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kevin

New Blog Site Coming Soon

Hello everyone!! I am in the process of having a new (my own) website for my blogs and photos - stay tuned, hope to be ready in a few days.

Damn crooked police...

We just got back from a remote part of the north - 21 village in total - people living like the Flintstones...man, what an adventure that was!! Four hours to drive
100 km one way. We got stopped at a police check point and they
detained us for an hour and half, till we finally paid $100 US to pass
through...typical. But it sure beats dealing with road bandits and car
jackings. Got to the villages and there is a great need for food and water, but they
were not exactly starving, but this are getting bad there. We did an
assessment for water and it's going to be very difficult to do
anything, other than maybe extending a pipeline for 3 km to another
village from an existing spring. Can't really drill anything here,
due to the difficulty of getting equipment in the fact that the ground
water, if we can find it is too salty. We can however try and get
some food (bags of wheat, rice and some oil), so a food assessment will be done nect, but that is not me. Last night we were invited to a big traditional feast, 20 people (all men, except for Anne), as the women cannot eat with us. We all sat on
the floor and eat rice, goat, yogurt, potatoes, beets, radish, spinach
and a tapioca thing for desert. Very nice!!

Also yesterday, we got to visit an ancient Buddhist temple of sorts,
that was buried into a mountains. amazing photos, once I download them.
Also got to hold my first AK47 riffle.. wait for the photo.

Tomorrow, we drive back to Mazsar- Sharif for the day and then fly
back to Kabul on Saturday morning.

Again, so much to say!!

Where does one begin??

... I don’t really know, sooo much to say. Firstly, I was greatly saddened by the news that my work colleague, Mike Hines of Whitehorse, lost his battle with cancer a few days ago. Mike was awesome, despite his cancer and the battle, he seemed so full of life, always a smile and a positive outlook, almost knowing that he was going to beat the cancer. I remember so clearly him saying goodbye to me, shaking my hand, saying he was envious of what I was about to do here, no matter how dangerous it might be, for life is short. Mike, I truly hope you’re in a better place now and may you now rest in peace.

As for this place, well, I have been to many places and seen a lot of sights, but this is different, this place North Afghanistan is so incredible and in sooo many ways. The poverty is real, not only can one see it, but one can smell and taste it. And I will never come to terms with the oppression against woman, despite the fact it is “culture”. Not one single woman in this city of mud and bricks reveals themselves. They all are either wearing a full length blue or white burka, a few times I see a black one. Often, these covered women are holding the hand of their children. However, young girls are not wearing the burkas, only head scarves. I feel sorry for them and can only imagine the life ahead of them. Sadly, this morning, I saw a woman in a white burka being beaten in the streets with a stick, she was laying on the dirt sidewalk, with her arms up to try and protect her self from the lashes. The driver told us, the husband was beating her but we will never know why. I wanted to stop the car and stop the lashes, but that would have been so foolish of me. I my heart sank as we drove by her and did nothing. Here, children are put to work, performing many jobs; tailors, bread makers, garbage pickers, bike repair, packers, street sellers, riding cart and donkey, breaking rock, etc, etc. These are the very poor, very dirty, mated hair, black hands and faces. Also, it is common to see very young, like 2 and 3 year olds walking around without parents and often playing together in the open drainage ditches, which are essentially open sewers. It is common to see young girls filling the ever so common yellow 10 L plastic jerry cans from the ditches and yes, I have confirmed that many actually drink this same water. The lack of drinking water is observed everywhere, however these people are fortunate that there is some water, because once summer arrives in March, the situation will become worse if the rains do not come. There are 2 public wells in the town and they have gone dry last summer as the water table declines from over use and no recharge from the rain or snow melt. There is also a major shortage of food here. Many people line up for bread, which cost 10 cents a piece. The few water points in the city, have line ups and it is always children who fetch the water. The river that runs through town is very low. Many livestock have since starved and all crops have failed. The World Food Program (WFP) is here, but they are known to be crooked. So much to say, but limited time to get all down, as the electricity is only on for 5 hours a day. I have taken some amazing photos here in the north and once I down load them I will post... stay tuned.

November 31

Second attempt to fly to Samagan Province, near the Uzbekistan border. I was with my Program Manager, Nasrulla and Anne. The early morning drive to the airport was through the thick layer of diesel and wood smoke; we had to drive by a large intersection where last Friday a suicide bomber tried to hit a military convoy, but failed. We arrived at the airport entrance and had to go through 2 armed check stops, complete with a motley crew of police and German Sheppard dogs. Getting through was relatively easy, once the police did the mirror check under the van and the dirty looks to us. We then got out and had to queue for the security check of luggage which moved very slowly. While standing in line, a western man approaches and bitterly complains about the line up and asked why it is…I thought, this guy must be an American and sure enough he was, an actor no less who bragged about his Afghan-US movies. The line moved slowly, but some Afghans were able to move ahead of us, and I quickly learned why, when I saw money being paid to the police dude. We got to the security xray station but it was not working, so they were searching the bags by hand, but for Afghans only. We presented our id and were allowed to pass by without any check at all, go figure? We then walked to the UN flight area and waited in the lounge with several other westerners’ enroute to some where. While waiting we watch Aljezza TV News casts about the recent bombing in Bombay, the airport siege in Bangkok, the war in Congo, the violence in Nigeria and the global economic slow down affecting the automotive industry…no good news at all. My cell phone rang and I had to deal with the ongoing saga of bureaucracy of getting an MOU from one government department to the Department of Defense (another blog in itself) so that we can begin delivering tanker water to an IDP camp in Kabul, which is now 2 months late. Finally got to board the small prop UNHAS (Humanitarian Assistance Service) plane headed for Mazar-Sharif. As we taxied to the air strip, I was able to see the extent of the military protection for the airport and it was impressive. As we flew out of Kabul, we immediately went over the large mountains of the Indo Kursh range going north. An hour later, we were to touch down in Kundez to let some passengers off, however, the pilot came on the radio to say, he could not get radio contact at the airport, so he was going to buzz over the terminal to get there attention. This was done, but still nobody was home and thus the plane never did land and those passengers were forced to move on to Marzar... how crazy is that? We arrived 45 minutes later to a flat and desolate desert area, close to Uzbekistan border. We were picked up by the base head Ahmed, a young guy of 30 years and our unmarked Toyota four runner truck and began the 1 hour and 30 min drive to Aybak in Samagan Province… the poorest but safest Province in Afghanistan. The landscape was surreal with camels and donkey carts on the road, we clearly had gone back in time a 100 years, except for the old blown out Russian tanks that dotted the landscape. Enroute we stopped in to see the District Governor to get his opinion of the water and sanitation situation, which took over an hour, however he was most helpful, yet he was political as the elections are coming in a few months. ACF is one of the few NGO's working here. We carried on to Aybak town, to where the ACF office and guest house was located. The town was something out of movie…from days gone by. Approximately 80,000 people try to carve out an existence here. Only 5% of the population has access to safe drinking water, the average daily income is 50 cents US, only 19 % of the population can read and write. This area used to be the bread basket of Afghanistan but it has endured a long drought where famine has occurred complete with an outbreak of cholera last year for 1600 people. We arrived at the guest house to a warm welcome. As usual there was no electricity other that for 5 hours every night. A feast of goat kabobs were prepared in addition to a stew of chic peas and the foot of the goat…no thanks! We then met to plan the strategy of the next day of which villages and people we would need to visit. Shortly after wards and to my great surprise (another surprise) a 40 oz bottle of rare Russian vodka was presented! 4 glasses came out and the white liquor with a medicinal smell was poured. My phone went off and it was my mother!! Who called via skype just checking in… how surreal was that? By 11 pm it was time to call it a night.

Tomorrow is also suppose to be my day off, but I and others are flying to the very northern Province of Samagan, near the border of Turkmiistan, to undertake an assessment of the horrible conditions. Apparently this province is one of the poorest areas and has been hit by drought. We (me) are going to assess the ‘lack of’ water and sanitation situation and then possibly write a proposal for funding, to try and bring water and sanitation here to a limited targeted population of about 5000 people. I had a meeting with the Swedish Embassy yesterday afternoon and they might be interested in further funding. The Swedes are already funding a project with us for 4000 internally displaced (IDP’s) in a camp, 30 minutes outside of Kabul…which has gone off the rails, thanks to the Ministry of Defense (MOD) who at the last minute pulled the plug on us drilling boreholes and building bathrooms, because they did not want these IDP’s on their land, so next week I have to go there and try to change their minds, in the mean time I have authorized the trucking of water to storage tanks in the camp, which stats in a few days, so atleast they can have some water….oh yeah, I am not suppose to talk about work today, oops! I will out of touch for the next 5 days, cross your fingers for us all and all little prayers all welcome!! Ciao ciao!!
kevito

First Day Off

It’s Friday and my first day off and it’s very welcomed. I am sitting the ‘Flower Café’, which international people (Expats) frequent because of the good food and free internet service, which is better than the office. It is situated on an empty street and 3 armed guards stand outside the concrete wall and barb wire. This is my first time here. Yesterday morning was interesting, thanks to a suicide car bombing downtown, which was targeting against a convoy of International Security Forces. The driver never hit the convoy, but did kill 6 poor ditch cleaners. I was in a meeting with UNICEF and other NGO’s when it happened, we were all locked down for 3 hours afterward s. Welcome to Kabul…..
I have been working 10 to 12 hour days, coming home dead tired. Still feeling stressed and overwhelmed by everything, but at least I have my health (touch wood ). Issue of human resources and budget are not my specialty and are taxing. Because I am the new guy and because no one in the water sector has been here, I get to hear all the frustrations. Although these people are great, giving and caring, they do complain of low wages. My Project Manager for example only makes $600 US a month. …by 10 PM, I am in bed, falling asleep is easy, even though the bed is not very comfortable, sags in the middle and what I would do for a real pillow. I seem to always wake up at around 3 ish, which pisses me off, eventually get back to sleep only to wake up at 5:30 – 6:00. The sun comes up at 7:00 and my room faces the morning sun, which is very nice. I have been here a week now and despite the rather un sanitary conditions, I have not had any diarrhea or stomach ache. I wash my hands up to 4 times a day – hard to keep them clean, as the dirt, dust, fumes is everywhere. I have been eating well , we have a very good male cook that prepares lunch and dinner, although we are never here to eat it when he prepares it, so it sits here waiting for us. He makes an awesome soup. I have been eating goat daily, lots of potatoes and rice. Lunch food is usually goat kabobs and only the men eat together. Fruit is plentiful, although it comes form Pakistan. Breakfast is usually cereal and flat bread with strong Arabic coffee. During the day I drink tea..they love their tea here! As I am living the French (4 of them – 3 women; Anne, Alice, Valeri and 1 guy Nick) there is wine here and from France no less. Beer is available also, so it’s all good. Two nights ago more French came over to the house for a dinner party of Rachlette cheese and potatoes and dry pork….yes, pork that was brought in by the French army, as one guy has connections. It was very enjoyable to meet these new people and indulged in wine and cheese, just wished I could understand French. We sit on big cushion around a big low table. One of the guests (Fred) has lived here for 6 years, which I was so surprised to hear. The noise of helicopters and planes are constant and all times of the day, most annoying. Upon advice, I am growing my beard, but not my hair and today will go shopping for some Afghan sweaters and the very common scarf, so I will slowly try to assimilate into Afghan. The supply of electricity sucks!! We have to rely on the generator for a few hours at night and I have only experienced the other source twice. The water supply for the house is a private well and we have many problems with pressure and the pump. Despite having a shower in the bathroom, the ole squat and bucket method is becoming common. The boss (Anne) has noticed my stress and has ordered me to not do anything with work today, so we will go jogging at a secure indoor track at a German built school and then play tennis later on in some run down court. I am starting to learn some Dari words, and to my surprise Dari is not Arabic, but Persian!!

First Field Trip

The first field trip took me north of the city for about hour to a city called Charikar. I was with Nicolas, Lisa and Nasrulla travelling in our unmarked van with a guard car in front, albeit the guard had no weapons! We were enroute to assess a new water supply and distribution project, funded by the European Union, Emergency Fund (ECHO). Afghans are retuning to the city and a new area of the city was being prepared to settle them and ACF is going to be organizing the water supply. EU and ACF are involved because the Afghan government has no capacity to do this. The plan is to capture a spring at the base of the mountain, direct it to a reservoir, filter by sand and distribute to tap stands. Currently, 1000’s of people use the open canal for the source supply, even though it is very contaminated. Driving through the kaos of the city was most fascinating, an endless hustle and bustle of people, car, animals. The extent of just how poor the area was became so evident. For security reasons I am not allowed to take photos from the van in the city or in crowed areas and never at police or military of which there were numerous. The road to Charikar is the only safe road (relatively speaking) out of Kabul, however the military presence was there with several small tanks and soldiers based along the road along with several check points. During the Taliban era, this region was almost wiped out with the numerous battles that were had. Driving along, there were hundreds of mud homes, many of which were destroyed and thousands of people killed by the Talibs. We came to a traffic circle, with a small grassed enclosure in the middle. Nasrulla told us that during the Taliban rule, this circular grassed area was where many innocent people were publically hung. The traffic here is NUTS and there are no rules or at least not followed. . and it was amazing how we just blended in. Shop keepers, small markets, were everywhere. Many women fully covered black outfits, with only a small slit to see out or in fully blue burkas with a mesh screen to see., f were shopping or walking with small children.
Upon driving up the hillside, to get a view of the spring, numerous young kids were walking up and down the steep hill with plastic water jugs (20 L) fetching water from the reservoir building. Some were lucky to have a wheel-barrow, others were carrying the jugs by hand, which when full are very heavy. Some would walk up to 3 km and twice a day to get water! Another source of water is from ancient underground tunnels called ‘karez’, the one we visited was 200 years old. Ground water is collected further upslope and channel into the deep tunnels. On the surface, access is gained through a small hole (like a well) and people (kids) collect water via a rope and bucket. The one in the photo is used by 400 families. ..hard to believe. ACF wants to capture this water via a well pump and direct it to a reservoir and then distribute it. As well all ACF projects, the eventual goal is to build the capacity of the Afghans themselves to manage the new infrastructure themselves.

The Tea Party

Lisa from Paris, organized a staff tea party for all of the WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) staff from Kabul, in honor of my arrival to Afghanistan. It had been 7 months without a WASH Coordinator and my presence here is most welcomed. Here I introduced myself (via a translator) and got to meet the many other people; Engineers, Sanitation, Home Workers, Health, etc. The welcome and generosity of these people was most special. Several of the men, took turns to welcome me and to give thanks for my arrival. They spoke with true feelings of appreciation and gratitude, knowing how difficult the conditions are in their country and how hard it is to find international staff to come here and help them. I was given a hand made wool hat, scarf and gloves, while everyone stood up and clapped for me. I was really blown away by this honest and compassionate gesture. Afghan people are very sincere and incredibly friendly. Upon arrival at work, everyone (men) shake hands and hugs each other, with a big smiles and conversation, like they had not seen each other for weeks, even though it was only yesterday when they worked side by side. A far cry from my office life in Canada, where people tend to say nothing in the morning and hide in their office….with a don’t bother me mentality. The culture and customs of the people are so rich here and I like it very much. Despite the lack of basic services, poverty, cold, and incredible struggles of the conflict these people can find moments of happiness.

November 22

I awoke to sunny day, but cold morning. Went outside into the court yard and introduced myself to the 2 guards. And then another man came out, then another, until there were 7 of them all huddled around me, the new guy they had herd so much about. “Mr. Kevin” I am now known to them. I joked with them, and tried to pronounce their names -making them all laugh. This was good and it was nice to get off on the right foot with them all. The day was filled with lots more briefings – I am going to be one very busy person!!! I supervise two Afghan Project Managers who both have between 8 and 12 staff under them. Anne, Head of Mission took me out for lunch to only one of three ‘validated’ restaurants where we can eat. Of course leaving the house there are numerous security procedures to go through. Must use the cell phone to describe where and when we go. The restaurant was surrounded by police, thus it was approved to go to...weird! We have no internet in the house, nor reliable electricity!