassy, carefree atmosphere had been created with suitable decorations, while a music system played a continuous round of carols and other Christmas songs in English as well as German — ‘Jingle Bells;’ ‘Santa Claus is coming to Town;’ ‘Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer;’ etc: being among the most familiar.
Little girls dressed as fairies were to be seen here and there and there was a ‘Father Christmas’ but he did not appear too jolly!
Members of the embassy had set up stalls of cake, chocolate and other traditional items — some of them baked by the ladies of the embassy, like cakes and cookies, were sold at the tea and coffee stall. The Christian School of Murree was represented and I think they sold traditional decorations like wreaths etc: The familiar face of Arne Pellens, who is in his fifth year of serving in the embassy, was a welcome sight and he was busy at his usual stall selling bubbly. He had thoughtfully kept a packet of juice for one of the regular bazaar attendees who does not indulge, in case she showed up, while Ulrike Heintze who organised the affair went around checking to see if everything was okay and running smoothly.
Some members of the German community living in Islamabad had set up stalls to sell items made by the people from the NGO’s they support — the New Hope Women’s Center and Adiala Jail inmates among them, the former selling jewellery constructed with semi-precious stones and the latter evening handbags.
Sister Delphine was present selling the fine linen embroidered by the girls at St Catherine’s Convent, which is perfect to give as presents, especially at this time of the year. Hunza Gallery, which represents the people of that valley, sold items like apricot oil (very good for the skin), delicious dried apricots (without being ‘whitened by chemicals) and other hand made items — ten per cent of profits are kept for expenses while the rest goes back to the people. ‘Images by Alana’ had cards and framed photographs of beautiful Pakistani scenes and heritage sights while the dolls from ‘Thatta Khedona’ were also available. It may be recalled that this doll-making project was started by a German lady in a village of Okara and has given the women a way to make a better life for themselves.
Of-course no bazaar is complete without a food stall and this was manned by several members of the embassy to serve frankfurters — there may have been other foodstuff but there was a long queue waiting to be served so it was difficult to check! But it looked very tempting, with the smoke rising from the barbecue stands, while the volunteers were kept busy cooking and keeping up with the orders.
It was an enjoyable afternoon for those who managed to register themselves and attended — mostly foreigners with a ‘sprinkling’ of Pakistanis who are on the embassy list and prepared to go through the security checks.
The new Minister Counsellor, DCM, Stephen Roken, who is also in charge of security, said he gave the go ahead for the bazaar ‘because we cannot play into the hands of the terrorists and retreat from living a normal life.’
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ISSN 1563-9479 
