Norm went to Mazaar-i-Sharif last week with Habib and Ahmad Zia. I was planning on going as well but had to stay behind to work. It is such a treat to get out of Kabul and Norm has been here for 4 straight months. Mazaar-I-Sharif is in the province of Balkh and the city of Balkh is the birthplace of the 13th century poet, Rumi. (first photo). Afghans have a great tradition of poetry present in their daily language and the dialect of "Dari" which is "Farsi" would sound like old English to us-complete with "thee" and "thou" and prefacing important pronouncements with "in the name of Almighty Allah".

It is challenge to conduct trainings in organizational development with a translator because we tend to have to spend time trying to define the concepts. For example "bottomline" in English might be translated as "where the rivers converge to make the tide flow" and then I would have to say "No, more like where the match meets the firewood to make the fire burn..."and these metaphors just simply don't communicate like they do in the short and abrupt English language.
Imagine trying to lead a business meeting where you try to emphasize the importance of the bottomline or taking corrective action in "Dari" It might sound something like this "Listen, La La, Jaan, (big brother, dear) you need to pay more attention to where your match meets the firewood"....... or you try to discourage gossip among your employees (stop "carrying the watermelon under your arm for them")...It is a whole new world for Western consultants and without great translators we often miss the mark.

I heard of one consultant who felt he was doing a fantastic job of getting across the definition of a "paradigm" in business-only to be told by an Afghan American in the audience that what his translator was discussing was a description of how beautiful his home province of Laghman was-as he couldn't firgure out how to translate "paradigm" into his metaphorical and poetic language and he didn't want to disappoint.

Mahbouba and I are starting a manual for working on organizational development concepts with Afghan managers. Our first chapter will be about the concept "He is eating my heart and liver" which is a behavior that is a cross between "passive-aggressiveness" and "the peanut gallery"...and at its worse it becomes like a team sport-the victim of which becomes enraged to the point of insanity.

But as you can see from Norm's pictures it is an ancient and heart breakingly beautiful country. Afghan's are justifiably proud of their legacy of great poets and I hope they do not lose this as they move back into the 21st century.

Almost a new year...

Well, I am starting to recount my survey experience but have put it on a new journal called "Working in Afghanistan". (see link on side of this page) We have a standing date with Dr. Patricia Omidian on thursdays where I send all staff home for the weekend, light a fire, cook a simple meal and we debrief from the week and try to make sense of our life here. Soon, I will be able to share more insights but the hard truth is that I am just living the very immediate life of trying to run a household, an NGO where I live, and develop the programs for women I came to Kabul to produce...all while essentially living in the middle of a power outage-in the maelstrom that is Kabul. By the end of the day yesterday, my hands were black from trying to keep our Afghan "bukhari's" or stoves going all day, and our wood heated hot water had sprung a leak so there was no hot water and I hadn't had a bath in three days-which believe me means something different here than back at home...our new gas oven had blown out on our little Zeba causing burns on her risk and frizzing her hair and scaring us...it is a zoo.

We are sending Norm off to "Pinjao" this week to get him out of Kabul -which he throughly enjoys and I am hoping to finally get ahead of my workload since Mahbouba is back.

The vandals are taking apart our Christmas wedding decorations...I guess it is time for a New Year...Love to all.

The "muppies" and how it is working out...

At times I have really questioned my sanity as we have had close to 12 dogs here, wrestling in the yard and scaring the staff. In Afghanistan, Afghans are justifiable scared of dogs because the population is diseased and out of control. I took in 10 puppies and a very damaged mother dog and we have been caring for them. We have adopted 7 puppies out now-to Afghans-defying the notion that they do not care for animals, specifically dogs. Our puppies-well cared for- they love our staff who have given all of our puppies beautiful necklaces and they genuinely care for them and enjoy their presence during the day. I have been looking for a better solution than running a rescue operation out of my home.

When I was on survey our big fat "Pee Shoe", (cat) caught a virus and Norm managed to find an angel of a volunteer vet, Susan who was here to train vets at Kabul University who saved our cat. I met with her and she came back the next day and vaccinated my entire menagerie, but we cooked up a plan to start a puppy rescue operation at the Kabul University vet training center. Kabul U would provide the medical care and I want to start a training center for assistance dogs for the disabled.

She introduced me to James Hogan , in London, of the Mayhew Animal Care foundation who is supporting the training of vets in Kabul and we are now exchanging letters about how to develop programs that make sense to the Afghans.

PARSA's Director of Rehabilitation,Yasin, loves my puppies and has taken 5 home and is now working with his staff on how to train dogs. He is wonderful. I asked him if he would be interested in developing an assistants training program with dogs to assist his disabled patients and he is very enthusiastic about this.

James just responded to my inquiries about financial assistance and it seems that we may be able to get some assistance from his organization.

In Afghanistan, dogs are considered almost like rats in our culture, so to accomplish a change like this would be quite extraordinary. Not for the sentimentality for animals but the out-of-control situation here is truly a health hazard. Rabies is endemic and I am afraid to walk my dog in the streets because the dogs are dangerous.

From a personal point of view, as I learn from this experience of being here, the violence visited on the animals here is indicative of the level of violence tolerated toward children and women. I and Mahbouba, have decided that our training programs this year will be geared toward offsetting the result of the years of war-which is that violence needs to be stopped toward all.

This program is very personal and sweet. My dogs have transformed remarkably under my simple and loving care. I wish working with people was so simple. But I have a great faith in the Afghans. They are loving and gregarious in nature and by culture. We will see...here his what James wrote me. I am including because it is so educational particularly to the interconnectedness of our lives with all beings.

...." The assistance dogs idea is excellent and indeed we already support such a programme as part of our Russian work. If you log onto www.moscowanimals.org you will see the link to the guide dogs site. Assistance dogs are a great way to bring home to the Afghans the intrinsic benefits of dogs, will show them in a more positive light andwill surely go some way towards overcoming the prejudice of some Moslems against dogs.

4. The issue of controlling homeless animal populations throughout the developing world in a humane manner is a subject we have been giving some thought to recently and, as you are probably aware, there is no easy answer. However, the standard approach by municipalities to this is to fund the mass extermination of street animals, which never solves
the problem and indeed creates more problems. Rabies, as Susan told you, is endemic in Kabul but killing the dogs by poisoning them will not solve this problem and can actually contribute to spreading it because it causes far more movement of dog packs from one area to another, thereby spreading any diseases they carry over a far wider area. Even here in the UK, the government has only just discovered that culling badgers in certain locations to combat bovine TB has, in fact, caused
the disease to spread more widely because of the disruption it causes
to badger populations. The same principle applies with any group of animals. Apart from that practical consideration, organisations like the World Health Organisation and the World Organisation for Animal Health advise against relying on culling and state very specifically that vaccination should be the principle method of rabies control in animals. Of course, this would be a massive undertaking in Kabul but it is already costing the Kabul City Council a large sum to kill the
city's dogs, with the inevitable consequences just described. I don't know if
you have heard of trap/neuter/release programmes but that approach,accompanied by vaccination, is the only sure way to scientifically reduce both stray animal populations and endemic diseases such asrabies. There is more to it than that and we can cover this complex issue again but it suffices to say that I am at one with you about anything which can be done to end the current primitive methods of strayanimal control in Kabul.

I will leave it up to you as to what we should consider first. Perhaps getting some little shelter established as part of the clinic? It is more achievable and, as I said earlier, if you can get me costings onthat, I will put it to our trustees and hopefully I will be able to arrange some funding.

Let me conclude by wishing you a joyful Christmas and a happy New Year!

Kind regards,

James

Merry Xmas from Kabul...

Our Christmas began on the 24th and ended on the 25th...and it was a satisfying and loving time,particularly from the staff at PARSA. For those who are checking in and don't know Norm and I live at the NGO, PARSA-started by Mary Macmakin in 1996 and the last eight months have been a difficult transition as Mary who is 76 years old and a remarkable woman started turning over the organization to me. She is one of the only Americans who lived here during Taliban and has an amazing life story. Her family was here at the same time as mine in the '60's and she has spent a significant part of her life here creating programs for the disabled and poor women. During Taliban she ran secret schools and economic programs. She was arrested by Taliban with her staff-and I am hoping as the pressure of running this NGO is taken off of her shoulders that she will write her book about her time here.

The core of her staff has been working with me to transition into a strong and viable NGO but it hasn't been easy on any of us. Norm and I wake about 6:30 and try to prepare ourselves for the demands of living here.

Saturday, Gulam Ali, one of the most efficient human beings on the planet showed up unannounced with decorations in hand to set up for Christmas. He is delightful and always available to us-telling us to just "zang" or ring if we need him. Again, however, a bit of a culture shock. We had planned to have friends over Christmas day and I was attempting an American meal and decorations but by Saturday night we had lost the aethetics battle with our staff loving any holiday and their enthusiasm for acknowledging our holiday. Our home looked like something between a Mexican Xmas and a wedding party.

Gulam Ali took us shopping for our Xmas dinner. Norm was determined that we have turkey and convinced me that he would handle the whole scenario including butchering and preparation. We went to the bird bazaar which is absolutely amazing...we have found birds from all over the world including endangered species...I was emphatic, however, that if he put a live turkey in the car-the turkey would join our other rescued animals and enjoy the good life at PARSA until it died of old age or lost the battle with the dogs.

We found turkey's and Norm was appalled to discover that they are alive, skinny and nothing like what we buy in the grocery store at home. He attempted to demonstrate that he wanted a fat turkey with a breast but after spending some quality time examing the potential I heard him say "Oh...how beautiful they are!...and I knew we weren't going home with one.
Dinner was stuffed chickens from Iran with delightful friends and our staff loved being a part of it all. And Xmas cards were exchanged including a great wedding card from the staff that opened up to a Bach fugue...
Happy day for all...and on to work the next day.

Missing my son in Montana

In a fit of pique I wrote the following e-mail to my older son, Colin Hume:

Subject: Write me you Big Poop of a Son or you will end up working here...

And I somehow got the wrong e-mail server and in return-to my delight- I recieved the following letter from a young fellow who actually recieved my e-mail:

Dear Marnie, I would be very proud if you where my mother. I love your pages, It's so nice to see your life in afghanistan. I would love to visit. I love the landscape very like Tibet. I'm a 36 year old MD of a digital photo retouching business in London. I'm one of those Buddhist Quakers!
Have a peaceful Christmas.
Kindest Regards
Colin Hume (from London)

So, still missing my son but so glad to have a Colin Hume in London to correspond with.

Introducing "Mabouballah"

I have had the good fortune to meet here an Afghan American, Mahbouba Seraj, who has been my colleague, co-trainer, and fellow adventurer. She and I, although we are very different, are intrigued, fascinated and are committed to Afghanistan. Each in our own way. Many Afghans became refugees because of their royal blood and connections and my friend Mahbouba is no exception. They have returned to Afghans who often will ask them why they left. Mahbouba's candid reply is that she would have been killed if she and her family stayed. I have the privilege of spending alot of time with her which means I get to see Afghanistan through her eyes and I have to say for all of that she has spent a good portion of her life outside of Afghanistan she is all Afghan. Like many others she lives in both worlds-but for me-being with her is a window on a world most foreigners never get to see much less to understand. I can't say that I understand yet...there seems to be no nuetral to the character of an Afghan-I think they make the Italian culture look calm. And Mahbouba is no exception-ebulliant, loving, angry, flamboyant, and with a wicked Afghan sense of humor-we have spent days and days together on survey going through the villages.

I have a pet name for her...because King Habibullah is her grandfather, and King Amanullah, her uncle...two kings that brought Afghanistan to the modern times. King Amanullah-a man ahead of his time-outlawed the "chaderi" or burqa in the 1940's...and she sees Afghanistan through her lineage with broad vision and with a deep disappointment about all that was lost through the war...I call her "Mahbouballah", because when we are in the villages she greets the people with love, scolds them for mistreating the animals, and teaches the children manners in the unconscious way of someone who wants the best for her people. She just has an authoritative air about her that is as charming as it can be irritating. So to tease her I call her "Mahbouballah Khan"....and I could write a book about her antics.

For those of you interested, Martin Ewens has written a short history of Afghanistan which I went over with Mahbouba to see if the parts about her family were accurate from what she remembers as a child and she was impressed.

King Amanullah...her uncle and King Habibullah,her grandfather,2nd and "Mahbouballah"





Notice any family resemblance?

Notes from the first week of my survey trip-Badakshan

......my trip for 8 days was beyond stressful with the rockets hitting within 200 meters of where we were staying two nights of being in Faizabad. It is also Ramazan, where good Muslims abstain from food, tea and even water. On the trip “my
Afghans”, Mahbouba, 26 year old Dr. Sami and Myroweis fought over everything…the direction we were going,
whether it was going to snow, what was for dinner, what the true national language of Afghanistan is, whether the people of any given town were hospitable-where we should survey etc…At one point there was a particularly heated exchange over whether the villagers in Shohada were “men” or not as their hospitality was apparently not up to Afghan standards and the debate devolved into the farsi equivalent of “Shut up!” “No! You shut up!” “You really shut up!”

When I mentioned mildly that the purpose of our surveywas to listen and not judge…they finally came together, of course, and they all agreed that as Afghans they are entitled to judge Afghans-and I as an outsider did not understand this. Mahbouba, who was into it as anyone identified Myrweis as the problem and at the end of the trip she grumped ”Myrweis, he ate our hearts and our livers!”

I agreed and then as director of the survey adopted the following rules.
1- I am the director and my decisions are paramount..
2- If I don’t understand it is not going to be discussed in Dari.
3- Everyone really shuts up.
We will see how I do in Bamiyan. A weeks rest first, thank god....

The day after Parliament convened...

Well, for those of us within blocks of the historic start of the Afghan Parliament we spent the morning trying to figure out how to get my husband, Norm to his driver so that he could go to Mazaar-i-Shariff. All of the streets within a mile were "band ast" or blocked. And I spent the morning trying to complete my survey writing as helicopters and planes flew over close enough to see the soldiers in them. ISAF convoys toured through our block which I would have taken a picture of except it is dangerous. I had to read about what actually happened on the internet as the word in the street is sketchy, rife with rumor and mostly inaccurate.
The city has come to a standstill, mostly, as the important business of parliament convenes and Afghans are baffled, and frustrated as they try to get to work. I heard very little celebration as people struggle to get through the city. The traffic is bad here on a good day as a city of 4 million plus tries to function in a city built for 1/2 million 20 plus years ago. However, today I heard possible explanations for the traffic problems.
Palwasha, PARSA's administrator informed me that "The people in the parliament are fighting so that is why the roads are blocked."
Another staff member "There are warlords in the parliament so that is why no one can go anywhere on time and the police are flying in the helicopters."
All a mystery to me. We thought we had only one more day of uproar but now that is uncertain as nothing apparently has been agreed upon.
I have personal friends that have been voted to Parliament so I am grateful for the extra vigilence and very very proud of them. But I will have to find out what really has happened when Mahbouba gets here, saturday. She is my ear to the ground here.

Below are pictures from my window 6 am in morning...

The day before parliament convenes...

I am trying to learn how to post daily and I have to warn you that my pictures are just what catches my eye on a daily basis. That reflect what I see in my day.

Norm and I live in Karte Se about 3 blocks from where I lived as a kid. I am sure that I am surrounded by old houses that my fellow "Scorpions" lived in. People who lived here in the '60's and '70's and attended the American International School of Kabul. Yesterday I had lunch with two women I realy enjoy and respect, Dr. Patricia Omidian who was here during Taliban and is now the country director for AFSC..or American Friends Service Committee. They build schools and Dr. Patricia is creating a fantastic "psychosocial well-being" program that I am going to help develop and promote. (more on this later). Tilly is the country director for "Counterparts" and the capacity build Afghan organizations here with a USAID contract. It is so rare to be able to talk with expats...who have the same commitments I have here (ongoing support for Afghans) that it is always a pleasure. We were talking about the tremendous pressure of living here in the winter. We discovered upon talking that we spend as much as possible giving money for impossible situations, the most difficult is heating during the winter.

I found a young girl yesterday in our yard raking the debris and upon inquiry found out that she was heating her families home with it. My young house fellow, Sami, had given her permission. Our 19 year old, house hold help, Zeba, came in the other day in summer clothes and no socks, sicker than Norm. she makes $150 a month (I gave her a raise up from $98) and she supports 12 people. I went in to my wonderful PARSA women directors and gave them $30 to go out and get her warm clothes because I knew she wouldn't spend it on herself. She came in the next day dressed head to toe, bless their hearts, and looking like Eliza Doolittle from "My Fair Lady" and deeply grateful. It is really difficult for us here as our work is with international agencies who reside in Washington DC and to recieve our pay we go through three banks, endless paper work and work with people who do not have any idea how close to the bone we live and that there is no credit here-so delays that would not be a problem in the US are so very difficult here. Norm and I both managed to get paid today which means that I can restock the basic medications for the staff as all of us have colds. This is a very humbling experience because the people who need money are not asking for a hand out. They are simply asking for work. And we have to turn people away at the door everyday.

Security. I was so happy to live in Karte Se because it is quite far from the main city called Shari Nau where all of the security problems have been. I just really realized yesterday that the new "National Assemby" or the parliament has been built six blocks away. Two days ago I was making breakfast and here an explosion and sure enough I learned later in the day a suicide bomber had run into an ISAF guard near the new building. Apparently, other than him noone else died. But way too close for comfort.

Tomorrow the new assembly opens and the day may be declared a holiday to avoid having too many exposed to similar events. I went down to my little PARSA office in the same house as we live ( all are invited to join us if you come to Afghanistan) and we discussed the security situation. As usual, the enigmatic disclosure was 1) the people that have a bazaar stall on Jadi Maiwand are going to have their bazaar stalls thrown into the river -so we must not go near that part of town. And today, my administrative assistant called me to find out how I was because he heard gun fire- which upon further inquiry- he said that a Minister that lives a block and 1/2 away was having "internal" problems and there was gunfire.

I have told all PARSA staff to stay at home tomorrow, not because I am worried about their safety but they are so tramautized by past events and I want them to know they are safe and that I care.

My little dogs are finding homes. Three more to go, and that is my day here. Love to all.

A quiet friday....

It is a quiet Friday. No staff and only a survey report to write on our "feasibility of maternity waiting homes" which I will write more later on about my trip- and three proposals to write. Here is our new Pee Shoe Gak who has made himself at home. Norm is in bed miserable with a cold so he has had to postpone his trip to Mazaar-i-Shariff. All of us expatriates who write proposals are doing double duty in all of our projects as accessing international aid is so dependent on international skills.

There is something normalizing about having animals to tend to that gets me away from the computer for a minute and makes Kabul seem like home.



This is my correspondance with a friend who also grew up in Afghanistan.











Dear Marnie,
Greatly relieved to hear that you don't do clandestine work, except in the realm of animal
rescue.
I imagine it must be so hard in Kabul, especiallyaround the holidays. I remember when we lived there,
my mother used to get depressed at Christmas time. I didn't get it, because I thought being in Kabul for
Xmas was so exotic it was fun.The first year we bought a pathetic evergreen tree in the bazaar, for
which we would express great guilt because it contributed to deforestation, but our logic was
something like we might as well buy the tree because it already got cut. The second year I think we rebelled and refused to buy a tree. I just remember how simple Christmas was and I liked that. I still have an Afghan ornament from that time, a littlesheepskin bootie, that I hang on our Christmas tree
each year.

….I'd love an Afghan kitty for Christmas. I could ask for one but I think I'm getting a crock pot instead.
Love, Anne

Anne,
So good to hear a newsy letter. Instead of international development correspondance that I am getting in abundance these days. Mahbouba wants Xmas this year and is arriving back from thestates on the 24th for dinner on the 25th. Norm and I drove by some spindly pines that are living and we are going to the wedding store to find sparkley lights. I think we will
then raid PARSA gift shop for some Taliban dolls as our "theme"this year. Mom highly recommends roast leg of goat with alot of garlic. Not a Wal Mart in sight.

It is still pretty warm here. Five of my puppies left today with me threatening to visit them and telling their new owners that I retain the right to take them back if they are mistreated. Afghans are astonished at my attitude. We have rejected 3 potential owners- and Palwasha now has my "dogs are friends to the Americans" speech down in Dari including a rosy picture of how dogs have jobs in America and- in fact -"America was built on the back of dogs love and labor for human
beings" speech...I even sent one of my smallest puppies to a farm in Paghman with my coveted hot water
bottle. I think I am going over the deep end. Love to all….

"Pee Shoe" Gak...and 10 puppies...

One of the ways I appear to be coping in Kabul is to rescue animals. As if 10 days without two litters of puppies, counting to ten pups isn't enough. I was wading through puppy poop in the back yard trying to rescue footwear -as our Afghan guests all leave their shoes at the door-and I heard a pathetic "meow" in our outdoor latrine..or "tashnab". Out came the thinnest dirtiest kitten-even dirtier than our first one. So, now we have a "Pee Shoe" (kitty) and a "Pee Shoe Gak" or (kittylet) and our big fat orange kitty is thrilled. Big Pee Shoe has had little kitty in a playful headlock since he arrived. Norm did try to avoid this. He sent our Sami, the house boy, out into the neighborhood to ask if anyone was missing a kitten. Sami came back red-faced and told Norm that his question was causing much hilarity among our neighbors and he begged off the task. Our neighbors sent back a message that we were welcome to the kitten as none of the cats in our neighborhood have homes-in fact they doubt if many cats in Afghanistan have homes- and it would be a "good work" on our part.
My husband has suggested that a "good work" on my part is to find these babies good homes.