mbassador Jao Paulo Sabido Costa and his wife held a reception to celebrate the Portuguese National Day. The chief guest at the occasion was Federal Minister for Human Rights Kamran Michael, who was just back from a visit to Portugal, where he held audience with Pope Francis as well In his speech, the Portuguese envoy talked about the excellent relations between his country and Pakistan and the potential for expanding and deepening relations, especially in trade and industry.

Portuguese is taught in Pakistan, supported by the Portuguese and Brazilian embassies. A teacher from the University of Punjab in Lahore, Ana Maria Carvalho Borges de Sousa, attended the reception with a group of students. She first came to Pakistan as a diplomat but has now settled here as a private citizen, and in the friendly way typical of members of the Latino community, she said loved the new homeland but admitted she was a poor student of Urdu language. One of her students, Faisal Aleem, in the friendliest Pakistan style, added that she was indeed a good teacher.

-Text and photos by Syeda Shehrbano Kazim, Atle Hetland, Shahbaz Chaudary & Online