Dipdiving

Assorted Pakistan Photos

Shopping for wifie

The SABA girls work on their reading every morning.

Planting trees in the SABA Homes garden

Saba Girls

It has been a blessing to spend time with the orphan girls here who have made me dance for them on many occasions. They seem to enjoy making Murad sing Indian songs he remembers from his childhood and insisting we learn their own style of patty-cake. In the way that they are cared for here, it is hard to call these girls orphans. The 26 girls live in a beautiful building with a large courtyard, library, multiple classrooms, as well as a "pray and play" room. Their two room mothers look over each room of 6 that is furnished with unique bedding for each girl. The girls attend private school about ten minutes away from their home but receive private tutoring sessions after school from teachers who come to SABA Homes.

These are a few portraits we took of the girls.

SABA Girls Karate Class

We filmed the SABA Girls last week during their karate class. The 26 orphan girls practice Shotokan karate and even get taught how to use the staff and train with a pair of really hard metal nunchucks.

They may look cute but they will not hesitate to knock you out. ;)

Flooded Village (Continued)

We were led through the interior of the village after nightfall. Many of the residents are living in tents and structures with dirt floors. These images are all stills taken from HD video on a netbook so the choice of video frames is fairly arbitrary.

Flooded Village

These are photos and video stills from the village of Deldar Gundri on the bank of the Kabul river. Their village was devastated by the flooding. Many of the homes were destroyed, along with their school. We visited last week to film Saba Trust handing out food supplies and clothing. Along for the ride were a few people from the Church of Latter-day Saints who were doing research on flood effected areas as well as evaluating the need of organizations serving flood victims.

Kids were rushing the van for food and clothes. We had to drive into a walled area to unload the food supplies so there would be less crowding.

Pakistan in Photos (so far)

Filming the SABA orphan girls at a park in Islamabad.

A baby enjoying the monkey show.
SABA girls watching the monkey show in the park.

Homie selling corn in Rawalpindi.

Lady with baby in a poor rural area an hour outside of Islamabad.

On the Way to Islamabad

We're in Dubai for a 2 hour layover on the way to Pakistan. We'll be flying to Islamabad to produce a short film on a girls school and orphanage in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. I'm traveling for the next 2 weeks.

We'll be posting photos from Pakistan in the days to come. Stay tuned...

Hamdulillah

"To say 'Hamdulillah' is to be grateful for what one has.


The images of the past decades have cast a veil on our identity as a people. We, as international brothers and sisters, are now witness to injustice in real time. We watch our Wars in HD. Injustice is played in real time.


It is time for us to claim our faces back.


This video is a global collaborative effort by 10 photographers- from London to Lebanon, Cairo To Canada, Abu Dhabi to America- to create a portrait of the New Global Citizens. They are DJs, MCs, poets, architects, teachers, doctors, parents and children. Most of all they are people."

-Excerpt of YouTube description

Video directed by Ridwan Adhami

Namaze Eid

via Wikipedia

...the holiday [Eid] celebrates the conclusion of the thirty days of dawn-to-sunset fasting during the entire month of Ramadan... Eid prayer is performed in congregation in open areas like fields, community centers, etc or at mosques. No adhan (Call to Prayer) or iqama (call) is to be pronounced for this Eid prayer, and it consists of only two rakaʿāt (units of prayer). The Eid prayer is followed by the khutbah (sermon) and then a supplication (dua) asking for God's forgiveness, mercy, peace and blessings for all living beings across the world.

Photos of Eid prayer, Islamic Education Center of Orange County 9/10/2010

Hashim Ali Alauddeen- Islam in America

Hashim Ali Alauddeen briefly discusses the history of American Muslim movements in the context of the greater concept of Muslim American identity at a mini conference in Miami, Florida 7/2/2010.

Episode at Homeland Security Part 3

Souvenir: Homeland Security seizure bag

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of receiving yet another special greeting into the US. I was returning from a 3 day vacation with my wife's family in Rosarito, Mexico, but my most memorable moments were spent with my hands behind my back being escorted by Homeland Security.

Upon reaching the border, the officer ran my passport number followed by a sigh of frustration, "oh boy," he said. The officer waved us over to a secondary inspection area. "Drive over to the right, but stay with me." I thought of speeding ahead a few feet as a joke but thought it wouldn't be the best of ideas. Practical jokes tend to be my reaction to tense situations. Thankfully, I have some restraint.

Waiting in our car, my wife and father-in-law were becoming a bit concerned. The night before we had a family discussion as to who would be driving with me through the border knowing that this might happen. Of the three cars of our group we figured my father-in-law was the champion of patience in addition to having a few hours to spend quality family time at the border.

San Ysidro Border Crossing (photo: otzberg)

As the first officer came to our car he told my father-in-law to take his feet off the dash and put his shoes on. I guessed we wouldn't be able to wait this one out in the car. A chubby Hispanic officer that looked like comedian Gabriel Iglesias with finger gloves told me to get out of the car and to put my hands behind my back. Upon doing so, the lack of the sound of clicking handcuffs was just as comforting as his saying, "you are not under arrest." I was told to lock my hands in the back where the officer held me tightly by my thumbs. As we walked to the holding area the officer asked me questions addressing me nervously as "boss."

"Have you ever had any problems at borders or ports of entry, boss?"

As I looked at the line of motorists slowly moving through the border crossing, I thought about the dramatic site of officers walking me with my hands behind my back trailed by my veiled wife and an older Middle Eastern man. I wondered if the passersby would tune into CNN when they got home to see if there was a new John Walker Lindh arrested at the US border. BREAKING NEWS: "Sue Myrick was right! Iranians infiltrating US border through Mexico."

The special hands-behind-the-back treatment was also limited to me. However, my wife and father-in-law were also escorted behind me by officers into the station.

As we walked passed the pedestrian border crossing I could overhear my wife talking casually to her escorting officer about Islam and Wahabism. The officer had apparently expressed disappointment in the the US media's portrayal of Muslims. We were taken into a holding area that resembled a DMV with what appeared to be Mexicans who were caught trying to enter the US without papers. The officers confiscated our personal items, wallets, etc and sealed them in official Homeland Security seizure bags. I was told to sit in a separate area from the rest but could see my father-in-law dozing off shortly after sitting with the rest of the men. My wife was told to sit with the women. She was later hushed for talking and told to look at the wall in front of her. I thought to myself that this was going to be more like high school detention than being processed at Guantanamo.

A change in shifts with the security officers became the cause of me moving from my special area to the general sitting area where I sat next to my father-in-law. He was earlier denied the request to retrieve his copy of 1984 from his confiscated baggage so he could pass the time reading and was fighting his urge to nod off now that I was next to him. My wife and I traded exaggerated smiles, trying to make the best of such a ridiculous situation.

A security officer I hadn't seen yet came into the room asking loudly to the other officers, "ARE THE IRANIANS STILL HERE?" I thought to myself, this is amazing.

Nefarious equestrian training on a Mexican beach

The Mexican man sitting next to me caved to his curiosity and asked me why I was there.

"Eres Americano?"
"Sí"
"Por que estas con nosotros?"

I explained to him that I was also Iranian and that since I visited Iran for the second time in 2008 I have had problems reentering the US. He didn't seem to understand why that mattered, so I had a lot to explain to him.

"Piensan que eres terrorista?"
"No se. Ojala que no"

An officer came around with a rolling cooler passing out warm carne asada burritos. "Excuse me, I checked the halal option" I wanted to say, but stayed quite and passed the burrito to my new friend. The security officers dug up some instant cream of tomato soup that held us over for the next two hours. We had been there since 2:30pm and it was now 5:30pm.

The officer who handled my unique case almost never stood up from behind his desk and assured me he would get us out of there "very soon." He awaited a phone call after sending in my info along with my explanation of why I had left the country, what I did in Mexico, and who I was with. Once the call came in we were escorted back to our car and let loose into the US. The collective time spent "interviewing" me took no longer than 10 minutes but our time spent in this bureaucratic knot in my record lasted 5 hours.

Despite all of my complaining, this could have been much worse. I can hardly wait for my next date with Homeland after my upcoming trip to Pakistan.