Expendable "Pet Rocks"

Sometimes we get to see the real Afghanistan. To meet face to face with the "community beneficiaries." Sitting with a group of women in a literacy classroom last fall in Balkh was a helpful reminder of why I am here.

But the pressures to ignore the uncomfortable reality of Afghan women are increasing. USAID's policy is shifting to wider priorities and as a result "Gender issues are going to have to take a back seat ... those pet rocks in our rucksack are wearing us down." The Karzai government is rolling back pro-feminist reforms - including emasculating the safe house system for abused women. And the Taliban ... sly devils that they are ... are circulating rumours that they do not really have a problem with education as long as it is segregated. Of course nothing is official until the horse trading - the rumoured peace talks - actually take place. What we do know is that the violence against schools is unabated - there were more 500 attacks last year killing 170 and injuring three times that many.

Excuse me for a moment.

Share the Road

The narrow and increasingly busy thoroughfares of downtown Kabul are nonetheless exemplary for the courtesy with which folks share the road.

Sometimes we need to take the time to look back in order to notice such things.

Getting to the Park

I have no plans in the works for a trip north to Mazar i Sharif on this mission. Nor has there been a UNAMA style bombing and mob slaughter in the recent news to disturb my moral sensibilities. No - I am just glancing through some photos of my recent history in this country. And stopping at the Blue Mosque ... the Shrine of Hazrat Ali and perhaps the tomb of some relative of the prophet.

It’s magic and spirituality are unambiguous.



I have been lucky in seeking out such places. Pilgrimage sites and retreats. Cold stone floors and warm butter tea in Himalayan monasteries. All night chanting in Tamil Nadu temples. The Christian sanctuary on the river at home in LaPêche.

I like a nice park too - with pigeons dancers and their elegant aeronautics. I think about kicking up my heels – but I have yet to fly.

Going Up

Everything is going up here in Kabul.

The price of precious alcohol. The fecal count in the air. The high rises in Shara i Naw.

And the cost of war.

Like tracking down Bin Laden. He was a very evil man – motivated but not distracted by vanity. Nor fanaticism. We paid a lot to get him. A high price in human lives and tainted relations and exploited fears.

Was it worth?

Ask Obama.

War brings change – or at least revolution is often violent. The loss of life in the current civil disobedience in North Africa and Syria is horrific – but it has set a standard for sacrifice. And transparency.

The cost of war is much less visible in Afghanistan. One has to look well beyond the preppy school boys.

Keeping the Promise ... to the hen ladies

Sometimes in development we do get to stay connected to the change process that we ostensibly work for. Today I visited a 2010 client and saw the dry run of their "keeping the promise" presentation to the funder USAID. The presentation will highlight the significant systemic and programmatic changes they have made in response to my rather critical evaluation of their integrated literacy and microfinance project.

They will demonstrate how they have managed to turn some liabilities into assets. The Community Bank for example was introduced too early and in a too complex lending role. It is being transformed into a deposit mechanism for external capital investment -a seven million dollar Japanese contribution is waiting at the gates.

This may be change we may be able to believe in.

Maybe.

Because it is change rooted in greater reality. And in openness to discussion of new risks - like loan delinquency.

They are ready to make the pitch.

Such discussions about change are helpful to have with ourselves from time to time. Do we believe in the personal change we are trying to make? What is holding us up? A little semi-rigorous analysis goes along way.

Once you have determined that there are no trees within 50 kilometres you can confidently rule out charcoal making as a viable home business. And the widely endorsed Kabul-e platitude that there are “not enough fresh chickens” is enough information to justify unreserved micro lending to hen ladies.

At least in the short term.