Thursday, January 3, 2013

Embracing an Abundant Life


By Rose Killalea

St Peters Church in Rome
I find myself in Pakistan, the muezzin just outside my window calling Muslims to prayer on a cool and dark evening. I'm here to work with Medicine Sans Frontieres (MSF) in a hospital in Taliban territory. My personal mission in my down-time, suggested by a friend, is to write about art in the churches and mosques of Pakistan. I grab this idea of hers with both hands, inspired immediately by the art/church connection, and the challenge of writing. Little do I know I will be confined to quarters in Pakistan for security reasons, and will never get to explore beyond the walls of the compound.

But Pakistan comes to me instead, through the many locals I work with, and I see their love of beauty and art in the gorgeous fabrics of the shalwar kameese the women wear, in their handmade jewellery, in the superbly decorated trucks and tuktuks they drive, painted and gilded on every part visible to the naked eye.