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The son of American missionaries, Jonathan Addleton was born in Murree, Pakistan, and graduated from the city's Christian school that was attacked by Islamic gunmen in August. Addleton's book, Some Far and Distant Place (University of Georgia Press), focuses on his years at Murree Christian School. The book will be reissued in paperback later this month. Addleton, now the director of the USAID Mission to Mongolia, spoke with Books & Culture about the school attacks and the changing face of Pakistan.
As a former student of Murree Christian School, what was your response to the August 5 shootings?
I was devastated. Within a few hours, emails began to arrive from around the world, including some from people who had witnessed the attack. It is a miracle that no students were killed or injured. It is also important to pay tribute to the Pakistani security guards, two of whom literally gave their lives to help ensure the safety of the students.
Were there fears of this kind of violence when you attended?
Not really. High walls and security guards were not a part of the MCS that I knew as a child. Some political demonstrations occurred on occasion outside U.S. or European government buildings in Karachi or other large cities. But there was certainly a strong feeling among all of us that schools, hospitals, and places of worship were "neutral ground" as far as political demonstrations or violence were concerned. Also, Murree is a fairly remote place and seemed far away from the larger political events affecting the country and the region.
When was the last time you visited the school?
I last visited in the summer of 1996, in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the school. One surprise was that enrollment at MCS was slightly higher than when I attended back in the 1970s. When I graduated in 1975, there were around 125 kids in the school. At the start of this year there were around 150. It has always been a tiny school but has had an impact that outweighed its size.
Another noticeable difference was that it had become less American over time. The British influence was always fairly strong, but enrollment expanded in recent years to include many more students and staff from several European and some Asian countries, as well as from the U.S., Canada, Australia New Zealand. Certainly, MCS in no way can be described as an "American institution."
One thing that MCS has retained is its strongly multi-national and a multi-denominational character. It was and remains a strongly Christian institution, though a "broad" one in the sense that it is supported by numerous denominations and mission boards. Looking back, this ability to maintain a sense of balance and perspective among a variety of strongly held theological viewpoints probably represents an important strength, one that should be more common in other missionary settings than is in fact the case.
You write that you desperately wanted to graduate from Murree Christian School. Why?
I have no doubt that much of my emotional and spiritual makeup is directly connected to my MCS experience. It was only during the last couple of years of high school that I realized how "lucky" I was and what a great "gift" I had been given as far as childhood is concerned. At heart, I wanted to delay my goodbyes for as long as possible. Even today, I try to maintain the sense of wonder and astonishment that was so much a part of my childhood in Pakistan.
Parenthetically, Some Far and Distant Place was written partly in response to the type of stereotypes that I encountered as a university student in the U.S.—stereotypes about missionaries, about missionary children, and about Pakistan. For some reason, I wasn't convinced that my upbringing was quite like those around me imagined it to have been! Murree had a large and mostly positive impact on my life, one that hopefully comes across vividly in the pages of this book.
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