Kabul Blue

After passing by the de-mining facility at the base of the hill, a dusty, table top, plateau spreads out before you, and above the City. We're in Teppe Maranjan which is thought to be the oldest continually inhabited part Kabul, and the site of the mausoleum of King Nadir Shah, and his family before and after his assassination in 1933.

It's a significant site for the people of Kabul: fought over by the Taliban and Mujaheddin during the 1990s, today it is the gathering place for families on a Friday afternoon. Here you can buy, and fly a brightly coloured kite, or have a pony ride on any one of a dozen decorated ponies, or buy chai from dozens of young boys running from one customer to another with a thermous full of green tea. The site of a large kite festival during Nauruz (New Year, which was last week) - today there are only a dozen or so, but it is still early they tell me, later the place will be packed as people, ponies and kites fight for space.

Down below, and in the distance, the green of the (Olympic) Stadium has a game of cricket in action. An ancient (destroyed) fortress, now home to international forces dominates the landscape, as does a white "unmanned airship" anchored to the ground as it's sister flies the skies above Kabul, watching.

As I drive through the city, signs of past war are evident; high, razor wired walls patrolled by soldiers in full gear are numerous; police road blocks and checks are constant - but the people are friendly, open and welcoming. It's quiet in Kabul this morning, it's Friday, but soon the gatherings will start as families and friends meet together in the parks and mosques.

On Chicken Street shop keepers are selling Afghan carpets, for only $10,000 and all kinds of other souvenirs. One of my overwhelming impressions is that there is a lot of blue! Lapis Lazuli is mined in Afghanistan and it is everywhere. The famous Herat Glass is coloured by it, lumps of it, polished and raw decorate shop windows, all kinds jewelry and containers are made from it, and of course the mosques are tiled in it. (Kabul too has a blue mosque.)

It's a city of blue, of dust, of mountains and 5 million people - people who in the main are just hoping and praying for peace and a future. (Simplistic I know!) Afghanistan is a beautiful country.

Kabul - I'm Here

I created a new record today - my domestic, Herat to Kabul flight was only an hour late, which makes it "on time".

Like many countries getting into, and out of, the airport is quite an adventure. It starts by travelling the most dangerous road in Herat, in my case and mostly, uneventfully but then the fun starts. Thanks to an Afghan team mate I sat in the car, on the side of the road, while he checked me in - only one problem - I din't know he was doing it and he didn't check my luggage on. But I knew no different, just assumed I did it when I eventually got in the terminal.

So, checked in we headed for the secure entry, we were scanned, searched and yelled at by security who then noticed a VIP sticker on the dash board. So in we went, to an empty airport complex - driving innocently before a soldier ran from out the bushes and flagged us down. But we were permitted to go on another 50 meters before I was asked to get out and drag my luggage into the building, where I was shown to a seat. One at a time we were shown to the xray machine and our luggage was scanned. No one else seemed to have luggage but even at the machine I was not told I should have checked luggage.

Pointed to a seat, still no one said what is this over-sized luggage. By the time we walked out onto the tarmac to get on the plane people were so concerned about the Minister of the Interior being on our flight that it was too late. So I lugged my luggage onboard, and they stowed it in a toilet and closed it. The flight was on time because of the VIP, and at the other end I didn't have to wait for the carousel.

Life is never dull! 

Last Impressions (Herat)

Tonight is my last in Herat, tomorrow afternoon I head to Kabul for a few days where I will catch up with some funding partners and do some schmoozing and some public relations (or is that the same thing?) before heading back home.

It has been quite a journey. I have had the privilege of working alongside some amazing people. People whose every day lives contain stress and uncertainty - yet they seem not to allow their lives to be defined by these negatives, but rather by resilience, by hope and by determination.

I met an influential Mullah that supports our Street Children and HIV/AIDS programs: a tall, distinguished man with a startling white turban and beard, who offered to be of assistance in any way he can. Behaviour change, education and community transformation will not happen here without the support of the Mullah - and our team have worked hard to gain their trust and support.

I met the Deputy Governor of Herat - a man with an open, friendly demeanor who gave us his time to help celebrate the children who were graduating from the Street Children project. But more importantly than giving us his time, he gave time to the children. He went to all 7 classes and spent time talking with these kids who are the poorest of the poor, he made them laugh, and listened to their stories.

I sat with the leader of a refugee camp. An articulate passionate man who was fired up to get whatever he could, from whoever he could for the 30,000 people under his care. I listened to a 15 year old girl who has been trained in STIs, HIV/AIDS and is now a peer educator in the refugee camp. She doesn't have enough time to meet with all the women and girls that want to learn.

I talked with one doctor who gives her time free to consult with women and girls who have been sexually abused, and I walked with a second doctor who works with drug using men and sees his work as his prayer.

These (and more) are amazing people who give their time and talents in service of others. It has been a privilege to meet them and I honour them tonight.

The Blue Mosque

At 121 meters in length, and with the dominant lapis lazuli (blue) tiled walls and minarets, the Blue Mosque in Herat is quite a spectacular landmark.

The grounds on which the Mosque stands are quite extensive and are composed of a number of individual grassed and low walled areas. Central to this area is a minaret that stands atop a mass tomb, a memorial to the casualties of one of the many wars that Herat has experienced.

But what stood out to me was not the cannon that stood beside the memorial, or the massive edifice of the mosque in the foreground, but the many people that were gathered on the grassed areas. Some were asleep, a few groups sat in circles studying, families were having a picnic, children ran and played, men sat quietly, their mouths silently reciting the 99 attributes of God with the assistance of their prayer beads (called subha - meaning "to exhalt"). This was a community area, a safe place, and a place where anyone was welcome.

People come and go all day, the doors to the mosque remain open until the early hours of the morning. Students sit in the numerous alcoves within the quietness of the mosque courtyard, their text books spread before them. Father's were explaining the architecture, and reading the words of the Qur'an that are written in tiles on all the surfaces of the buildings.

What impressed me was that in the middle of this chaotic, busy, noisy town is a refreshing oasis - a place of prayer, a place of learning and sharing, a place of resting, acceptance and safety, a place for anyone, at any time.

We all need these kind of places and these moments of grace: for a few minutes today I was glad to be able to escape the chaos of Afghanistan and sit in silence and solitude, bathed in a strange blue light reflecting off the tiled walls - and imagine God.

Masha'Allah: God Has Willed It

Today we saw the difference 9 months, a little hope and a lot of love and acceptance can make. When the Street Kids project started last year the staff went onto the streets and spoke with parents of children between 7 and 10 years of age who were working to help make ends meet in the household.

They invited 100 of these children to be part of a new pilot program that, in partnership with the Afghan Government's Ministry of Education, aims to give working children a chance to have the same advantage that any other child calls a right.

After classes in literacy and numeracy, training in life skills and health checks they sat a Year 3 school admission test: 93 of them passed! This afternoon we had the privilege, with the Deputy Governor of Herat and a number of other important people of celebrating their success.

Nine months ago a little boy crept into the building with his Dad, he was shy, he was dirty and he was frightened. He was coming for his first interview with a counselor and after a while of ice breaking, he was asked what he hoped to be when he grew up. He laughed - what a ridiculous question to ask a street kid - he knew that like his Dad this was his life, this was all there was.

The counselor persisted and asked him to dream; eventually he bowed his head into his chest, stared tentatively at his feet and mumbled, "I want to be a poet". He waited to be laughed at, but the counselor raised his head, looked into his eyes, and said "Will you let us help you be a poet".

Today the same little boy stood at the front, clean and healthy, dressed in a nice uniform, his head held high, his eyes looking at unseen words, his actions rehearsed but strong, and, with impressive lungs sung a Dari poem in front of a couple of dozen 'important people'. The counselor that met him that first day looked away with tears in her eyes. The boy finished, smiled at his audience - and took a deep breath. Masha'Alla.

Our vision for every child, life in all its fullness; 

Our prayer for every heart, the will to make it so. 

Masha'Allah is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise or thankfulness for an event or person; it's an acknowledgement that all good things come from God.

Maslakh Refugee Camp

Maslakh Housing, NOT Ruins

On the road to Iran, just a few kilometres outside of Herat, just beyond the vibrant blue house of "the 4 brothers" (known smugglers), lies a suite of derelict, pastel coloured buildings. They stand out for a couple of reasons: they are a striking contrast to the vast nothingness of the desert that lies beyond, and they are known as Maslakh, the slaughterhouse. 

Before the Taliban era, this was the site of perhaps the busiest abattoir in Afghanistan – but in the last year of the Taliban, about 11 years ago it became famous for something else. Around it grew the largest refugee camp in the world with reportedly 350,000 people living in horrible conditions. Refugees from drought, ethnic violence and civil war the people came from all over the west and north to the relative safety of Herat.

Today there are only 30,000 people in the camp. As you look to the right of the road (travelling towards Iran) you see in the distance a magnificent, rugged, mountain range reaching into the clouds and from the base of these mountains to the road the desert is littered with the remains of adobe constructions that housed and protected a multitude of frightened people.

I couldn’t help staring in awe at the mountain ranges and wondering about the words of Psalm 121; “I look to the [mountains] where does my help come from?” and contrasting those words, which roll so easily off the tongue, with the life reality of the refugees that slept beneath them.

The children have nowhere to play in this desert, the teenagers and young adults have no jobs to hope for. The school is an old clinic with 7 rooms, (each about 15m2). There is an enrolment of 3,000 lucky children, (there’s no room for the other 3,000) and an average class size of 90; the boys in the morning and the girls in the afternoon.

Many of the children from 8 years old up work on the streets in the city, or make adobe bricks, to help their families survive. Most of the men and teenage boys go into the city looking for day work. But the parents would give up the extra income for school.

In the near future we hope to do something to help the children. Simplistically: our goal is to implement a project that will bring community based schooling to the kids that are currently missing out. We plan to train local school graduates, boys and girls, and engage existing teachers in the community and equip them to run “home” based schools. Parallel to this we are going to look to deliver literacy classes for adults.

When you look at the extent of the camp, and consider the number of people, this sounds like a drop in the ocean – but, in a desert, at least it’s water!

We Live in a VUCA World

I had the chance to do some research today and by accident came across a new thought; to me anyway. It is the idea that we live in a VUCA world. For those that don’t know, VUCA is term that comes from military vocabulary, appearing in the 1990s it has since been introduced into the realm of strategic leadership and adopted by corporations worldwide.

A VUCA world is one defined by:

• Volatility: change is guaranteed, our world is fast paced, dynamic, catalytic
• Uncertainty: a lack of predictability, the potential for surprise, and a sense of awareness
• Complexity: describes the innumerable ideas, confounding issues, chaos and confusion
• Ambiguity: reflects the haziness of truth or reality, the mixed meanings, the potential for misreading

These elements present a worldview from which organisations build their management, vision, purpose and strategy. But you would have to agree that whilst it may be realistic it is also pretty discouraging. If that is the world leaders see and respond to, it is no wonder that leadership is often defensive, controlling, manipulative and reactionary.

Kevin Roberts, (CEO of Saachi & Saachi) envisions a different superVUCA world. He redefines the elements and suggests what I think is a much more positive, exciting and empowering worldview, and one that challenges leaders to be creative. (His labels, my definitions.)

• Vibrant: an exciting mosaic of energetic, animated, multi-cultural and multi-sensory overload
• Unreal: ‘real’ is contextually defined, it is informed (only in part) by instant information and imagination, it is incredible and weird
• Crazy: unstructured, flexi-bounded, messy, chaotic, fun, foolish and wild
• Astounding: surprising, joyful, amazing and wonderful

Our job as leaders is to expand and celebrate the impossible with truth, joy and inclusion. Robert’s suggests that to be a superVUCA leader requires that we forget about the NEW and we embrace the NOW. “Welcome to the Age of NOW” he says, “the time of power to the people, of 6.8 billion “screenagers” who are always-on, instantly-demanding, immediately-sharing, if we feel loved!”

The superVUCA world demands leaders understand that the age of the Modern, the NEW, is gone. NOW is the era that must inform our leadership. (The following table (adapted from Roberts) contrasts the characteristics that define the different leaders.) We need NOW leaders – please. 

 

ERA OF NEW	AGE OF NOW
Attention	Participation
Inform	Inspire
Interruption	Interaction
Return on Investment	Return on Involvement
Local	Global
Counting Numbers	Creating Movements

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour – his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear – 

is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause.” 

(Vince Lombardi: ESPN Coach of the Century) 

Entertain the Interruption

The Mobile Church was on again and about 20 of us sat together on large colorful cushions, (toshak) that lined the room. The young woman that led us introduced us to a short film, made in Australia called, The Lost Thing (based on a book by Shaun Tan).

It's a 15 minute animation about a boy who discovers a bizarre-looking creature while out collecting bottle-tops at a beach. Having guessed that it is lost, he tries to find out who owns it or where it belongs, but the problem is met with indifference by everyone else, who barely notice it’s presence. Each is unhelpful in their own way; strangers, friends, parents are all unwilling to entertain this uninvited interruption to day-to-day life. In spite of his better judgement, the boy feels sorry for this hapless creature, and attempts to find out where it belongs.

There are so many lessons that could be drawn from the film, but the one that stood out to me was the moment when the boy decided to be in relationship with the creature and the hope that decision birthed in them both.

I have been in a number of places and circumstances where hope has been in short supply, Afghanistan is the latest of them. And in all these places people (including me) have designed wonderful projects to mitigate disaster, to build capacity, to rehabilitate water supplies, to build latrines, to teach health practices, to ensure food security and revitalise economies. And all these things are wonderful.

But, the moment that changes a person: that makes us decide to fight, to build, to learn, to change, is that moment when another person touches us, the moment when another person shows us we are not alone, the moment when when we decide that it is worth hoping - that it is worth forming a relationship.

The moment that people decide that the interruptions to the day-to-day are probably God's moments of hope and grace - foundation stones of relationship - that's the moment that makes the theoretical development model transformational.

Bringing Hope to Drought Stricken Children

The prolonged lack of rain and resultant shortage of water in western Afghanistan over the past couple of rain seasons has triggered stress and livelihood shock in the farming communities of Badghis district. Because of this ongoing drought, farmers have had to delay planting seasons each year, but the continued low rainfall during the growing season of 2011 meant that the majority of the wheat crop failed. This failure has had a devastating effect on the people and one which threatens to impact on the communities for years to come.

A need assessment survey conducted in July 2011 identified a number of concerns, including:

• water sources are drying out
• there is a decline in school attendance because children are needing to contribute to the family income by working so that they can eat
• there is a high infant mortality and morbidity rate: (in Afghanistan), more than 40% of child deaths are due to diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection
• water sources are unprotected and contain unsafe water
• people do not know how, and are not purifying unsafe water

 In order to break the negative impacts of these annual droughts, existing natural water sources need to be protected, well-placed water catchments need to be built and irrigation structures need to be enhanced.

But establishing new potable water infrastructure will not improve health indicators without complementary behaviour change training. Working at a grass-root level through Afghan health workers it is hoped that we can encourage preventive health measures by integrating hand washing and hygiene practices, promoting exclusive breast-feeding, and introducing water purification treatments.

The people of Badghis province are primarily agrarian; for centuries their communities have been dependent upon agriculture. By diversifying these community’s sources of income through the introduction of new cash crops and income generating activities, it is hoped that their level of food security can be enhanced.

This community-based approach: (partnering with existing community management structures, identifying and building on existing human and social capacity) seeks to address the malnutrition and promote healthy behaviours by enabling families to sustain the rescue of malnourished children at home by identifying affordable, acceptable, effective and sustainable practices that are already used by at-risk people and that do not conflict with local culture.

By these initiatives, we are aiming to participate in the recovery and stabilization of rural communities in Badghis, halt the increase of child mortality, diversify the crops and increase the household incomes, introduce risk reduction mechanisms, and bring hope to people suffering from the effects of prolonged and recurrent drought.

Encouraging, Empowering, Equipping Leadership

There go the people: 

I must follow them for I am their Leader. 

(Alexandre Ledru-Rollin)

I watched an example of (what I thought was) excellent leadership in action this morning, and found myself wishing that I had always experienced leadership like it.

It was in the context of a tough session where a new strategy and operating model was being announced. People knew it was coming and they had their own ideas, and fears of what it meant for them: would they have a job tomorrow, how was what they knew, what they had become comfortable with, going to change.

Into this anxious crowd walked the boss; a white haired, friendly looking, extroverted Yank. He started by making fun of himself and in moments had most laughing (except the one severe looking guy whose look would have curdled milk at a thousand paces), and that's not always easy to do when you are working across cultures. I watched the people in the room (the changes don't directly impact on me) as the Yank sold a tough new operating model and a more focused strategy - and he took the people with him. Two hours later as he finished his concluding remarks they stood and applauded him as he bowed and curtsied.

I have been trying to identify some of what he did and I have come up with the following list which is by no means exhaustive, but I think they are all characteristics of a person I will follow, even when it might hurt.

• Trust - There is no doubt he's the boss. He's been around a while and during that time has built a relationship of trust. His people trust him because they have seen a man of integrity
• Integrity - He does what he says, and says what he does. He has not given people any reason to doubt that he is honest in all his dealings, he has earned the teams respect
• Respect - people respect him, they have not always liked his decisions, but because they know they can trust him and see his heart, they respect him, and they follow him, because they know he is their advocate
• Advocate - His boss is the international leader, but today in his words, and by his actions he made it clear that his job was to fight for this team, these people: that meant giving them all the details he had so that they were as fully informed as they possibly could be. "After all", he said, "its your country, your office, your futures, not his, and I am trusting you to keep the information to those that need to know". He left no secrets
• No Secrets - one, if not the most destructive elements in a team, is secrets. If information is power then secrets are 'smart bombs'. (Every one accepts that there is information that cannot, or is not ready to be shared with everybody, but when it has the power to impact others then surely it is their right to know.) Today people felt that they had been told the truth.
• Truth - The boss outlined why things were changing, he spoke about things that were working and things that weren't - he pulled no punches - he told us how the new was going to affect us and he apologised for leadership decisions that had not worked
• Humility - He did not pretend that he had always got it right, and he was willing to say sorry, and all of this happened with moments of laughter, with fun - yet no one denied the seriousness of the message
• Fun - you don't have to be an extrovert, (I should know) but you do have to be able to step outside yourself and laugh; at yourself, at your mistakes, and with others as they follow you
• Leader - the last of my observations, (there's more but this rant will do), was that people were following him, willingly - even though they know this is going to be tough they all signed  up to follow.

I think that what I saw today was a man that is really in leadership to serve. He is here to give himself for his team so that together they might just transform the lives of children and communities in Afghanistan.

People are governed only by serving them;

the rule is without exception.

(V. Cousin)

Nowruz 1391

Happy New Year, or Nowruz! It is now the year 1391 (Iranian Calendar). A calendar believed to have been created by Zoroaster, it is used in a number of countries in this region. Nowruz marks the first day of spring, the day of the astronomical vernal equinox, usually March 21 or a day either side. So today, in Afghanistan was a public holiday.

So I thought I'd have a day off from "serious blogging" too and instead just tell you a little bit about my day.

I woke early, because it was cold! Now, I know for you Canadians this isn't cold, but they tell me that it was about -5 overnight, but the wond chill factor took it a few degrees colder, (it's spring, it's warming up). My bedroom is in a big, old, two storey house, the windows don't seal properly, and you can hear the wind squeezing through the gaps. I sleep under two very heavy, thick blankets that make it impossible to move once you're under them.

A few days ago (allegedly) the Taliban blew up a section of the oil pipeline from Turkmenistan which is Herat's supply, and the fuel for their electricity generators. So we are having increasingly frequent electricity cuts. So no heaters, no lights, no hot water, no internet. The house generator roars to life outside my room at about 6:00am. But this is a good thing because then the world starts to warm up. (Apparently the power limiting will continue for a while.)

Anyway, I'm up; I get breakfast and I'm off by one of a number of different routes to the office by about 8:00am. Depending on the day's activities, I'll start with a security update, and I'll spend time with staff in the office or visit a project in the field. I'll try and keep up with emails and drink some tea. And if it's like yesterday, I'll try stay out of the cold wind.

There's a 6:00pm curfew, so it's back into the team house and working from the house office, or having a drink and chatting with the programme team until we get our dinner at about 8:00pm. It gets dark about 7:00pm and that's about when the power went off tonight. But this time the big generator needs a rest! So the small one is fired up, but we can't run heaters on it. So tonight it might be an extra blanket.

And that's my day. Fascinating and exciting isn't it? :)

Reclaiming Childhood

The streets of Herat, as with many cities around the world, are the workplace of a lot of desperate children from 4 or 5 years old upwards. Little boys and girls work all day scavenging for plastics and tins, selling lollies, cleaning shoes, washing cars and assisting mechanics and truck drivers.

Many families see no other option: if Mum and Dad are unskilled, sick or disabled then the children work or there is no food, no medicine; if there is no Mum and Dad and children live with elderly grandparents or relatives then they work; if Mum is alone, then they work.

I’m not sure that it matters which culture you live in, what you believe or what income you have, a parent does not want to send their young child out to work. No father wants to see his children deprived. No mother wants her child to be hungry. But life circumstances can sometimes gang up against you and force you to entertain ‘sub-prime’ options.

Over the past year 100 boys and girls between 7-10 years have been attending the Herat Support for Street Children Centre with the approval and support of the carers. Divided into 2 groups, 50 girls in the morning, and 50 boys in the afternoon, they receive basic education that will equip them for school entry, (83% of them passed their school entry exams), they have classes on health, hygiene, personal safety and child rights. During the 10 months the children are with us they have two health checks and any necessary health intervention, and with their families they receive personal counselling.

At the same time one of their parents is either equipped to earn an income or sent to a vocational training course. The hope is that the majority of families will have a significant increase in household income that is not reliant on street child income.

Today I was shown into each of the three classrooms to a chorus of little girls greeting me with huge shy smiles and a sing-song “As-Salaam alaikum”, (they didn’t laugh too much when I returned the greeting) they showed me some of the work they had been doing then invited me to join them for a lunch of Afghan bread and sabsi.

Next week, 100 children will graduate from the Centre and will be presented with a School starter kit before they walk into a government school for the first time. By the beginning of May another 100 children will have been selected and the year will start again, at this stage we have funding to transform the lives of 300 children and their families.