Elections

You’ve probably been hearing a bit about the Afghan elections that are going on now as I write. For live updates on election coverage check out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8209279.stm. This is the second ever Afghan presidential election and the feeling about this chance to cast a vote for the country’s leader seems to be a mix of pride, fear, and apathy depending on a person’s politics and location. There’s been a lot of news coverage but what I haven’t heard much about is how an average Afghan may be thinking about voting. In much of the country, voting today may mean risking losing a finger, being targeted on your way to and from or at the polling station, or being targeted in the future for being known to have participated in a government initiative. It’s hard to imagine facing this decision. Some people (many?) are already disillusioned with government because of its lack of ability to increase security and its, at times, actual perpetuation of violence, intimidation, or corruption. Yet generally it seems people think Karzai will win again. I have not experienced a feeling of inspiration among the people I’ve talked with about the election but I could certainly be missing or misreading people’s sentiments. There have been some big turnouts at campaign events (in part because food, transportation, and pay may be provided) and long lines at some of the polling stations today. In a conversation with an Afghan in Kabul the other day, one of the safer places in the country, I asked how people felt about going to the polls. This was a few days ago, the morning after the explosion near ISAF and the US Embassy but before the more recent explosions. He said some people were too scared to vote but some people would still be voting, including him.

I think it’s exciting that Karzai has some legitimate challengers in Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani and they’ve pushed the debate in a positive direction. If Karzai doesn’t win 50%, the election will go into a run-off scheduled for October. This is a tricky situation where a change in leadership may be positive but the process of making that change could be pretty tumultuous and difficult in the short term. Unifying this country is a huge task.

For the elections we’re holed up in Bamiyan where things are generally relaxed and people are going to the polls. The only Taliban related activity is that last week the Taliban “governor” here was arrested and is now in jail in Kabul. (The Taliban maintain a government-like structure that parallels the actual government.) We are laying low for a few days but plan for a return to normal movement tomorrow. Hopefully that’s the case not just for us but for the country too. Some photos here from my few days in Bamiyan before laying low—my second Afghan run (check out my running clothes, ha! and my running partner is in the blue) and an evening walk around Bamiyan center a couple evenings ago where wheat harvesting is full-on. Much of the green contrasting with the wheat is the potatoes that will be harvested in October.

One Year

After a few small miracles (worthy stories in and of themselves) and two days en route, I make it from Ghor to Bamiyan on July 30 in time to celebrate our one year anniversary on the 31^st. Bamiyan is beautiful and we celebrated with a trip to Band-e-Amir Park, a stunning area of sparkling blue lakes and a series of travertine dams. On a Friday, the Islamic weekend, the place was full of picnicking Afghans. In a culture that often seems restrictive, the festive groups swimming and picnicking were great to see. We hiked around the lakes and found a picnic spot for ourselves where we napped in a patch of grass and mint. After the dusty trip back to Bamiyan center (in a van with Chad’s colleagues and a stop for tea on the way), we cleaned up and went out to dinner at the Silk Road Hotel. The next day we walked around Bamiyan and hiked up Shar-e-gholghola ruins, the “City of Screams” where inhabitants made a last stand against Ghengis Khan. The site dates back 1,800 years to when Buddhism arrived in Bamiyan. This year has been a full one. We feel lucky to have celebrated it together in a beautiful place and we love that this era for us started during a multiday celebration on the banks of the Missouri and Clark Fork Rivers.

Work Part I (Laurie in Ghor)

Currently I’m working on a six-week contract with a watershed restoration program in Ghor. The focus of the program is improving water access and security to villages for rangeland, agriculture, and domestic use. We work with rural villages on soil conservation, irrigation, water supply, and water related health/hygiene. My role is to work with the program on collecting baseline data and establishing a monitoring and evaluation system for the program. The data and monitoring should then allow the program to measure its impacts and refine/adjust the specific activities and strategies to be most appropriate and effective. Right now the health/hygiene baseline team (6 women) is on a 7-day trip completing household surveys and focus group discussions with women. They’ve just been trained in the data collection and have hit the ground running doing a great job. Especially given that for a woman to go into the field, she has to bring her moharam (escort-husband, brother, or child) and any kid she can’t leave behind. It turns out that getting 6 female staff, 6 moharams, 4 kids, and a field supervisor into remote Afghanistan is no small task. In addition to all the normal logistics (transportation, where to stay the night, how to feed everyone, organizing our data collection tools and equipment, etc), there are frequent security checks and subsequent adjustments to the field plan. All in all it’s quite a production. And it’s really wonderful to see these women out doing research. They are very positive and in a country where women’s movements are often limited, I’m impressed with their willingness to take off into the province to learn about the experiences of women and water. The agriculture team is also out now, holding focus group discussions (FGDs in the org lingo) with farmers who have participated in soil/water conservation activities to understand how rangeland production has changed. Back at the office for now and with a break from the logistics, I’m putting the pieces in place to continue to monitor the program activities and progress. This means designing “tools,” surveys, FGDs, and reporting formats, that will be used by the teams to continue to measure and understand the on-the-ground changes resulting from program’s activities. I work with a great group of people, see a few photos in the slideshow. In a few more weeks I’ll finish up and hope to be in Bamiyan before the elections.