[o_databank]

I moved to Pakistan, after having grown up in sunny California for much of my life. Primarily, because my dad invested all that he had earned into a textile export firm here. Life was good, till dad passed away.

All hell broke loose. We, having grown up in the West where things are systematic and organized, and legally you get what you are supposed to get, thought that we'd inherit what we were supposed to, and life would go on. But, this was Pakistan. I'm sure everyone has seen those Nigerian scams being uncovered by ABC News etc., and guess what, PK is tied at 139th place with Nigeria on the International Transparency Index.

People confiscated all our property, I was still doing my degree online from the Univ. of Phoenix, so I couldn't get a job off the bat. Even worse, there are no real jobs worth a professional here. You can buy the law, if you pay the price. You can bribe doctors to write fake reports for you. You can get fake ID cards, passports here. The British Embassy in Pakistan came out with a report this year that uncovered a whopping 4000 fake applications for visiting the UK from Pakistan, and the ambassador said, "there's these sort of things everywhere in the world, but unfortunately, you people are the leaders." Search on YouTube for "pakistani passport scam olympics 2012", or "pakistan corruption" and you'll find a plethora of cases. Or read the Corruption in Pakistan article on Wikipedia

In case you wonder why don't we just leave this place, well, everything we had was taken away by people who paid judges here to sign fake documents. Imagine living a life in beautiful Santa Clara, heart of the Silicon Valley, own house, nice vacations with family, alot of community service and friends, no worries, and suddenly into a hell-hole like Pakistan, where the President and Prime Minister, BOTH, are convicted felons, let alone the people they rule.

The bottom line is, guys, I grew up in a developed nation where people respect each other's rights, and humans are treated like humans. You learn to give respect and attain it, keeping in line with how we were supposed to live our life on this planet; the only life we have.

What I'm going through right now is severe depression. People don't care about losing their respect, and as a result, they will sink to any depth possible, given that the price is right. When I come across such people, EVERY DAY, because they're everywhere in every civil department, I feel that my own sense of ethics is now fading away. My psyche is being molded, against my will, into typical reptilian psyche, putting yourself first without caring for your human brother. Believe me, this society is like that. Especially if people find out you're from the States, they think you're a walking gold-mine that they'd love to rrrrip apart.

Even worse, they don't want to recognize their problems. You only fix yourself if you realize there actually IS a problem. If corruption and cheating and lying and deceiving is something you see your own parents indulging into, you think you'd care about it too much?

A bigger problem is, back in the US, if we were depressed, there'd be a whole bunch of things you could do to vent things out, but here, nothing, nada. Same old life, same old corrupt faces everyday.

I just need someone to talk to now, who can help me keep my sense of ethics intact. A normal human-being who can help me tackle this "3rd World Syndrome." I have a US line at my place, so I have a direct US number. But anyways, typically you could say, do this or do that, and let it out...well, I already told you there's nothing to really do here in such an undeveloped region. Go to "work", come back, go to sleep, wake up, and the nightmare starts again.

The only therapy is to talk to someone who is not in that environment, and try to gain that much-needed strength. This is sort of funny, I used to be a volunteer cadet for the Santa Clara Police Force, as a sophomore in high school (it was called the Santa Clara PAL program), and helped so many kids with their problems, and now, I find myself in that situation, even though I didn't do anything to put myself in this situation.

My spirits are still UP, so I know someday I'll be able to live a normal life again, but for now, I REALLY need someone to counsel me through this.

Thanks a million,

Omar.

[Rohag]

Hello & Welcome, O_databank!

What I'm going through right now is severe depression.

Severe depression and severe culture shock!

Are you and your family American citizens? Have you been able to reach Americans at the Embassy or consulates?

[Sam2]

Rohag has a good point. Can you get to an american embassy? If you are over the age of 18, which I'm guessing you are since you are going to college on line, you might want to check out getting a passport out of there.

I've never been overseas, but what you are describing sounds scary. Do you have any relatives left here? Someone with whom you could live with until you could get on your feet?

One of my concerns is that you will get into trouble if you are using the internet. I can understand why you would want contact with people here, but you also need to make sure you are safe.

It does not surprise me that people have a poor mindset. When you grow up in a country with no boundries, (them, not you), as far as the law goes, and know that they cannot get help from a legal system that is corrupt, it comes down to survival. Your situation sounds similar to someone who grew up in an upper middle class family suddently finding themselves living in one of the run down ghettos where drugs run rampant and violence is an everyday thing, except worse.

That you still feel you have much of yourself left, the only thing I can think of is getting the heck out of there.

Sam2