Update
I hadn't realized how much time had passed since my last entries, so I've got some catching up to do.
Work had been slow as there's a little turmoil at the ministry I'm evaluating, but things should pick up this week. I've finished my portion of the evaluation, together with my colleagues we've developed some recommendations, and now we just need an appointment with the minister to present our findings and recommendations. In the meantime, I've also come to realize that the government could use a couple of centralized resources related to public affairs and media relations, so I'm working on proposals. Developing unsolicited proposals is a long shot, but progress can't happen if you don't give it a try.
One of the things we like to do to relax is to watch movies together a couple times a week. The nights are so nice here and we love to sit outside in our garden, so a few of my colleagues figured out a way to set up one the laptops and our computer projector outside to show movies on an outside wall. They bought a nice surround sound system as well, so it's almost like a drive-in theater, except that we can relax on our patio furniture. Wed. night we ordered pizza and watched the James Bond movie, "The World Is Not Enough" on our "big screen." It was a great evening. One would never have guessed we were sitting in Kabul, Afghanistan!
On Friday, our day off, my colleagues hosted a brunch at our compound and invited people they've been working with recently. It was such an eclectic group of young people, probably in their late 20s and early 30s. I found myself fascinated by their conversation and marveling that they'd ended up in a place like this doing such interesting work at such young ages.
One woman was a lawyer from the UK working in environmental law with the United Nations. Another lawyer, a young man, is working I think for the US government on developing Afghanistan's rule of law. A young woman from France does social research for a non-governmental organization. She came with a young man who is a political advisor at the Dutch Embassy. And another guy at the brunch is a freeland writer for the Economist and several British newspapers. Most of them had been here more than a year, and several were on a second tour here. The western community is small and it's easy to meet lots of people.
On the news front, I don't know if you've heard, but some 1,000 South Korean evangelical have found their way into Afghanistan and plan to hold "peaceful demonstrations of support." The Afghans don't see it that way -- they fear the group is here to spread Christianity -- and have asked them to leave. There are also fears of riots breaking out if the group is able to march through Kabul as planned. Both the governments of South Korea and Afghanistan have tried to stop the group, but apparently close to 1,000 have managed to get into the country. Prosilitizing is forbidden in Afghanistan, so the Afghan authorities, together with a delegation from South Korea, are rounding up the people and putting them on planes back to South Korea. What I found really interesting is that news reports stated that some 20-30% of the people were children under the age of 14. I'm wondering why.
Never a dull moment!
I'll be in Dubai for the next few days, so I doubt I'll make another entry until I return.
Cheers!
Work had been slow as there's a little turmoil at the ministry I'm evaluating, but things should pick up this week. I've finished my portion of the evaluation, together with my colleagues we've developed some recommendations, and now we just need an appointment with the minister to present our findings and recommendations. In the meantime, I've also come to realize that the government could use a couple of centralized resources related to public affairs and media relations, so I'm working on proposals. Developing unsolicited proposals is a long shot, but progress can't happen if you don't give it a try.
One of the things we like to do to relax is to watch movies together a couple times a week. The nights are so nice here and we love to sit outside in our garden, so a few of my colleagues figured out a way to set up one the laptops and our computer projector outside to show movies on an outside wall. They bought a nice surround sound system as well, so it's almost like a drive-in theater, except that we can relax on our patio furniture. Wed. night we ordered pizza and watched the James Bond movie, "The World Is Not Enough" on our "big screen." It was a great evening. One would never have guessed we were sitting in Kabul, Afghanistan!
On Friday, our day off, my colleagues hosted a brunch at our compound and invited people they've been working with recently. It was such an eclectic group of young people, probably in their late 20s and early 30s. I found myself fascinated by their conversation and marveling that they'd ended up in a place like this doing such interesting work at such young ages.
One woman was a lawyer from the UK working in environmental law with the United Nations. Another lawyer, a young man, is working I think for the US government on developing Afghanistan's rule of law. A young woman from France does social research for a non-governmental organization. She came with a young man who is a political advisor at the Dutch Embassy. And another guy at the brunch is a freeland writer for the Economist and several British newspapers. Most of them had been here more than a year, and several were on a second tour here. The western community is small and it's easy to meet lots of people.
On the news front, I don't know if you've heard, but some 1,000 South Korean evangelical have found their way into Afghanistan and plan to hold "peaceful demonstrations of support." The Afghans don't see it that way -- they fear the group is here to spread Christianity -- and have asked them to leave. There are also fears of riots breaking out if the group is able to march through Kabul as planned. Both the governments of South Korea and Afghanistan have tried to stop the group, but apparently close to 1,000 have managed to get into the country. Prosilitizing is forbidden in Afghanistan, so the Afghan authorities, together with a delegation from South Korea, are rounding up the people and putting them on planes back to South Korea. What I found really interesting is that news reports stated that some 20-30% of the people were children under the age of 14. I'm wondering why.
Never a dull moment!
I'll be in Dubai for the next few days, so I doubt I'll make another entry until I return.
Cheers!
posted by Pam | 10:09 AM
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