Activities update

Another sunny day here, I'm looking out the window of the Institute at the old city walls high up on the mountain. I've been putting plans together the past couple of days to explore beyond Kabul, both for work with Trust in Education and for my own research here. Things have been very busy with Trust in Education in the past few weeks as we've been putting our new office together across town in Carte Char. It's been labor-intensive, given that we've really been putting it together from the ground up, but gratifying. Here are some pictures of it coming together, it's really more like a big house than a typical city office: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattve/sets/72157605560494633/

I feel like I've really been able to dig into the role of project manager here, juggling a bunch of different priorities in a totally new environment. Because it's such a small organization, there's a lot more I'm able to get my hands into, covering all aspects of an up-and-coming outfit like this. Things like carrying out the huge and varied range of programs we've got here (women's empowerment and education, improved irrigation systems for farmers, access to computer classes for kids and young adults), handling teacher salaries, and mediating disputes between co-workers--including occasional disputes between myself and these co-workers. Exhausting as it can be, it's real on-the-ground leadership training, and maybe even diplomacy training. At the end of the day, these aspects have been just as much a part of the thrill of being here as just simply being here, in such an interesting place, after five years of not having been abroad. I feel like the more experience like this that I can squeeze out of these ten weeks, the more rewarding this all is.

Now I'm ready to turn a corner and get into the field more. Plans are coming together today for a big trip to Char Asiab, the region just south of Kabul city where Trust in Education does most of its work. We'll finally be going in a few days, to meet teachers, community leaders, and see the lay-out of the place where Trust in Education has been doing some really substantial rural development for the past four years. It's a trip that takes a considerable amount of coordination, given that security there is generally not what it is around Kabul. So we're going as a good-sized group, and one of my co-workers is actually from there, which helps a lot. I'll also probably be wearing the shalwer kameez, that long robe-shirt I was sporting in the hiking pictures. I may not be mistaken for Hamid Karzai in this thing, but it helps in terms of blending in and paying respect. And hey, I've actually been told by actual Afghans that I could pass for being one of their own; a couple of Afghans even told me they were surprised when they heard me speak English. Awesome. Now if only my beard would fill out like it's supposed to, I could really be incognito.

Besides this, plans are coming together for research trips to Bamiyan and Panjshir, two of the most beautiful (and secure) areas in all of Afghanistan. At this point, these are the two areas I plan to focus on as case-studies for the work of NATO's Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). Panjshir's PRT is run by the Americans, while Bamiyan's is run by the New Zealanders; a big part of the study is a comparison of their different methods. Panjshir is a two-three hour drive from here, and is famous as the cradle of Ahmad Shah Massoud's fierce resistance against both the Soviets and the Taliban. Massoud is to Afghanistan what Che Guevara is to Latin America: an ever-present symbol of resistance, more powerful in death than he was alive. I recommend a trip down Wikipedia Lane in honor of this guy, he's got a great story.

And I just found out yesterday that I can get a free flight out to Bamiyan though USAID, probably later this week. This really helps, because Bamiyan would be a long journey by car otherwise. Bamiyan is where Laura Bush visited the remains of the towering Buddha statues before the Paris donors' conference a couple weeks ago, the Buddhas that were ruthlessly blown-up by the Taliban in March 2001. There was a documentary made about this a couple years ago, check this out of you're curious: http://www.giant-buddhas.com/en/synopsis/

Time to start the day. More pictures to come soon.