For an update on the blast in Kabul this morning, please see the following article by BBC.
Summary: An apparent suicide bomber was responsible for the blast that occurred outside the governor's office at approximately 08h20 Saturday morning. The blast could be heard across the city. Five people were reportedly killed in the blast.
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label update. Show all posts
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Back in Kabul!!
Following a wonderful break and cherished opportunity to visit with friends and family in South Africa (for Susan) and California (for both of us), and following almost three days of traveling, Chris and I finally arrived back in Kabul on Saturday afternoon. While a bit exhausted from the jetlag, it was strangely good to be back. I know this sounds odd to anyone who have not lived "at mission", but one becomes strangely fond of the surroundings, the people and all that a particular place begins to hold in store. We battled a few dodgey nights with 3am wake-ups, but emerged somewhere around Tuesday.
Of course, with our Thursdays being the new Friday, that makes Sunday the new Monday, meaning Chris was back in the swing of things on Sunday morning while I, the alleged "lady of leisure" (you may recall I completed my contract in Mazar-e-Sharif, and per our agreement have relocated to Kabul and am now eagerly searching out my next venture), set about rearranging our tiny, yet cozy, room. This might seem mundane compared to constructing shelters and mitigating conflict, but trust me - when you see what Chris can do to a tiny room in nine months, you would revise your thinking.
I find myself struggling to accept time for myself for the first time in months. Having the luxury to sit and ponder, read and hopefully, write, does seem like a blessing. It's not all lounging for me though, as I have entered into massive networking mode to filter through the opportunities that this ever-growing city holds for someone like me.
In the meantime, Kabul is changing its colors, opting for a wintery coat of snow in the mornings, and grey skies during the day. From what I can gather, white, cold, Kabul is actually much preferred over brown, frozen, muddy Kabul, which also means that we are very likely to have a white Christmas. I'll report back again though the first time it hits -25C/-10F, quite possibly with requests for housing in places like Cape Town or California.
Of course, with our Thursdays being the new Friday, that makes Sunday the new Monday, meaning Chris was back in the swing of things on Sunday morning while I, the alleged "lady of leisure" (you may recall I completed my contract in Mazar-e-Sharif, and per our agreement have relocated to Kabul and am now eagerly searching out my next venture), set about rearranging our tiny, yet cozy, room. This might seem mundane compared to constructing shelters and mitigating conflict, but trust me - when you see what Chris can do to a tiny room in nine months, you would revise your thinking.
I find myself struggling to accept time for myself for the first time in months. Having the luxury to sit and ponder, read and hopefully, write, does seem like a blessing. It's not all lounging for me though, as I have entered into massive networking mode to filter through the opportunities that this ever-growing city holds for someone like me.
In the meantime, Kabul is changing its colors, opting for a wintery coat of snow in the mornings, and grey skies during the day. From what I can gather, white, cold, Kabul is actually much preferred over brown, frozen, muddy Kabul, which also means that we are very likely to have a white Christmas. I'll report back again though the first time it hits -25C/-10F, quite possibly with requests for housing in places like Cape Town or California.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Turning another page
It's Friday, it's the start of Eid al-Fitr, it's Afghanistan. I am in my room in Mazar e-Sharif, the northwestern city where I have lived for the past six months. Outside the sun is setting, above me, on my roof, the footsteps of the neighbors' children engaging in the national past time of kite flying rambles on incessantly as it has all day. The weather is turning cooler now, the house is quite. I am the only expat in the house at the moment, and even I am not slated to be here for long.
My current contract ends in two weeks, and I have had the agonizing task of making the decision not to stay on here. Not because I don't find the work extremely satisfying, and working with the people unbelievable gratifying. It's just that I have now been apart from my husband for nine months, and frankly, that is getting a bit old. Compromises, I suppose, is what makes the wedding wheel turn after all.
That being said, the dozens of people coming into my office this past week sharing their exasperation with my decision, did not make it any easier. I suppose it is better than the alternative, but still, how do you explain to a team of nine engineers and site managers, with whom you've spent hours and hours on project cycle management and other forms of project capacity building, that you are in a matter of speaking, abandoning them? I nearly burst into tears when one of my guards brought my dinner to my room one night with a look of defiance when he said "Susan inja nie?" (Susan, here, no?) with an indication of both hands waving away? I tried desperately to explain in what little Dari I had picked up that my "family" was in Kabul and I had to leave...
Fortunate for me, my two large projects (the construction of roughly 600 shelters, schools, clinics, road, latrines and potable water for landless refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees (from refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran) is closing at the end of the month, so I will be able to see this through. But still, I have fostered strong friendships, relationships, and professional connections up here and work well with all of my colleagues at the UN, Red Cross and other partner organizations, only to pull up, pack up and move to Kabul.
I have started looking in Kabul, but have not made a firm commitment to anyone, I want to be sure that I select something that will not render me a paper pusher in the capital, with zero or no interaction with the provinces and the people. Ideally I will shift into a Kabul-based position with a lot of travel to the provinces, with a focus on providing access to justice for vulnerable people in Afghanistan.
I am ecstatic to announce though that in three weeks today (enshallah), I will be having dinner with Hannelize in Dubai, on my way to South Africa for some serious R&R in Plett with my parents, and then the Cape with my sister (who decided to pick on me today for joining facebook and hence neglect my blog....) Watch this space for the next page.
My current contract ends in two weeks, and I have had the agonizing task of making the decision not to stay on here. Not because I don't find the work extremely satisfying, and working with the people unbelievable gratifying. It's just that I have now been apart from my husband for nine months, and frankly, that is getting a bit old. Compromises, I suppose, is what makes the wedding wheel turn after all.
That being said, the dozens of people coming into my office this past week sharing their exasperation with my decision, did not make it any easier. I suppose it is better than the alternative, but still, how do you explain to a team of nine engineers and site managers, with whom you've spent hours and hours on project cycle management and other forms of project capacity building, that you are in a matter of speaking, abandoning them? I nearly burst into tears when one of my guards brought my dinner to my room one night with a look of defiance when he said "Susan inja nie?" (Susan, here, no?) with an indication of both hands waving away? I tried desperately to explain in what little Dari I had picked up that my "family" was in Kabul and I had to leave...
Fortunate for me, my two large projects (the construction of roughly 600 shelters, schools, clinics, road, latrines and potable water for landless refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees (from refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran) is closing at the end of the month, so I will be able to see this through. But still, I have fostered strong friendships, relationships, and professional connections up here and work well with all of my colleagues at the UN, Red Cross and other partner organizations, only to pull up, pack up and move to Kabul.
I have started looking in Kabul, but have not made a firm commitment to anyone, I want to be sure that I select something that will not render me a paper pusher in the capital, with zero or no interaction with the provinces and the people. Ideally I will shift into a Kabul-based position with a lot of travel to the provinces, with a focus on providing access to justice for vulnerable people in Afghanistan.
I am ecstatic to announce though that in three weeks today (enshallah), I will be having dinner with Hannelize in Dubai, on my way to South Africa for some serious R&R in Plett with my parents, and then the Cape with my sister (who decided to pick on me today for joining facebook and hence neglect my blog....) Watch this space for the next page.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Long overdue...
...I was reminded by a friend yesterday that it has been far too long since I last wrote. I do apologize to all of you for neglecting the writing, and in particular the photographs that I know you enjoy even more than my blabbering about work and the heat in Mazar.
Alas, I have been extremely busy with new projects and a lot of traveling between bases, which subsequently resulted in a few uninvited friends taking up residence in my tummy. After a host of blood and other tests, the German Diagnostic Center in Kabul confirmed what I suspected....parasite. Only, there was not one, nope - I manage to get four. With a suitcase full of antibiotics and a very unpredictable stomach I set off once again for Mazar e-Sharif.
I am excited to report that we have finally broken ground on a Cultural Center in Mazar e-Sharif that has been in the pipeline since 2005. Additional new projects include a Safe Play Area funded by UNICEF - essentially a play park for children who are at a high risk of injury by unexploded ordinance (UXO) - including land mines. You may recall I mentioned that Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and all along the highways in the provinces, one can see the painted rocks placed by de-mining organizations to warn residents and vehicles about the potential threat.
For the next few days I am in Kabul to meet with a variety of donors and partner agencies. It is always nice to spend a few days with Chris and I find it recharges me for the extended (average of three weeks) periods that we find ourselves in different locations. I also have the opportunity to go to the clinic to see whether any of my friends have checked out of the Bacteria B&B in my stomach.
To make up for my extended absence, I share some of my favorite photos of the last few weeks with you.
Alas, I have been extremely busy with new projects and a lot of traveling between bases, which subsequently resulted in a few uninvited friends taking up residence in my tummy. After a host of blood and other tests, the German Diagnostic Center in Kabul confirmed what I suspected....parasite. Only, there was not one, nope - I manage to get four. With a suitcase full of antibiotics and a very unpredictable stomach I set off once again for Mazar e-Sharif.
I am excited to report that we have finally broken ground on a Cultural Center in Mazar e-Sharif that has been in the pipeline since 2005. Additional new projects include a Safe Play Area funded by UNICEF - essentially a play park for children who are at a high risk of injury by unexploded ordinance (UXO) - including land mines. You may recall I mentioned that Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and all along the highways in the provinces, one can see the painted rocks placed by de-mining organizations to warn residents and vehicles about the potential threat.
For the next few days I am in Kabul to meet with a variety of donors and partner agencies. It is always nice to spend a few days with Chris and I find it recharges me for the extended (average of three weeks) periods that we find ourselves in different locations. I also have the opportunity to go to the clinic to see whether any of my friends have checked out of the Bacteria B&B in my stomach.
To make up for my extended absence, I share some of my favorite photos of the last few weeks with you.
A colleague in an agricultural field in Faryab Province, August 2007
Yes, Afghanistan is painful, but it can be breathtaking too.
Girl with loom, Faryab Province August 2007
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
What I do
Picture above: A carload of children and women in burkas make their way home after school in a taxi-cab in Kabul8 May, 2007
Many people have asked me who I work for and what I actually do in Afghanistan. I work for a Paris-based non-governmental organization, or NGO, called the Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development (ACTED). ACTED has been in Afghanistan for over thirteen years and is one of the largest implementing partners in the country. Initially all projects were "relief" oriented, but in line with ACTED's mandate, we primarily focus on the implementation of sustainable development projects that can be self-sustaining in the long run. Among our interventions (both relief and development) we do emergency relief for earthquakes, floods and returning refugees in the form of shelters as well as non-food items (NFIs); ACTED is also the largest facilitating partner for the World Bank funded National Solidarity Program (NSP) that aims to establish local Community Development Councils (CDCs) that will represent rural 
communities on their development needs and aim to prioritize and physically implement various projects once approved by ACTED and the World Bank, all of this is done under close guidance of expert engineers, provincial managers as well as expat staff. ACTED is also working with UNESCO to establish an Afghan cultural center under the auspice of ACTED's cultural branch, BACTRIA, to be located in the historical town of Mazar e-Sharif, home of the famed Blue Mosque.
My position with ACTED is that of Area Coordinator for Northern Afghanistan. This position will have me based in Mazar e-Sharif, and reporting directly to our Country Director in Kabul. At the moment it appears that I will oversee a team of approximately four expat staff and over three hundred local (or national) staff ranging from office-based finance and HR people, to field engineers and provincial managers.
I have had the pleasure to travel to some of our project sites in the north, but have not made it out west toward Mazar and plan to move up there on Saturday. The drive up from Kabul to Phuli Khumbri and then on to Kunduz in the northeast is beautiful across the majestic Hindukush mountains. (See First Impressions).
communities on their development needs and aim to prioritize and physically implement various projects once approved by ACTED and the World Bank, all of this is done under close guidance of expert engineers, provincial managers as well as expat staff. ACTED is also working with UNESCO to establish an Afghan cultural center under the auspice of ACTED's cultural branch, BACTRIA, to be located in the historical town of Mazar e-Sharif, home of the famed Blue Mosque.My position with ACTED is that of Area Coordinator for Northern Afghanistan. This position will have me based in Mazar e-Sharif, and reporting directly to our Country Director in Kabul. At the moment it appears that I will oversee a team of approximately four expat staff and over three hundred local (or national) staff ranging from office-based finance and HR people, to field engineers and provincial managers.
I have had the pleasure to travel to some of our project sites in the north, but have not made it out west toward Mazar and plan to move up there on Saturday. The drive up from Kabul to Phuli Khumbri and then on to Kunduz in the northeast is beautiful across the majestic Hindukush mountains. (See First Impressions).
I just returned today from yet another trip up north where we visited with some of the beneficiaries of one of our shelter projects aim to provide shelter and community to returning refugees from neighboring countries such as Pakistan and Iran. These communities are considered to be extremely vulnerable with little or no hope of regaining their previous land, which have in most cases been annexed and integrated by families and communities that remained in the country during the recent wars. I will elaborate more on this project, which incidentally I will be managing, and provide some interesting images to give a better idea of the wealth of cultures and people of this nation.
If you are interested in more information about ACTED, may I suggest their official website: http://www.acted.org/. For specific information and some informational articles on our work in Afghanistan specifically, please see the ACTED Afghanistan reporting team's blog: Updates from Afghanistan.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
17 Mar: Update from Kleinmond
How do you get from Baghdad to Cape Town via Amman, Petra, Paris, New York, New Haven, Boston, Los Angeles, Park City, Visalia, Yosemite, Dubai and Pretoria, and do all of it in 4 weeks? Very, very carefully, with a lot of patience and a huge bottle of vitamin B complex, a lot of coffee and a strong stomach for airport security.
Today is St. Patty’s day, Kevin’s birthday and my two-week anniversary in Kleinmond. I still get nightmares from time to time. And emails, all the emails from friends in Baghdad. “We miss you”, “we are doing okay”, “love, your Iraqi sister”. My life over the past year plays off in my mind like an HBO series without an intermission. I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and wonder where I am. When I look at my photos I see the attractive couple, and I think, wow, how lucky. Italy, Croatia, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Egypt, Dubai, France, South Africa, United States…and soon, I must examine my vaccination record for Afghanistan.
But today I write from a small town on the Indian Ocean coast of South Africa: Kleinmond on a dial-up connection. I will be here for the next month where I am well under way to finish my thesis for my MA in African Studies on a fellowship from UCLA.
So many of you have written to inquire about my whereabouts and more importantly, on why I have not been writing more. The lame excuse is that I don't have Internet in the house, but that, indeed is a lame one since I access it daily at the tourist center in town, and that is not the main reason for the silence.
I guess it is understandable to want to “hide” for a few weeks after leaving a place as intense and draining as Baghdad, not to mention submitting ourselves to the travel schedule we did. So forgive me for my brief absence, rest assured it has not been maliciously intended, nor devoid of thoughts off all of you.
To make good on my promise to give a thorough update of the past whirlwind five weeks, please click on January in the archives on the right of the page and scroll all the way down to the post on January 21st, "Leaving Baghdad", and work your way back up to today. I have divided the posts up by location - alas I could not justify squeezing 7 countries, 16 cities and 4 weeks into one post, and trust me, you would not have wanted to read for that long. So instead, they are broken up into bite sizes, including photographs.
I already have a few current anecdotes I want to share, but will wait a few days before I post those.
[please see blog description on the right for some recent changes, I encourage you to leave a brief comment/remark if you are so inclined]
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Update
It has been almost a month since I last wrote, and the requests for updates have started picking up. Trust me, it is not for a lack of news or desire that I have not put my thoughts to paper, but rather more the weight of the realities squeezing us from every angle. With the emergence of study groups, high-profile resignations and political tug-of-wars in Washington, I ache for my Iraqi friends who have now turned to say it bluntly, petrified of the situation in Baghdad.
As the daily sectarian killings continue to plague the neighborhoods, we bid yet another colleague goodbye, weekly it seems. I am sad at losing my friends, but glad that they are of the fortunate few with the means and an option to get their families out. At a dinner with a colleague, his wife, and their five and two year olds, I listen to their optimism about moving to Dubai. "We have lost everything, as long as we have each other, we will be okay" says the mechanical engineer wife of my colleague.
As surreal as it seems, in the interest of an actual "update" I will give a brief overview of what we have been up to for the past month. I mentioned we had a week's break in Tuscany where we stayed at a 13th Century Agriturismo Estate called Spannochia. The estate is part of the Spannochia Foundation and was recently awarded as a "Green List" by Conde Nest Traveler. For our family and close friends, we have already indicated a possible return to Spannochia for a reunion in the near future.
Today we start the four day trek out of Baghdad to get to South Africa to spend Christmas with my family, including my now very ailing grandparents. We fly via Amman (as usual), and then to Dubai where we will spend the night with my good friends from high school who have lived in Dubai for about five years. On Tuesday we are off to Pretoria for a couple weeks of road tripping through Southern Africa with my dad's new double cab (complete with off-road trailer), eventually ending up at his house on a game farm for Christmas with my sister and her new fiancee, and his parents.
Our xmas cards and gift boxes are in the mail, you should all receive them shortly. Thank you also to all who sent us cards, good wishes and lovely care packages. We appreciate them all tremendously. And if you did send something that we did not receive before we leave (including toys for the Toys for Tots campaign) do not worry, they will be kept for our return.
I will leave you with a few recent photographs...
As the daily sectarian killings continue to plague the neighborhoods, we bid yet another colleague goodbye, weekly it seems. I am sad at losing my friends, but glad that they are of the fortunate few with the means and an option to get their families out. At a dinner with a colleague, his wife, and their five and two year olds, I listen to their optimism about moving to Dubai. "We have lost everything, as long as we have each other, we will be okay" says the mechanical engineer wife of my colleague.
As surreal as it seems, in the interest of an actual "update" I will give a brief overview of what we have been up to for the past month. I mentioned we had a week's break in Tuscany where we stayed at a 13th Century Agriturismo Estate called Spannochia. The estate is part of the Spannochia Foundation and was recently awarded as a "Green List" by Conde Nest Traveler. For our family and close friends, we have already indicated a possible return to Spannochia for a reunion in the near future.
Today we start the four day trek out of Baghdad to get to South Africa to spend Christmas with my family, including my now very ailing grandparents. We fly via Amman (as usual), and then to Dubai where we will spend the night with my good friends from high school who have lived in Dubai for about five years. On Tuesday we are off to Pretoria for a couple weeks of road tripping through Southern Africa with my dad's new double cab (complete with off-road trailer), eventually ending up at his house on a game farm for Christmas with my sister and her new fiancee, and his parents.
Our xmas cards and gift boxes are in the mail, you should all receive them shortly. Thank you also to all who sent us cards, good wishes and lovely care packages. We appreciate them all tremendously. And if you did send something that we did not receive before we leave (including toys for the Toys for Tots campaign) do not worry, they will be kept for our return.
I will leave you with a few recent photographs...
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