09.25.07
Hanging with the Eritreans
It is a tiny country and it’s main problem is that it denies Ethiopia water access. Orignally an Italian colony it was occupied by the British in 1941. In 1952 the UN resolved to establish it as an automonous entity federated with Ethiopia as a compromise between Ethiopian claims of sovereignty and Eritrean aspirations for independence. 10 years later the Ethiopian emperor, haile Selassie, decided to annex it triggering a 32-year armed struggle. After a 32 year struggle the Eritrean Liberation Front defeated Selassie’s communist successor and in a 1993 referendum supported by Ethiopia, Eritreans voted almost unanimously for independence, leaving Ethiopia land-locked. It was not a friendly compromise.
In 1998, border disputes rekindled the war. A peace agreement was reached in June 2000, but not before tens of thousands of soldiers had died. Today the countries are separated by a security zone patrolled by the UN. Two-thirds of the population receives food aid and progress is hampered by the number of Eritreans who are in the Army rather than the work force. It is the only African country with no privately-owned media and Reporters without Borders states that there is no freedom of expression. Female circumcision was banned just this year in April 2007. And in spite of it all, the Eritreans I met are lovely generous people.
It was Saturday night around 8:00 p.m. and Senait hadn’t called yet, so I thought I would hear from her. I was disappointe, but I figured she had to work. At 8:30 my gray Patagonia bag started ringing obnoxiously, everyone in Kuwait seems to have the same ring tone, I wish I could figure out how to change mine. It was Senait and she was on her way to pick me up. Thinking she wasn’t coming I still hadn’t showered, so I popped in the shower tried to make myself as presentable as possible and then went downstairs to wait. She and a young man named Abdu arrived in a white car, big like a Cadalliac. Abdu barely spoke English and Senait doesn’t speak much.
We drove to another part of Kuwait called Hanwella (pronounced Hal wall lei) it is about a 15 minute drive from Salmiya. Senait confided in me that they are trying to make their place into a community center along with offering classes to the young people. I think they want to set up a computer center. We stopped briefly at a coffee shop and Senait went in to purchase coffee. She got back in the car and we drove a little further, parking right next to a fast food restaurant. A lot of the fast food restaurants don’t have any place to sit and the workers stand outside, because Kuwaiti’s drive up in their cars and the workers standing outside take their orders and then they bring the food out to them. No wonder they are so fat. As we got out of the car the food joint owner yelled at Abdu about where he parked his car. Abdu just shrugged him off, the whole exchange was in Arabic so I didn’t understand.
In front of a dilapidated white stucco wall a group of young men were speaking Arabic. Senait greeted them and we entered a courtyard through rusty metal gates. Straight ahead was a run-down building. I would later learn that the second floor isn’t safe. To the left was a poorly constructed white shack with windows and inside older men dressed in dishdashah’s with red and white checkered Schumagg’s clustered around tables playing cards.
On the left side of the courtyard was the a similar shack, but with one small window. We went in there. In 20 x 12 room there were chairs against two of the walls, chairs and couch against one wall and at the end of the room was a TV and a small table. I was introduced around. Most of the people were younger than I was and they were all just hanging out. Next to the door a woman, who I was told just arrived from Eritrea, she looked closer to my age, maybe 32-35 was stoking coals in a tin box, with short stubby legs..
“She’s making coffee,” Salah said. Salah had self-appointed himself to be my interpreter and he spoke English very well. He was 29, born in Kuwait to Eritrean parents, so no chance of Kuwaiti citizenship, married at 15 and has an 11 year-old son. I asked why he married so young. “I’m the only boy of my family,” he explained.
The woman stoking the coals pulled out a long handled silver spoon like instrument, but instead of a spoon at the end it was more like a frying pan, albeit a very small one. She poured the raw coffee beans into and started roasting them, a thick aromatic smell permeated the room. When the coffee beans were roasted she walked around with the ladel frying pan and as it passed in front of you, you took your hands and wafted the smell towards you. “Tradition,” Salah explained.
I didn’t see her grind the coffee, but the next time I looked over she was pouring water into a earthen ware jug. Unpainted, it’s bulbous bottom tapered up into a long skinny neck. Senait and another woman started serving cake and then came the coffee. Thick, like Turkish coffee, heavily sugared with ginger, a very unique taste. I was offered the first cup.
“Tell her “Dorn,” Salah instructed me. “Dorn,” I said to the woman who had made the coffee, to thank her. She said something back in Eritrean. The next thing I knew I was getting a second cup. I started to tell the woman “Dorn” again, but Salah instructed me that you only say it after the first cup. It was around midnight when we started drinking coffee. The cake they served with the coffee was store bought and typical, but then they passed around what looked like donut holes. It was fried bread dipped in sugar, yum!
At around 1:00 p.m. I was served my third cup of coffee. At my alarmed look, I wondered if I would ever get to sleep, Salah explained that it is tradition to drink three cups. I’m not one to flout tradition, so I drank my third cup. As we sat around drinking coffee with the TV blaring and conversations shooting back and forth in Arabic, people came in and out of the room. The women in charge of the Eritrean Women’s Society in Kuwait. An older man dressed in traditional Arab style, leader of the community and the young people traipsed in and out. Their were more men than women and the women kept looking at me. Senait’s cousin looked a little like her and spoke enough English we could communicate. Her hair was uncovered. Two other girls, Sofie and a petite 22 year-old with a green head scarf kept looking at me.
“They want to speak with you, but they are shy,” explained Senait. I patted the seat next to me and asked the petite girl in the green head scarf to sit next to me and she started talking to me in broken English. Her boyfriend was there, but they never touched. When he sat down next to her and his knee brushed hers, she put a bottle in between their two knees and looking at me said, “No touching.” Eritreans are mainly Muslim and Christian, which explained why some of the women covered their hair and Senait, her cousin and the woman making the coffee did not. It didn’t matter what religion they were, they interacted with no thought at all to that division. The guys teased the girls, the guys talked amoungnst themselves and at around 2:30 a.m. they tried to cover up the window so they could dance.
“Why are they covering up the window?” I asked, “Is dancing forbidden?”
“No, but it’s Ramadan so they don’t like us to dance during Ramandan,” someone explained, they being the older crowd.
Despite the three cups of very strong coffee, which I’m sure wasn’t Decaf I was fading. Tell us when you want to go home Senait and Salah told me, but I knew that it was the one night they could stay up, so I didn’t want to be drag. In Kuwait, people who work in the homes only get one day off and I think it’s Friday, but maybe it’s Saturday.
At around 3:00 a.m. they took me on a tour of their “community center.” There is a restaurant where Senait used to work before MC, an office for the head of the Women’s Society, an office for the Youth, which is Senait and her group, but right now it’s being used by one of their countrymen who is homeless, as a place to sleep. And then two other offices and the two gathering places in the courtyard. There is a warped ping pong table that they have hopes of getting up and running and a billards table with no balls or cues. The paint and stucco is peeling off the walls and the kitchen looks like a grease explosion waiting to happen.
I think a Kuwaiti lets them use the space. The young people have big plans for it and dreams to make into something much nicer. I hope I can help them in some way, but it won’t be through MC, we don’t operate in Kuwait.
Salah asked me if I would be willing to teach a seminar and I said yes, and asked on what, but haven’t yet received an answer. They told me the Eritrean Ambassador might come visit them next weekend, I’m not sure if it is their Ambassador to Kuwait or how they are using the word, but they asked me if I would come also. Of course I will.
I hope they aren’t looking to me as the answer to their prayers, but I do hope I can help them in some way.
09.24.07
An interesting weekend
Originally uploaded by The Toze
Two very interesting things happened this weekend. My stuff had arrived about a week ago and I finally decided to unpack it and my suitcases. There isn’t a lot of storage in my apartment so I started cleaning off the top of my armoire. They don’t really have closets here, just wardrobes. I put my hand on the top of it and pulled off a mound of dust. So, I got a washcloth and cleaned around the edge.
After cleaning around the edge, I threw my suitcase up on top and a cloud of dust exploded. Moving a chair into the bedroom, I climbed up on it armed with my wet cloth to discover a shooting target. Immediately my imagination went wild. Had this apartment been occupied by terrorists, the mafia, a gun enthusiast or a just really good shot. All afternoon I freaked myself out with stories about why there was a shooting target on top of my armoire. Further exploration of the dusty surface led to the discover of a piece of clay 1 inch in diameter with an imprint on it, it looked like a seal with sloppy Arabic writing and it was in the shape of an octagon.
When I told Alex, my co-worker from Serbia about my discovery, still thinking it was weird he toldd me that they have shooting ranges here, bursting my idea that I had stumbled upon what was left of a cell. I probably shouldn’t be posting this, Chris, my American co-worker says that everything that comes out of the Middle East is monitored. So Dick Cheney if you’re listening, you’re a jerk!
My discoveries all took place on Friday, which is the first day of our weekend here and all day as I unpacked, did some writing, unpacked, watched a movie, upacked, did some laundry, I was waiting for Senait to call.
Senait works in the office. She is what I guess you would call an office girl, she brings us coffee, cleans the office, makes photocopies, she does a ton of little things. She is from Eritrea. She has lived in Kuwait for 9 years and I think she is around 32. She speaks Tigrinia, Arabic and some English. Currently, she is learning to read and write Arabic. She worked a a maid/nanny for a Kuwait family, then in a restaurant and now at Mercy Corps.
She has beautiful black skin and white, white teeth and she is very nice. I was supposed to go shopping with her one weekend when Eva was in town, but it didn’t happen. I asked her if she wanted to go shopping with me on the weekend, but because of Ramandan, her sponsor is making her do some work for him. Instead she told me about a group that she is involved in, people from her country gather on the weekends and are working to help some of the young girls learn more skills, English, computer skills. They have a place where they meet and she invited me to come and hang out with them.
To be continued . . .
09.17.07
The Barriers
Iraq has been oppressed for more than 30 years, they lack knowledge about free markets and representative government. Because we cannot be in Iraq we do remote management which means talking through chat to our focal points about programs and project ideas.
The focal points we work with speak English, but not fluently, they definately speak English 100 times better than I speak Arabic; however, it isn’t just the language barrier, it’s a knowledge gap because access to information was controlled by Saddam. I want you to feel what it is like to manage people remotely.
(9/16/2007 2:05:08 PM): the group of sewing wante to submit proposal dealing with the rug and flower industry skills.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:06:05 PM): This is an income generation project correct?
(9/16/2007 2:06:09 PM): that mean a Vocational Workshop for making flower and rug
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:06:31 PM): O.K.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:06:42 PM): Is this the deaf and mute women? (this is how they refer to all deaf people in Iraq)
(9/16/2007 2:06:57 PM): yes
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:07:23 PM): So, this is the deaf and mute women and they want to do an income generation project?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:07:40 PM): The pictures you sent, were those dresses they made.
(9/16/2007 2:08:48 PM): yes the dressses above the pix were made by them
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:09:45 PM): I’ve never seen women wearing dresses like that, are they house dresses?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:10:27 PM): I thought they were submitting a proposal to buy fabric?
(9/16/2007 2:11:04 PM): the second approvals is diffrent
(9/16/2007 2:12:15 PM): they want to leran make flower and rugs this things bring money when you sell it
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:12:25 PM): What do you mean the second approvals, are they a different group?
(9/16/2007 2:13:06 PM): the same group and the number will increase to 2o women
(9/16/2007 2:14:04 PM): no
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:14:13 PM): So, this is training only?
(9/16/2007 2:15:11 PM): training and supplying materals to make asmall Vocational Workshop in their homes
(9/16/2007 2:15:43 PM): this the idea of project
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:15:47 PM): O.K. so this is income generation right?
(9/16/2007 2:16:12 PM): it is sound income generation
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:17:35 PM): O.K. but I need more information, how many workshops will there be? And I need a business plan. Where will they sell them? Are they going to be trained as a group? And when you say sound income generation do you mean “Good” income generation?
(9/16/2007 2:18:44 PM): i mean it is near to be a income gentertion
(9/16/2007 2:19:02 PM): it is ok
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:19:27 PM): What do you mean by near income generation?
(9/16/2007 2:20:06 PM): beacues the group will involved in training last 2 weeks
(9/16/2007 2:20:38 PM): to leran the skills of making the flower and rug
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:21:07 PM): So the group will be involved in training for two weeks to learn the skill and then they will start making them and sell them?
(9/16/2007 2:22:05 PM): exactly
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:23:41 PM): O.K. and then after they run out of materials how will they continue to make money.
(9/16/2007 2:24:32 PM): they will independ on themself
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:24:46 PM): How?
(9/16/2007 2:25:27 PM): Mc just supplying the workshop and they will making the flowers and sell it in market
(9/16/2007 2:26:22 PM): and from the money of selling they continue
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:26:29 PM): How many workshops are we supplying?
(9/16/2007 2:26:49 PM): 20 workshop
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:27:00 PM): in homes?
(9/16/2007 2:27:05 PM): for each one
(9/16/2007 2:27:07 PM): yes
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:27:18 PM): Where do they get the materials to make the flowers?
(9/16/2007 2:27:35 PM): ah.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:28:02 PM): Also, do people buy flowers during war? And what do they buy them for?
(9/16/2007 2:28:41 PM): in the starting Mc will supply raw materials to them
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:29:30 PM): O.K. now do people buy flowers during the war?
(9/16/2007 2:30:08 PM): yes , the can in iraq there are many market to buy the flowers now
(9/16/2007 2:30:31 PM): not just flowers and rug
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:30:41 PM): Flowers made from cloth and rugs?
(9/16/2007 2:31:06 PM): yes exactly
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:31:37 PM): O.K. if there are already shops that sell these why will buy ours? Or are we selling to the shops that sell them?
(9/16/2007 2:31:53 PM): yes
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:32:16 PM): Which is yes. We are going to sell to the shops that sell them?
(9/16/2007 2:33:06 PM): yes they will sell to shops and they sell them
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:33:22 PM): And the shops that sell them have agreed to buy from these women?
(9/16/2007 2:34:52 PM): the women will show sample of their making and if they agree with the shops they will making the a big numbers
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:35:21 PM): O.K. have we already talked to the shops?
(9/16/2007 2:35:57 PM): yes already talked to the shops
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:37:05 PM): Great! And they are interested in and have room for more women other than the women they are already buying from?
(9/16/2007 2:38:33 PM): each women will agree with shops to sell their producing
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:39:19 PM): O.K. but my question is the shops that already sell, they have other women making flowers, is there enough business for our women to also be selling to these shops?
(9/16/2007 2:40:08 PM): ah .
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:41:21 PM): Is there “demand” for more makers of flowers and rugs?
(9/16/2007 2:42:02 PM): most of the flowers which selling in the shops are inport from other cities and country
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:42:28 PM): Ah, so the shops are interested in buying local?
(9/16/2007 2:42:30 PM): and there are little number of women make flowers
(9/16/2007 2:43:05 PM): that mean areday the shops will buy the local making
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:43:40 PM): And the shops want this?
(9/16/2007 2:43:55 PM): yes
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:44:09 PM): just a minute. ( here I was interrupted on chat by the crazy Greek)
(9/16/2007 2:44:16 PM): ok
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:46:56 PM): How much does it cost to make a flower?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:47:07 PM): Or a rug?
(9/16/2007 2:47:53 PM): i dont know exactly the cost
(9/16/2007 2:48:28 PM): but i think it is less than 0.50 $
(9/16/2007 2:48:41 PM): the flower
(9/16/2007 2:49:05 PM): but the ruge is more than 3 $
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:50:02 PM): O.K. so it would be good to know the cost of how much it costs to make the things and then how much the store will buy them for?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:50:18 PM): And how many the stores can buy?
(9/16/2007 2:50:47 PM): i will do that
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:51:16 PM): It would also be good to know how many the stores sell in a week or a month?
(9/16/2007 2:51:56 PM): i try to know that
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:52:44 PM): This is called finding out market capacity. Do people want what you are going to make? How much do people want it? How much will they pay for it? How much does it cost to make?
(9/16/2007 2:53:32 PM): ok
(9/16/2007 2:53:51 PM): let us go to the second project
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:54:38 PM): So if a flower costs .50 to make and the store buys it for $1.00 you have .50 profit. If they only sell 25 in a month that is only $12.50 for the woman who makes it. Not enough to live on. Does this make sense?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:55:30 PM): Wait one second, and if there are 20 women making them and only four stores buying no one will make money. Do you see what I’m saying?
(9/16/2007 2:56:10 PM): yes it is clear to me
(9/16/2007 2:57:25 PM): i think the buying of flowers and rug not bring much money to them
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:57:47 PM): Good now one other point. What we also need to know is how much each woman can make doing this and then we need to know how much money out of the profit she can buy supplies with to make more and still have money for food and living.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:58:05 PM): I want to do projects like this, but they have to be able to really make money.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 2:58:42 PM): It’s a great idea, we just need to know that it can continue after the grant money is gone.
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 3:01:16 PM): Hello?
Tiana Tozer (9/16/2007 3:29:56 PM): Were we done, or did you lose internet or electricity?
At this point they lost electricity and I heard back from him the next morning. Although the above conversation may make you think that I’m talking to someone not very bright, I assure you the men I work with in Iraq are educated and very bright, but some concepts are just very literally foreign to them.
This is a good idea, particularly if you have a large tourism industry,because people want to take home something that is made in the country they visit. Right now Iraq gets approximately 3 million tourists a year, but mainly during one month. So the rugs might be a viable idea in the future when the bullets quit flying. They could sell them to GIs, but right now you don’t really want to be near Americans or working with them.
09.16.07
The Chicken made it across the Road!
I have never in my life been afraid to cross a road, not even in Eygpt until now. My apartment has a view of the Persian Gulf, and there is a beautiful walkway beside the gulf, the problem is that you have to cross Gulf Road. So let me tell you something about Kuwait:
- The rate of traffic accidents in Kuwait is four times more than in most industrial countries.
- The total number of dead during the past 10 years has reached 3,000.
- Kuwait ranks third in the number of deaths caused due to road accident
Contrary, to what I thought, there are actually a ton of alcohol-related crashes because the rich buy bootleg alcohol and then go out and drive. And it’s my understanding that every Kuwaiti is rich. Not to mention that no one here wears seatbelts and children often ride unrestrained, in their parents lap or I’ve even seen them with half their bodies out of the sunroof. When I asked why they don’t restrain their children someone told me because if you lose a child it’s God’s will!
God forbid you would have to take personal responsibility. Luckily I’ve found a cab that actually has seat belts in the back seat. So, I always call the same guy.
Back to the gulf road, I hadn’t been out of the house all weekend and I needed to go to the grocery store and I needed some exercise, so I decided I want to walk along the path by the gulf. Normally, traffic just bullets past on that road and Kuwait has very few crosswalks and even if you are in the crosswalk you don’t necessarily have the right of way. So there is a crosswalk but it’s quite a ways down. So far I’ve seen three crosswalks in Kuwait and I think maybe 5 curb cuts.
It’s Ramadan so early in the evening there has been less traffic, so I decided to go for a walk. Now even the able-bodied people in my office have difficultly getting across the road and come back saying I got missed by an inch. They also say that people speed up when they see you crossing and I have experienced this on other roads. And we all know I don’t run so well and the last thing I need is to be run over by another car.
I waited and when it was clear, I made it across the first two lanes, but then I had to step over a ditch, some bricks and a hedge to get into the median. To get out of the median I had to step over another hedge, down from the curb and over a ditch and then I had to get across the other two lanes of traffic. But guess what? I made it! I walked about a quarter of a mile, bought a bottle of water at a stand and then walked back and made it across again. If your a foreigner and you are killed by a Kuwaiti because of poor driving they give your family $10,000. Not enough money in my book.
Kuwait is sitting on 10% of the world’s oil reserves and is one of the few countries that shares it’s oil wealth with it’s citizens. Of the 3.5 million people who live in Kuwait approximately 2 million are foreigners and most are here to serve Kuwaitis. It is the largest welfare state in the world. As a Kuwaiti, you receive I think someone told me $200,000 when you marry and then another sum for each child from the government. I believe you only get the money if you marry a Kuwaiti or someone from a Gulf state, but I’m not sure. Information is limited.
You would think with all the money they have they could afford to put in some crosswalks or curb cuts, but since Kuwaitis don’t really walk anywhere they only drive why should they spend money on something that only benefits the foreign population?
09.15.07
A Classic Tozer Story
This story is rated FG for female content. Female guidance or a strong drink is advised. Males you’ve been warned.
It was the most embarrassing question I had to ask about a new job. I had interviewed with five people, 3 men and 2 women and I decided to ask Emily, who provides support to the Iraq office from Washington D.C. I e-mailed her, “Emily I have a little bit of an embarrassing question to ask, but can you buy tampons in Kuwait?
In my previous visit to the Middle East I had run out of tampons in Egypt and there was not a single feminine product to be found. Luckily it was the end of my period, so I was able to get by, but that experience was what prompted me to ask the question.
I received a response a day later. She said that during her last visit to Kuwait, she had a tampon in her bag and the security guards who went through her bag didn’t know what it was. When they finally figured it out they were very embarrassed so she advise me to take as many as I needed. So, on a trip back to Boise I had my Mom take me to Costco and I picked up four boxes of 100 tampons each. She said, “I’m not sending you any,” and plopped a fifth box in my arms. So, I packed 500 in my shipment and then just to be safe I packed another 80 to take in my luggage.
Mercy Corps put me up in an apartment for one week until I found my own place. I unpacked a little bit knowing I was going to move shortly.
I moved to the Miami Suites a week later on September 2, as I was leaving I thought to myself, I should look one last time in all the drawers, but I didn’t. I had been really tired from working the weekend and then I worked the next weekend also, because people from the office were in town.
I had two meetings scheduled for Wednesday, one with a woman who does adaptive computer technology for people with disabilities and then I had second meeting that evening at the sports center for Kuwaiti’s disabled.
Waking up Wednesday morning, I started looking for my stash of tampons. I looked and looked and then I started to look more frantically, tearing things apart and then I started to panic and I went through everything again and again and then just once again to be sure. They were nowhere to be found.
I started talking to myself, don’t panic, you left them at the old apartment, just get dressed and go get them.
Walking into the building where I first stayed and where I work, I asked at the front desk if they had found something that I left in my room. The manager yelled for Hasif, one of the Indians who worked there and then I had one of my second most embarrassing conversations. I asked Hasif if he found something of mine after I left. He kept saying maxi and then something else, over and over again. And then I heard the word garbage. Finally, Nassar the driver finally had to translate. He did find something and he thought it was garbage, so he threw it out. I asked him if I could check the garbage and he said that it was long gone.
I couldn’t believe it, I was absolutely astounded that someone would find something and just throw it away. Our office is in the same building he could have just brought it up, of course that would have been even more embarrassing. I was astounded and then frustrated and I just couldn’t believe it. I think he thought I was mad and I couldn’t talk to him anymore otherwise I was going to be mad. I probably seemed mad to him. So I didn’t want to come off like a Kuwaiti, so the next day I apologized to him. He seemed surprised like he rarely received apologies and he kept apologizing back to me.
Luckily after my first meeting that morning I was able to go to the store, the only store that I have found that carries tampons in Kuwait City. Of course, they only carry one brand.
The best laid plans . . . or as Ferrero would say “Classic Tozer.”
09.09.07
Regional Situation Status
We were debriefed on the current situation in the Middle East, I have expounded on that briefing with other reports and information, because I couldn’t take notes fast enough:
Palastine/Gaza City – There is a rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation, it is my understanding that food is starting to be an issue. Power is intermittent, the ports which were blocked in June are still blocked, Palastinian miltants continue to fire mortars and rockets into Israel, continuing strikes by the Gaza City muncipalities have led to thousands of tons of solid waste piling up in the streets, posing a potential health situaton. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Report August 23, 2007
Lebanon is “teetering on the brink of war” they are headed toward a constituational crisis in November. It is likely they may have two complete governments and then the army will divided and it might be the beginning of the end. Read the article from Iran Daily.
Jordan – The UN estimates that more than 4 million Iraqis have been displaced by the war. Jordan has recieved approximately 800,000 and has closed its borders. One of the issues is that they are not viewing the Iraqis as refugees, but rather as guests so they cannot work, they have to pay for basic services and live in fear of being deported.
Iraq – The Intra Shii conflict is heating up and killings are on the rise in a grab for political, economic and territorial resources. Iran is supporting all factions to ensure that one group doesn’t become overly dominate. Article 140 which was passed last year by the Iraq National Unity Government calls for referendums to be held in Kirkuk and another city which I can’t spell to select whether they want to be ruled by the Kurdistan Regional Government or Baghdad. The Kurds have been slowly establishing control in Kirkuk. The real issue is that the region is sitting on 10 billion barrels of oil. In addition Turkey has postioned itself as the protector of Turkmen in Kirkuk.
“Iraq’s National Unity Government is like the old Holy Roman Empire — It’s not national, it’s not unified and it doesn’t represent all Iraqis.”
What you may or may not know:
The majority of suicide bombers in Iraq are foreigners, the estimates that I have heard are only 1 in 5 is an Iraqi or 15%. The overwhelming majority appear to be from Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. Government Office of Accountability (GAO) report stated that only one out of eight political benchmarks had been met and a total of only 3 out of 18 had been met.
It is not as clear cut as Sunnis vs. Shiis and everyone vs. American. Everyone is fighting everyone and I’ve heard that 9 out of 10 Iraqis want peace.
Code names and secrecy
Iraqis who choose to work with American based organizations even humanitarian ones, do so at great risk to themselves and potentially their families. Two of the Iraqis in our Kuwait office have received death threats, one had only 24 hours to get out of Iraq. It is for this reason that I refer to them in code and can’t talk about the areas in which we operate.
The Iraqis and Muslims that I have met to date have been intelligent, interesting, nice, respectful and fun. I have come to have great admiration for some of them. The attitudes they have and the goals they are working toward under an incredibly difficult and treacherous situation are admirable. Our regional director refers to their efforts as heroic and I believe it is an accurate assessment.
09.08.07
The Hot Water Dilemma
Originally uploaded by The Toze
I don’t know why, but in Kuwait before you can turn something on you have to flip a switch. When I first arrived, Mercy Corps put me up in an apartment and gave me a week to decide where I wanted to live. The air conditioning in the apartment wasn’t working, nor was the hot water, so it was perfect. I would wake up hot and sweaty and take a cold shower. But then they fixed the air conditioning and the hot water still wasn’t working. After about 4 days of this I was talking about my dilemma in the office and how I was tired of taking cold showers.
R from Iraq looked at me and said did you turn it on. I looked at him and said, “Yes, I turned the hot and the cold on and I even turned the cold water all the way off.” Alex from Serbia overheard and clarified, “He’s asking if you turned on the hot water switch outside the bathroom, the one with the red light.”
“Oh,” I replied. “No, I did not.”
“Well, you have to turn on the switch in order to get hot water,” he informed me.
“Good to know.”
So much for a six-day work week I’m on my 13th straight day of work. The weekend here is Friday and Saturday and last Friday, my focal points, the people I manage in Iraq came into town so I had meetings with them on Friday. On Saturday the Country Director of Iraq, Paul Butler, and the Regional Director of the Middle East David Holdridge came into town, so I had an all day meeting with them on Saturday to discuss strategy and vision.
Karen the woman who I am taking over the PWD (People with Disabilities) Program from left on Sunday and Drakoulis, the Greek man I’m taking over the Women’s Literacy Program from arrived. So, I have spent most of the week in meetings with him, trying to get my arms around the Literacy Program which has a lot of moving parts. We had the strategy meeting for Women’s Literacy on the 4th and then I had to go to Conflict Management Conference to meet with the my PWDs who were attending. On Wednesday night, the CEO of Mercy Corps, Neal Keny-Guyer, flew into town and we had a meeting with him on Thursday morning and that evening we attended the banquet for the Conflict Management Training.
My focal point for women’s literacy, who is a woman, I will call her Z came into town on Thursday, so I spent Thursday afternoon meeting with her and then Friday afternoon, what was supposed to be my weekend preparing for my meeting with her on Saturday. After our meeting she went shopping with me. I moved apartments on Sunday, September 2, now I live in Miami and I still haven’t had a chance to unpack. I needed to buy coat hangers and some extension cords. I still need more extension cords. I also took Z out to dinner, she is getting a cold because of the air conditioning. She is 28 years old and very smart. She graduated from the University with a degree in English and she speaks it and writes it well. She dresses in an Abaya, covering her hair with her scarf. She has a round face and beautiful, intelligent big eyes. She lives with her mother, a brother and several sisters. Her brother who was married at age 20 and has a daughter escorted her to Kuwait. Unmarried women cannot travel without an escort. After we went shopping she came back to my apartment and I asked her questions about Iraq and she asked me questions about the States. The only place she has traveled to has been Kuwait. She couldn’t believe it when I told her about the Amish in America and she also couldn’t believe that there are men in America who think that women belong in the home and shouldn’t work. She asked how marriage worked in the U.S. and I said, “Not very well, we have a 50% divorce rate.” She asked why and I’m not sure I know why. I think maybe it’s because women and men haven’t revised their idea of marriage to fit the new roles we play or what. If anyone has any insight I would love to hear it.
What she was really asking is how the courting system works. The irony is that she is asking me! I told her that a man and woman meet and they go out on dates and get to know each other (I gave her the edited version) and then decide they want to get married. They tell their families and they plan a wedding celebration. Z loves children and she said when she was younger she didn’t really have dreams of anything other than growing up and getting married. She never thought she would be working for Mercy Corps. I asked her if she wanted to get married and she said, “Not yet. Right now I’m involved in my work.”
She didn’t start out working with the literacy program she started out doing administrative work, but she became very interested in the literacy program. The literacy program takes place in three stages. The first stage, the foundation stage, they learn to read and write in Arabic, Math, Culture and History. In the second stage they continue with Arabic, Math, Culture and History, but at the end of the second stage they can earn their certificate for the fourth grade. In the third stage the Preparatory stage, they continue with Arabic, Math, Culture and History, but they also get some Science. Right now we are working to allow them to sit for an examination after the third stage so they can earn their certificate for the sixth grade. So, then the question is what next. It’s funny there are men in the office who don’t understand why the women should learn how to read and write, we tell them that it will make them better wives and mothers. We also do extra-circular activities to teach them about nutrition and health, they get involved in health campaigns, going door-to-door to give people information in Arabic about different health issues.
Each participant has a story. One woman said she couldn’t read and write and her husband brought home a paper for her to sign, she signed it not realizing she was giving him permission to take a second wife. She said she wanted to learn to read and write so she couldn’t be taken advantage of again and she would know what she was signing.
Another young girl, who has a facial deformity, it’s not bad at all, dropped out of school because the other kids made fun of her face. But she loves learning and said she was really glad to have the chance to learn to read and write.
People with disabilities are viewed in general by the Arab world as cursed by God. We must have done something horrible in our lives, otherwise we wouldn’t be in wheelchairs or disabled. Can you see my eyes rolling? We helped a man who had lost both his legs in the Iran/Iraq war learn computer skills and he got a job, but his job told him he needed to wear trousers. He had always worn a dishdashah before to hide his stumps. He went out and bought trousers and everyone including his wife made fun of him. But he told them he didn’t care that if needed to wear trousers to work he would and I guess the teasing and rude comments have stopped.
As I was leaving the restaurant, from the Conflict Management Dinner, I rolled behind a woman who walks with crutches because of Polio, she is young and very pretty, but it is unlikely that she will ever get married. This young girl looked at us with a horrified expression, I turned directly to her and gave her a big smile and a wink. I just want them to wonder how someone who is cursed by God can be so happy.
At least I’m not Kuwaiti.
Check out my silverware lazy susan!
