Garden Ramblers 1 visited an extensive inner city garden that flowed down a steep bank with a profusion of flowers, fruit and vegetables.

Here are some photos from the garden: Click on the first image to scroll through

Gillian Marks, the owner of the garden shared with us her  projects  where she is raising funds to support Shimshal Village, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan. She outlines her work here:

Good Morning Jim,

It was great to meet you yesterday with the garden explorer group.

Thank you for the offer to share with U3A about my small aid program in Shimshal Village, Gilgit Baltistan, Pakistan.

I have always loved tramping and mountain regions. As a child I read of Thomas Dooley American Aid Foundation and in 1971 I volunteered and was accepted to work with them in Nepal with Tibetan Refugees. Many years of support for Tibetans followed intermingled with my marriage and raising a family in California. After my husbands death I started tramping and exploring NZ mountains again with regular trips to Nepal.

In 2012 I joined a group of Australians to go to the Karakoram mountains and Snow Lake in Northern Pakistan, where the Western Himalaya meet the Hindu Kush. Quite a different experience from semi tropical lush Nepal Himalaya – a dry, high altitude, multi glacial region with continuous uncountable, many not climbed, and/or named peaks of every shape and size. A spectacular region. That trip was my first introduction to a Moslem culture and country. Contrary to all one reads in the media, I loved it and felt at all times very safe and cared for by everyone male and female who I met. “Thank you for trusting us and coming to our country” was said to me by a complete stranger who stopped me in the street of Karimabad, Hunza.

Since then I have gone every year and I have started an aid program for the remote village of Shimshal (65km by dirt mountain road from the nearest village). The first time I went my Shimshali guide said “Japanese women cry on this road”. 

I buy Baluchi bags, Kashmiri and Hunza shawls and scarves, jewelry and odd items I sell to earn some money to use to aid the village.

I solicit anybody who wants to aid a subsistence economy that has really struggled since 9/11.

At the moment I have 3 orphan girls who need to be sponsored for high school hostel fees and education.  I have raised money to build infrastructure. This year we are building at 3,500m and 4,100m sheep, goat and cattle shelters that will offer protection from late spring storms in the summer grazing pastures. In May 2019 65 cattle and many sheep and goats died in a late spring heavy snow storm. We are developing a tree planting program and a water system to provide the village homes with reliable water supply. Aid has been given to families whose homes had been damaged by a mudslide and an avalanche. We have repaired the main bridge (across a raging torrent) that allows access to the summer grazing pastures at Shimshal Pass and Zartgarben. Many medical supplies and hospital treatments have been provided over the years. This year we have 2  people getting advanced medical care in Karachi some 1,200km south of the village, and 1 in Gilgit 120km away.

Thank you to anyone who would like to contact me and get your Christmas presents or give support. I collect and personally deliver and follow-up on every dollar spent. There are no middlemen and your support goes directly to a project. I pay my own way and all of my travel, accommodation, food, trekking and climbing costs. 

If anyone wants to come after we get out of Covid I shall be returning to Gilgit Baltistan and Shimshal and plan to go to K2 Base Camp. Weather, health and age permitting in this unknown time.

Photo's that Gillian supplied are here:

• Madik men ploughing Madik men ploughing
• Route to Zartgarben Route to Zartgarben
• Bano and Abida harvesting Hay Bano and Abida harvesting Hay
• Cattle shelter at Zartgarben Cattle shelter at Zartgarben
• Michael Bridge repaired Michael Bridge repaired
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