http://kevinrumsey.net/
I will not be posting here any more, see you on the other side.
kevin
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
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.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
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!!
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
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.
Friday, November 28, 2008
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
kevito
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