Kabul

I didn't know what to expect when I arrived in Kabul. It's technically still a war zone. American's are flown by helicopter from the airport to the US embassy compound inside the green zone. My flight  from Dubai to to Kabul was remarkably empty, with no kids or families. That seemed to confirm that my latest work destination was going to be a little different. BUT, my return flight a week later was packed full of families and children leaving a very very different impression - one that I was happy to take with me. It felt like Disneyland - and apparently that is what most flights in and out of Kabul are like. I think my first flight was on a religious day where few were travelling. As usual, I can't share that much of my work. I couldn't take any photos once I was there but I got a few as we flew in to this capital city that sits at about 6000 feet elevation surrounded by stark mountains. Here are a few thoughts...

I arrived in Kabul the evening of the recent wedding attack that killed over eighty people, injuring hundreds more. (Weddings in Afghanistan are huge celebrations with hundreds to over a thousand attending.) This attack lingered throughout the week as a backdrop to my time and an illustration of the challenges that so many face in a country that the US is still technically fighting a war. Insecurity and attacks of all sorts are still common and the threat to those that work for Western organizations is extremely high. 

Those I was with this past week risk their lives every day to go to work to help build a more peaceful and stable Afghanistan. They don't know if they will return at night to see their children and their families. Their stories of trauma and grief are only rivaled by their courage to keep showing up. The morning after the wedding attack, everyone was at work. I told them that if a suicide bomber killed eighty people in Washington DC, people wouldn't return to work for weeks. It would take years for us to recover. Every time I led a session on stress and resilience I said that my local Afghan colleagues should be leading it. They know something about resilience and thriving that most of us will never know. Their fortitude is sustained by faith and by family, the bedrock of their society. 

The memories and backdrop of the wedding attack will linger as another layer of trauma for them and a difficult memory for me but what I will remember about my very short week in Afghanistan are the beautiful stark mountains that surround Kabul, the roses and beautiful flowers  in the compound I stayed that the local gardeners take so much pride in, the beautiful green farm land outside of Kabul that I saw photos of...I will remember the anguish and struggle so many face over the opportunity to leave for a new home that offers the opportunity of safety and peace or to remain with family in Afghanistan, continuing to build a more peaceful country, but at the risk of their life and their family. But mostly I will remember the faces of those who have experienced such great tragedy and loss - loss that I will never understand - and yet they choose to continue living, refusing, as Rumi writes, to be a 'caravan of despair.' I will remember their stories of great sadness as well as those of great courage, strength and beauty. 

Duncan

PS The Sewing Circles of Herat by Christina Lamb is a great book that will give you much insight into Afghanistan.

Rice Growing - From field preparation to transplanting.

This blog post is really just to show and describe the rice growing process without too much 'commentary' about my experience and observation from me. I'm saving that for a future post. 

In some places in Thailand, farmers can do two rice growing seasons. In Maehongson, it's usually limited to one cycle that coincides with the rainy season. Each farmer begins preparation of their fields based on their specific location, weather patterns and when their is enough water in the rivers that feed the 'nam hong' (water canal) that brings the water to flood the paddy fields. (Hill rice is also grown here - as it's name implies on hills (often slash and burned) and this requires no flooding. That's not the rice I'm doing.) 

I arrived in Maehongson and specifically back in the village of Patyng (where my parents lived for eight years) the second week of June in preparation for working in the fields. The plan was that I would help our former landlord's family in their fields. Golf is the 30 year old son of our former landlord and I would be helping him. 

Golf's great grand parents used to own the entire plot of fields seen below. At some  point two sections were sold off. The lighter green fields are split between Golf's family and a cousin.

Rice growing begins with the initial seed bed preparation. The rice is soaked over night and then scattered where it sprouts and grows for four to six weeks. The rice was already sprouting by the time I arrived in early June.

While the seedlings are growing, the rest of the fields are usually flooded, plowed and harrowed into liquified mud ready for the rice to be transplanted in. Before mechanized times, water buffalo and oxen were used only to be replaced by large oversize roto tillers. Both options are long, hard, exhausting work which can take up to two weeks.

Astute followers of photos that have been posted here or on facebook may have noticed a picture with a tractor in the background...let's just say times they are a changing. I kept asking when plowing would begin and I didn't really get a straight answer. All of a sudden after I had been 'waiting' for several weeks, a guy on a tractor appeared and for the princely sum of 800 baht ($25) an hour the fields were completely plowed in about four hours. Done. And I wondered, ok, well clearly that alters my plans a little as I thought I would be able to do a little plowing! I certainly don't begrudge this decision though. Who wouldn't choose to spend that money to save so much time and physical energy?

This is the first time Aunty Yui(and perhaps anyone in this village) has rented a tractor to do this - and honestly it's surprising it hadn't happened before. At the time I thought that everyone with the right sized fields would quickly switch to doing it this way - but as it turned out, I'm not sure that they will do it this way again. The tractor simply didn't plow the soil deep enough. Perhaps if that can be adjusted they will use the tractor again but if not, it's back to the hard laborious work of using the 'roto- tiller.' 

The tractor was a novel sight - many people quickly appeared to observe.

Aunty Yui - overseeing the tractor. 

And just like that the fields were plowed!

Normally if doing it the old way, the fields would have been flooded prior to the plowing. Using the large tractor, the fields were plowed and then the water was allowed to flow into the fields and flood them. But for about a week there were some issues with not enough water coming through the nam hong to adequately submerge everything, allowing all the grass and weeds to rot. 

Eventually the water was flowing sufficiently

I knew I would still have the opportunity to work with the roto tiller as the fields  can't be harrowed using the tractor. But I really wanted to do some actual field preparation and plowing. I eventually found it in the fields of Uncle Yurn where I spent time helping to cut the long grass and weeks and eventually a day plowing. I wrote on facebook that 'Uncle Yurn doesn’t really look like Mick Jagger but there’s something very Jaggerish about him when he screams past me in his motorcycle with side car or when he’s dressed to do field work - maybe it’s his sun glasses or maybe just his attitude. It’s like he doesn’t care what anyone thinks! Anyway, he has been gracious enough to take me under his wing so to speak when other options have fallen through - though he’s also fully used me to work - which I wanted- no babying here. He makes it look easy - plowing with grace and ease, perhaps like Jagger dances. I on the other hand initially was plowing like a water buffalo doing ballet. Fortunately by the third or fourth field I had a better hang of it and was letting the ‘beast’ do the work. And Uncle Yurn trusted me enough to go off and do other things. But my hands are blistered, cut and mangled, my shoulder sockets feel like they have been torn apart and I can barely walk. All in all a good day! Fortunately Uncle Yurn’s wife is the village masseuse - I will be visiting her tomorrow! No picks of me plowing - Jagger doesn’t take pics, he’s in them. But the proof is my dirty self!'