Small Trips

Went out with the USDA liaison to visit the Department of Agriculture and Livestock  (DAL) here in the province.  Most of the area is rural with a few cities scattered about.  The cities are not developed but seem more like crowded rural areas.  Next to a university you see a plot of land that someone is plowing or hammering at the clay with an ax.  

When we arrived there were guards at the door.  But we were welcomed in and taken to an office.  The office looked like drug den from a hollywood movie.  The paint on the ceiling was peeling.  There was one lightbulb in the wall that provided light for the mud-built building.  The floors were cold and unfinished, but covered with a few carpets.  I took my shoes off before I went in and could feel the cold come up through the bottom of my feet.  The couches in the office were dirty and worn.  They looked like something that people in the states would have taken to the dumpster.  

We met with the director and two of his managers.  They loved it when I spoke Dari to them.  They said we have had to learn English all our lives to speak to someone else and now someone has come who has learned the language to speak to us.  We drank tea and I listed as the USDA liaison spoke with them about projects.  Currently, she was working with the director to record a training session that would be played back on the radio so farmers could learn about hoof and mouth disease, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.  They are planning on doing a series of these programs.  

The director talked about the problems getting people to vaccinate their animals.  First, veterinary drug stores are not of the same quality as in the States.  There are problems with selling expired vaccinations, purchasing fake products, and keeping the vaccinations at the proper temperatures.  Transportation is a huge problem--getting them back and forth.  Then there is the problem of getting farmers out to get the vaccinations.  Some do not want to buy them because they haven't worked in the past and they consider it a waste of time.  Most  people here are extremely poor and this is a huge cost for them.  The USDA was concerned that if the vaccinations were purchased from the province then they would displace local businesses.  There were other issues at play, but this seemed to be a topic that caused some tension.

The director was very enthusiastic about helping women start small agribusinesses at home.  He mentioned honey bees and chickens.  These are small  industries that could help not only feed the family, but also bring in additional income to the family.  Within a short time a woman could pay a small debt back for the $30 dollars or $200 dollars it takes to get into poultry farming or bee keeping respectively.  

We sipped on hot tea which took the edge off the cold as we sat.  Most offices and homes are heated with the metal barrel stove that roughly looks like it is made out of a garbage can.  This can't be very sustainable and it certainly contributes to the smoggy haze over the country side.  

They took the time to take us back to the veterinary clinic and the demonstration farm.  The farm was pretty expansive, but the clinic, like the offices, would not pass even the bare minimum standards in the west.  

This is not to say that these men were not highly intelligent or competent.  They certainly are, but money is probably spent on salaries, guards, and the basic necessities of keeping an office going, rather than upkeep.  

I was given an open door invitation to return and he invited me to visit the pastoralists and learn from the women how they do things.  

I will be doing follow-up it turns out; with the US LNO here---Jay and "Silent Bob".  Jay is an energetic man who wants to help the Afghans.  He would like to address agricultural and health care issues that the villagers talk to him about.  I am lucky that I have the opportunity to help him.  I will be helping him draft proposals to the DAL director and provincial health director.  Not too many people here have my unique background and it is a huge asset to the military.  Not to brag, but proudly, I was complemented today by several people that it is amazing how the Afghans respond to me and how natural I am with them.  It has been noted that unlike the Germans, I am completely spontaneous and it is amazing how crowds of children and adults form around me and that people just open up to me unlike to anyone else.  I was told that I am a special person and if there were more like me, this place would be completely different.  I hope that the compliment doesn't jinx me in anyway.  

I also have been having fun with my new German Buddy Ingo.  Ingo is about 40 and iis from a small town or village near the Polish/Czech border.  He has a beautiful wife (also named Sandra) and three absolutely adorable little boys.  I have had fun drinking coffee, tea, eating chocolates, going for walks, and watching German movies with Ingo.  Yes, we even get a little work done once in a while too.  I promised him, or rather invite myself, to come visit him and his family next year.  It sounds like fun.  He is an avid gardner and we talk about that endlessly; great planner (after all he is German) and has done remarkable things to make a small carbon imprint and have a happy, comfortable, and cozy life living next to his grandmother in a wonderful little town.  He has a swimming pool, tons of fruit and nut trees, berries of all kinds, and even a green house.  Ingo loves to make the most of life and is adventuresome too.  He is not suppose to leave the PRT, but we took him off base over to the US side so we could shop in the bazaar that is on base and eat some good American grub.  

To be honest, I miss American food sometimes.  The 500 lousy ways of eating cabbage and port gets to one after a while and there is RARELY dessert.  Not that I need any, but once in a while it is a pretty great thing.  I also bought some Lowenbrau nonalholic beer there.  It is pretty good.  I can have a beer and not get fired for alcohol consumption.  I am also having fun with Robert, the social scientist from the Netherlands.  We share a special spiritual connection.  He loves Rumi and I am teaching him the alphabet so he can read the original text.  Apparently, he owns about 30 different translations of Rumi's Masnavi.  He is a psychoanalyst (Jungian) and did some kind of evaluation on me and Ingo.  I am not entirely sure what it all means, but apparently there is some kind of similarity we have in our personalities.  For sure we both like to laugh and garden.  Ingo and I are going on a field trip here on base in a couple of days.  I got lost and found out where the gardners stay.  They have a green house and were so happy when I bumped into their area.  I told Ingo about it so we are going to go visit.  I saw that they had some geraniums in there, so it will be nice just to savor the smell.  I laugh an awful lot.  These people are very intelligent and their wit runs about light speed.  It is hard to keep up sometimes.  

Our team leader came today.  He was stuck in Masar-e Sharif just like I was.  He only had to stay there for four days, but I stayed an entire week.  He is an earnest, honest, kind man.  I can tell.  He is former navy a few years older than me and he and his wife live in the DC area.  After we got him back to the tent, I went on a walk over to Dust Off.  The Americans run the Medivac helicopter from here.  So, there are a few on the base here, although the Provincial Reconstruction Commander is German and he oversees the operations of everyone here.  So far, I see that there are primarily Germans, Belgians, Dutch, Americans, and Armenians.  The Europeans are mostly happily married.  They have things figured out in a way that works well for their family life.  Ingo told me that they found out that if soldiers return home about every 4 months their marriages stay intact.  It is after 4 months that things start to fall apart.  I thought it was interesting.  

I have a lot of work to do this week.  I have a big presentation due on the 17th that Robert is putting together.  It is a summary of findings from my first research design with the team.  It is really quite ordinary and elementary.  I didn't want to take on something too big for my first task.  This research explores the population's idea of where the law comes from, if they know what is hugug is (civil law office) and/or if they would ever use one, and how accessible the police area.  A couple of our missions were cancelled so I spent one day walking around both bases interviewing people.  It was pretty cool.  I also finished a design for our new project, assessing how easily the population can identify the security forces in the area.  After several attempts, we have it figured out what we will do for the Dutch.  It will be completed in three parts.  The first we will do indepth interviews with people in prison, my colleague will do the men's prison and I will do the women's.  Secondly, we will interview people as they come out of the court house to get better understanding of their experiences through the justice system as it happens.  And, finally, we will survey the general population using a US Rule of Law Indicators Tool.  Then I am going to help Jay and I need to do some other work in the office too.

It is raining again.  I like the sound of rain on my tent.  We  had snow the other day.  It gets really snowy and very cold.  Some little shepherd boys died tending their flocks and many animals died.  The Germans came to the rescue and helped save many more animals.  Locals are very appreciative and don't know what will happen when everyone leaves.  They worry about it and so do I.  

I have more to write, but for now, I better get some shut eye.  It's 1:30 and I better not sleep in and make a bad impression on my new Team Leader (TL).