My first trip to Kashmir

In the mafia, when they say “Let’s take Johnny for a drive” you pretty much know that you’re not going to see Johnny again. Recently, I had reason to wonder if I was being set-up for a similar fate when I was asked if I wanted to go for a helicopter ride. It sounded great, but perhaps this was just the MSF way of getting rid of accountants. “Hey, how would you like to get off on this mountain to take a picture?”

My trip to Kashmir was on a R.A.F. Chinook (that’s the British Royal Air Force; if you want more specifics you can ask my Father) transport helicopter. MSF was sending one helicopter load of tents and another of cooking pots and dishes. Steve, our Logistics Coordinator, and I got to tag along for the ride. Not surprisingly, I decided that this would be more fun than reconciling bank accounts.

The airbase was a hive of activity. Steve told me that this was the largest gathering of helicopters in history, in terms of pure carrying capacity. There was an odd mix of people, as military personnel were joined by NGO-types and their transport crew. Also, providing a striking contrast were an assortment of Pakistanis who had been flown-in from Kashmir.

We were advised by the land-crew that there had been some minor mechanical problems with one of the Chinooks, but not to worry as it was only small pieces that were falling off. When we were boarding to take-off we were asked to confirm our names just incase the dental records proved inconclusive. A barrel of laughs those British.

It took only 40 minutes to fly to the village of Umian, but we quickly found ourselves in a very different world. It’s a small and remote place, made even more isolated by the destruction of its only road. Looking at the road’s remains on the side of the steep valley it was evident that there would be no quick fix to their isolation. The snowline wasn’t far above and I wondered how I would make-out if I had to camp for the winter. It took only about ten minutes to unload the helicopters and then we were on our way back to the warmth and comfort of Islamabad.