Heritage Foundation Pakistan

Whilst browsing I stumbled upon this organisation on the web: Heritage Foundation Pakistan. It's helping to safeguard the nation's treasures - historical monuments and such. Admirable work.

"The Foundation has been instrumental in saving a large number of heritage treasures and, as UNESCO team leader 2003-2005, oversaw the stabilization of the endangered Shish Mahal ceiling of the Lahore Fort World Heritage site."

Yes, even buildings need saving. I posted last month about a hostoric building in danger, see here. So would you care if someone thought it would be OK to demolish a place that held valuable memories for future generations? Do we need to place more importance on the preservation of history in Pakistan?

If you live in Karachi or want to drop by, here are the contact details:

Heritage Foundation
E-6, Fourth Gizri Street
DHA 4, Karachi
Pakistan
Tel: (92 21) 5834215, 5837521; Fax: (92 21) 5863474
Email: info@heritagefoundationpak.org
Web: http://www.heritagefoundationpak.org/

Remembering our shaheed .. 4

I'm posting more announcements of our shaheed (martyred) who are fighting for our country, our people and our freedom. See my previous posts here, here and here.

Monday October 19th 2009

Two soldiers embraced shahadat (martyrdom) in the clashes at Makeen. Another soldier embraced shahadat in an operation north of Shakai. The army lost two soldiers south of Razmak. (The News)

Friday October 23rd 2009

A soldier was killed when militants attacked security forces in Boay Naray, located west of Sherwangai on Wednesday night. Another soldier was killed when militants fired six rockets on the Razmak Army Camp. (The News)

Brigadier Moeen Ud Din Ahmed embraced shahadat after an attack on Thursday.
Funeral prayers were said at Chaklala Garrison

"Brig. Moeen of Sindh Regiment was serving as Deputy Force Commander of UN forces in Sudan. He is survived by widow, three sons and a daughter...
On Thursday morning while on his way to Rawalpindi from Islamabad, the vehicle in which he was travelling was ambushed and fired by pillion riders in G-11 sector. He was critically wounded and later, succumbed to the injuries while on way to hospital." (PakTribune)

Saturday October 24th 2009

Three soldiers were reported to have been killed in the overnight fighting overnight in Kotkai in South Waziristan. On Tuesday morning seven soldiers were killed as army checkpoints were attacked by the Taliban. (BBC News)

Saturday October 31st 2009

"A roadside bomb killed seven Pakistani soldiers in the northwestern Khyber region on the Afghan border on Saturday, hours after warplanes struck suspected Taliban positions in a neighboring tribal area, officials said." (Reuters)

Note: I can only provide you with names if I find them in the news articles I browse. If you think something needs correcting, please do leave me a message. I try my best.

We should all pray for these men and their families and recognise their courage and sacrifice for their country.

Are you related to a soldier? Do you have memories of a loved one dying? Do you have a message for the soldiers fighting? Leave me a comment.

---------

I feel now more than ever we should be supporting our army who are fighting the Taliban as we see the terror and destruction they spread in places such as Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar.

Updated: Added the BBC News link

Which genealogy software should I use?

I'm blogging again after a short absence since my laptop decided to give me a panic attack..

Until recently I wasn't aware there were computer softwares that were available to family historians. But having looked at various genealogical websites, blogs and forums I realised people were actually using computer software to input their family trees and creating databases to store and organize their information. Well ofcourse, I had to check it out. Someone kindly suggested that I download Personal Ancestral File (PAF) which is a free genealogy software available from FamilySearch.org. I used PAF for a short while and since it was my first time using a genealogy software I had to start my family tree from scratch. Later on I would learn that all genealogical software use a certain type of file called a GEDCOM file.

However, PAF have not introduced any new versions and the software itself does not display a visually pleasing interface. It seems bland and compared with new software that it's in the market seems to lack in features. Therefore I went in search of a new software that would liven things up a bit. Something that would provide a fresh new look to my boring software.

I found .. Legacy 7.0.

I downloaded the standard edition from their website (click on the above link) and set up my family tree by importing my not-so-big GEDCOM file from PAF. This meant that I could just transfer whatever data I had input into PAF to Legacy without any fuss.

These are some of the features I liked:

1) Creating reports for individuals and families
2) Ability to view the ages of your ancestors at various events of their life
3) Marriage lists for couples
4) Ability to create charts from the data
5) Research guidance shows you what to search for and includes a to-do list
6) Ability to add pictures, sounds, videos to individuals in your tree
7) Ability to write notes for individuals in general, or research notes or medical notes
and much much more!

Here's a snapshot of a family sheet of one of my ancestors (first names have been blocked out):


I think I'll stick with this software as it seems to do the job and I'm still working out how it all works since there is so much on offer. However, there are other softwares that are available such as Family Tree Builder and Family Tree Maker. (Funny how they have similar names)

Note: Some of the features can only be accessed by upgrading to Legacy Deluxe Edition.

If you'd like to try out Legacy too, then click here for a beginners video. Let me know what you think by leaving me a comment.