Written by: Dr. Dushka H. Saiyid
Posted on: July 15, 2013 | 
The model
Cristina is a Brazilian, whose adopted home is Pakistan. With a larger than life presence, she’s an accomplished equestrian, restaurateur, philanthropist, an interior designer, a diplomat’s wife and a firm presence on Islamabad’s social scene.
She traces her family lineage to Prussian blue blood; from Hindenburg, Chancellor of the Weimar Republic, to General Erich von Manstein, one of Hitler’s most brilliant military strategists, dismissed for daring to disagree with him in 1944. Her branch of the family migrated to Brazil in mid-nineteenth century, and her ancestor was the first Consul of Germany in Brazil. They settled in Ouro Preto and Bello Horizonte, in the province of Minas Gerais, an area famed for its gold rush since the 1600s. Cristina’s family moved to Brasilia, the capital, when she was one year old.
Cristina’s penchant for discovering the world started early. She was only seventeen when she left for Perugia, Italy, and graduated from the University for Foreigners and Accademia di Belli Art Pietro Vanucci. Her entrepreneurial skills became evident as a student, when she took to modeling to supplement her pocket money. She is a product of the different political currents that were sweeping over Brazil, which oscillated between democracy and military rule. Her father was an activist of the left, concerned about the plight of the working class and involved with the unrest that swept through campuses in 1968. That is where she acquired a social conscience and a desire for a change.
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| With President Joao Figueiredo |
She became friends with the last military ruler and President, who ushered in democracy for Brazil in the ‘90s. What she had in common with President Joao Figueiredo was a love of horses, which was also the magnet between the glamorous show jumper and the polo playing Pakistan’s ambassador to Brazil, Tariq Afridi; they got married in 1989, and Karim was born a few years later in Portugal.
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| With Princess Sarvath and Prince Hassan Bin Talal of Jordan |
Her father’s concern for the less privileged has stayed with her, and while her husband was posted in Jordan, she was actively involved in charity work with Princess Sarvath, the wife of Prince Hassan bin Talal. When Ambassador Afridi returned to Pakistan, Cristina did voluntary work for PIMS, the main government hospital of Islamabad, and fundraising for Layton Rahmatulla Benevolent Trust and the Kidney Center.
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| With Imran Khan |
Putting down roots in Islamabad, and giving expression to her entrepreneurial skills in an alien environment was challenging, even for a feisty and outgoing person like her. She did interior designing for many embassies, including that of the UAE, Portugal and Australia, before she opened Majlis, a restaurant of Lebanese cuisine. Inaugurated by Prince Hassan bin Talal, Majlis became an iconic haunt of all the movers and shakers during the Musharraf regime, but now the petty officialdom are not so cooperative. Her trials and tribulations continued with resistance to the land mafia, who tried to grab public land near her house in Bani Gala, and had the temerity to fire bullets at her house because they had political patronage. She stood her ground, and they backed off. What a damning testament of our lawless and avaricious political class! Not surprisingly, she supports change and Imran’s reformist agenda, because she feels that the corrupt status quo is destroying Pakistan from within.
In recognition of her role in promoting Brazil’s friendship with Pakistan, she was awarded the Order of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil. While embracing Pakistan, Cristina fiercely retains her identity: her motto is, “wherever you go, you take your country with you”.
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