1993 - Rupert and Janet Abbott

Pakistan and Thailand
1993 to 2016

A 10-week-old baby double wrapped against the thin cold air of a remote high-altitude village in the Karakoram Mountains of North Pakistan. We were involved in agricultural development in Baltistan and were accompanying the Aman medical staff staying overnight in Hushe, a village in the shadow of Masherbrum, to run a field clinic.

Chaff blew around us. Yak were yoked to thresh the wheat eked out of the terraced fields on the mountainside. The crop was watered by glacial melt snaking down in stone-built irrigation channels. Each grain precious. Hard won.

Peter’s sister Jessica had run ahead to escape the Pied Piper following, but even her bob of fair hair could not compete for the joyful attention her baby brother was receiving!

Each grain precious. Hard won.

We were passing strangers. There was another time, another tiny stranger adored by humble hillside shepherds, who for a season dwelt among us.

Precious seeds of hope. Hard won.