Fire!

Fire!
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

I wish I had gotten a picture of this when it happened but alas no photo. The (diesel) heater caught on fire in one of the offices in my building and pretty much managed to add a layer of soot in minutes. The person walked in saw the thing gurgling and spitting out fiery blobs of diesel so he picked it up, ran to the balcony and tossed it over the side (burning his hand in the process). There was a trail of burn marks on the rug between his office and the balcony where the fiery drops of diesel left their mark (and they have yet to change the rug months later [yes, I am behind on my posting]). The kicker for me is this was the second fire in two months.

These heaters are pretty simple in design, they have a can of diesel that drips into a pipe that puddles at the base of a larger can and is lit. The problem is that if any dust/dirt gets into the tank/can that holds the fuel it can temporarily clog up the spout and if you have turned it up a bit more turn your back and whatever dirt/dust frees itself the spout starts gushing diesel which overflows the part where the fire is and viola! Deathtrap.

My National Geographic Magazine Photo

My National Geographic Magazine Photo
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

Well it was *supposed* to be my national geographic magazine photo but while it came out ok it did not come out nearly as well as I hoped it would. One of my photography problems is I don’t like to be obvious about taking photos and to sit in front of the person and snap off 20 different photos while the person is right there (which could very well have yielded at least one really good photo) is beyond uncomfortable for me.

Asides from the scene that seemed almost perfect I have been amused by the sewing machines in Afghanistan. These sewing machines are “hand powered” by a crank. It seems like this setup would be particularly difficult to use since I would think that one would have to have one hand cranking the machine and one hand guiding the cloth along.

My great aunt’s (great grandmother’s?) sewing machine (that my folks still have) was foot driven, it seems like that something that allowed both hands to be free would be a lot easier to use but perhaps that setup would be a bit more complicated mechanically speaking (and the more complicated the setup the harder it is to fix). The whole human powered part makes total sense though because much of Afghanistan doesn’t have any electricity and even those parts that are electrified areas don’t have consistent power.

Landslide!

Landslide!
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

This was one of the field adventures I had while heading out to one of the field offices. It had apparently rained somewhere (certainly not in Kabul) which caused a few landslides. Our driver made it through some spots I really didn’t think we’d make it through but this part he was not willing to try unless we nudged the odds a bit (that is digging). Despite the fact that I am holding the camera I did help quite a bit (actually the driver and I were the ones to ask one of the villagers for some shovels) and got props for it from some of the staff. We might have been able to make it over this hump but it was actually viscous mud mixed with rock so not totally solid and a bigger problem (that is not apparent from this picture) was that if we flipped we would roll down a 20 foot embankment (we do have a roll-cage in the truck but why risk it?). Our options were to turn around and take a 8 hour detour (we had already been driving since 5am it it was now mid afternoon) which the driver was not keen on.

Normally I have thought of Afghans as pretty hard working but these kids were certainly the exception. One of the staff had asked if they could help and they said they had to go somewhere (that was at least 15 minutes before this picture was taken, after they said they had to go they promptly sat down and started to gawk at us). I even offered them $2 apiece (two days salary for some families) and they still didn’t want to help (apparently not the most fiscally savvy of children). Anyway, we shoveled away and tossed small rocks out of the way and put large rocks on the soft spots and after about an hour of work or so Nasurla (driver) locked the hubs, made it over the hump, and gunned it through the 2 foot deep 20 yard long pool of mud and to safety on the other side no problem! dude you rock! (He is probably the most careful of the drivers, the other drivers give him a hard time because he is "slow" [euphamism for safe?])

Tough As Nails

Tough As Nails
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

This is Atoi and while I am not sure he is actually “tough as nails” he certainly gives that impression (driving full throttle on narrow Cliffside roads for 15 hours at a time, washing the car in 15F weather with a rag and bare hands, chasing down any of the staff that tries crossing him [being about 6” helps, taller than average here], and just looking pretty tough and weathered [though he is just 65]). He drives like most afghan drivers, absolutely deranged; even my boss whences sometimes and my boss grew up in Afghanistan!

I have to admit though that he is one of my favorite drivers here. I learned how to say “donkey” in Persian from him since he calls everyone on the road (and police) donkeys (borderline obscene here). The mere fact that he looks and talks like he could eat the creosote off a telephone pole helps fend off would be urban-assault-prone-drivers, beggars (who can pick your pocket if they get close enough [though this is rare]), and really helps when I am negotiating in the market. During Ramadan (Ramazan here) he was a one man hurricane, kinda scary actually (to all those who don’t know, during Ramazan people fast during the day which tends to make people pretty grouchy).

Correction: Apparently he is 75 (he has lived in Kabul for 65 years I think) which makes seeing him literally run around all the more impressive

Staff Photos

Staff Photos
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

No these kids are not my staff (though make no mistake, child labor is alive and well here) but these were some photos my staff took. My organization has way more digital cameras than it needs (though the cameras are never available when we need them “Where the IDP project camera?!” “Oh, Mohammad took it home” “When?!” “Two weeks ago” “Sigh…”) and since the project donors always like to see photos of the projects they are funding I have the staff take project pictures. I get pretty mixed results in that sometimes they don’t take any photos, or I get photos of the backs of peoples heads but to their credit they do take a lot of pictures so out of this quantity they sometimes have a few good pictures.

I loved this photo of the children of one of the families we tried to help, this was actually taken with a 7megapixel camera… but for some reason the staff took 2 weeks worth of pictures using a 640x480 resolution (less than 1 megapixel I think).

As for the children here, I of course noticed two of them (the boy in particular) had reddish hair. Before coming here I had assumed that all Afghans pretty much looked like Arabs but I was quite wrong. I still think a lot of Afghans could pass for Arab in the central region they are “Hazara” which are ethnic Mongol, and there is a ethnic group called “Buyat” and they look pretty western, and then there are Afghans that to me look like Panjabi Indians. I do remember when I was in Laos seeing some children who had reddish hair way out in the boonies and I though “hmmmm, they are keeping up with fashion (dyed hair I thought” but I later learned that that color hair can result from severe malnutrition, I have no idea if that is the case here or not.

Transportation in Afghanistan

Transportation in Afghanistan
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

The first thing I thought of when I saw this (other than “Where is my camera?!”) was some friends of mine. They have children and told me that they used to joke with their kids when their kids friends were around and sternly tell their kids “if you do that again I’ll lock you in the closet again!” well of course they were joking (though I can totally see the kids’ friends’ eyes just popping out of their heads) but they could just as well said “I’ll put you in the trunk of the car!” well here it is, though I don’t think this kid is being punished.

There are of course a million and one “How many Mexicans can you fit in X vehicle” jokes in the US but Afghans take it to the next level riding for hours hanging onto the backs of trucks, riding with cattle (squished?!), on tops of trucks, and now in the trunk of taxies.

Backup Power and Chinese/Indian Products

I was recently trying to find Freeplay Energy’s “FreeCharge Weza” (foot cranked generator) and came across the Xantrex XPower Powerpack 1500. Sad as it may be, I was drooling over both of these things as Kabul is the land of intermittent (and quite often no) power. But then it occurred to me that whatever is available in the states for a kings ransom (which is then doubled by shipping costs) can quite often be found in India and China for a 1/4th of the cost (and admittedly 3/4th to 1/20th of the quality).

My organization has a few solar panels setup on the roof of one of our buildings and I found out that they were made in India and our engineer informed me that they were about 1/3rd the cost of the European equivalent. I have noticed at least one shop in Kabul (and I am sure there are more) that deals mainly with alternative energy generation such as windmills, solar panels and I am sure a few other things. It would probably be worth checking the place out to see if they have slightly cheaper power packs (would be nice if I could keep my computer and our satellite modem going a bit longer when the power craps out [and for all you electronics engineers out there, yes, I have a UPS and two US made [for 240v systems] surge protectors so even if I got an Indian battery gizmo and it decided to melt down I don’t foresee my baby [aka laptop] having any problems)

To further illustrate pricing in India and the US I was looking for the medicine “Immetrex” which is *insanely* expensive in the US (proof that the US pharmaceutical industry is legalized robbery) because I had run out and life with a migraine is pretty miserable. I found out from an expat that a reasonably priced Indian equivalent could be found in Afghanistan and my staff did in fact find some of these tablets for about $2.50/tablet. Two bucks for a pill may sound like robbery but in reviewing my options with my folks we quickly came to the conclusion that (if they work, which they seem to) the Indian pills at $2 a pop was worlds better than the $4/pill it would cost in the US and that is $4 *with* insurance, its like $200 for a pack of 9 tablets w/o insurance). I can understand companies wanting to make some of their money lost through R&D back but sometimes the prices are just insane.

Afghan Golf

Afghan Golf
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

Coming from a golfing state (NC) I should love the sport but alas, I can’t fathom what those funny Scots where thinking when they came up with this game (and ironically I’ve got Scottish blood in my family)

Well on my way to a lake outside of Kabul we passed “Kabul Golf Course” upon seeing this I had to stop and take a picture which involved waving my hands around to the driver (he is getting used to this but I still get the feeling all the drivers in my organization are going to lynch me someday for all the photos I have them stop for). I’m not sure if I am the only one but there are those things I just don’t expect to see in Afghanistan and a golf course it one of them. Now I have to admit that this particular golfing green isn’t something that any self respecting North Carolinian would play on but after being cooped up in a compound (depending on one’s organization’s security policies) one might be surprised at what eventually passes as acceptable.

I was actually surprised that this place hadn’t been invaded by Kuchi yet (afghan nomads as far as I can tell) as they had forcefully made their way into the edges of central Afghanistan for some pretty pathetic grazing areas (this scrub was prime eat’n by comparison). Another thing that was kind of surprising was that foreigners would go there at all; the area wasn’t guarded, was a nice spot for sniping (indeed not a mile away I climbed a mountain that had the remains of a bunker where the Mujadin (sp?) sniped Russians about 15 years earlier), and well, it was full of only foreigners with a few Afghan caddies. While I admit that it is hard to resist the draw of familiar things (being poor as dirt helps keep me away from such western amusements) and I probably do get out a wee bit more than some expats but I tend towards afghan areas and not places with tons of westerners in groups.

Living from a Wheelbarrow

Living from a Wheelbarrow
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

This was supposed to be my phenomenal photo but alas it didn’t turn out quite the way I wanted. I was hoping to get all of them to turn my way so I could get a picture, actually the irony here was almost annoying because usually, if people know I am a foreigner, they can’t stop staring at me.

If you go to a large market in Afghanistan you will see people with wheel barrows carting stuff around, smaller scale version of the two men pulling a heavily laden cart in another picture, but probably in the same pay range as. They are paid by vendors to cart stuff around from one place to the next, for cents per trip.

The scene actually reminds me of migrant workers that gather at places like construction sites or home depots etc; they wait and hope for some daily work, and usually it is just barely enough to get buy.

Walkers for Afghan Tots!

Walkers for Afghan Tots!
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

While cavorting around Kabul’s biggest bazaar on my photography excursion I came across something I don’t see very often, a traditional (I think) Afghan toy!

Lately I have been trying to find some toys for my cousins, for the girls it was a cinch but for the little(est) boy it has been kinda difficult. I am not the type that enjoys getting meaningless or useless gifts so I tend not to give them either (personally I’d rather do without than get a meaningless/useless gift). This has been a bit of a problem though, if he was a weeee bit older I could get him some really cool handmade knives (a staple of my boyhood) or maybe some old Islamic/Buddhist/Greek coins always interesting (when you are old enough to appreciate them) but damn, for a kid who is not even waist high (well not to me at least) it ain’t easy.

In talking with my Afghan friends they have confessed to me that there are few traditional afghan toys (that they can think of). I actually saw a picture of this toy somewhere else and my friend informed me it is a walker for kids (ironic, you start off using one of these things and end up using them too [kind of like diapers I guess]). So tots that are learning to walk shuffle around while holding on to these but my cousins is pretty darn mobile (ie not that young) so it wouldn’t work for him but they are interesting all the same… I haven’t seen older people here use walkers at all but a larger version of this might work for those aging 60s revivalist!

A Dollar A Day

A Dollar A Day
Originally uploaded by gaikokujinkyofusho

This is a common scene in Kabul, and larger cities in Afghanistan (but really I have only been in Kabul and smaller towns/villages) men acting as human mules to cart around goods for vendors, it is a really sobering sight for me every time I see it (100s of times) and unlike some depressing scenes in development this kind of thing still gets to me.

These scenes keep brining me back to a conversation I had with an NGO officer for who I was doing some consulting work for in Kenya (arguably one of the better off countries in Africa, despite the recent violence). I had said something like “you wouldn’t want them hauling a 50kg (100lb) bag of fertilizer for 7-8 miles…” and I noticed as I said that her looked to his colleague and she half smiled back, it occurred to me at that moment that my made up scenario was actually quite real. I have seen hard work in many countries but I think the hardest work for the least compensation I have seen is in Africa and now Afghanistan. The men in this picture probably will not earn more than a dollar apiece this day.