Newsletter LEAD Cohort 9 I Left My Heart in Peshawar (A Personal Note) Nosi Lestariwati, The Club Store, Jakarta Those of you who went to site visit C during the 1st International Session of Cohort 9 in Pakistan would probably agree with me that Peshawar is a place of natural beauty and wonderful people. When the news in the papers of Afghanistan refugees forcing their way to Peshawar for protection caught my eye, I could not help tracing back time in Peshawar. It is not easy to forget the beautiful lake where we had lunch, the hills and mountains with ruined forts, talking to women in their homes, the long bus rides and sleeping competition, Huma's kindness, roaming through antique shops, riding the old truck to the village meeting, the cries of school children and their Begherakhlee salute (meaning: welcome, if I'm not mistaken) and all the women's efforts to improve their status in society. I could not imagine that peaceful Peshawar must now be a havoc with demonstrators running down the streets, hundreds of Afghanistans living in temporary shelters, roaming the markets and adding the number of previous Afghanistan people selling shampoo, soap or whatever they can sell just to eat. How has this effected the people of Peshawar, I ask but I know their kind- heartedness and same believe in Islam will help them accept the refugees, till there is a solution for them to return to Afghanistan. I hope the people in Peshawar will reap some benefit from what is happening. Maybe with the new government taking place in Afghanistan giving more space for women for the first time in a long time, Peshawar being near the border, can get a glimpse of the disadvantage of pinning down women's activities and how important it is for women to have better education and access to health. I hope Bushra, the nice lady who chaperoned us along the way and fought so long in Peshawar for women, can push the local government to acknowledge women's role in the family and in formal occasions instead of letting them 'make decisions through bed time talk'. I hope the women we met can actually start participating in Jirga meetings and be heard by the elders and others. I hope Peshawar will remain the beautiful and breathtaking view of a city and the people as bright, as kind and as tolerant to other living creature as ever.