This morning I had to be at the office earlier than usual for an event, so I ended up grabbing a quick breakfast and then getting into my car around 8am. I arrived in the office at about 8:25am and got a call from a friend asking where I was. He told me that there had been an attack at about 8:14am west on the road on which we live. We had received warnings yesterday that an attack was planned on a high-profile target in Kabul, and had been instructed to take an alternative route to the office. We didn’t really think that this would hit so close to home, literally. A couple of my friends who live in the same compound, just on the other side, heard and felt the blast this morning. It’s scary to think if I had left five or ten minutes later that I could have easily been right in the middle of it all. A lot of my co-workers and friends were stuck at home until noon because crews were busy cleaning everything up. We found out that the attack was planned on ISAF – the coalition troops, none of whom were killed. Three civilians are reported dead.
Everyone here is fine; I’m a bit shaken up because this is the first time anything like this has happened since I’ve been here. Our security department is taking the appropriate measures to ensure everyone’s safety. No need to worry otherwise. BBC and AP picked up the story, so I thought I would write about it, before I got e-mails/calls of worry.
Our security restrictions had been lessened and curfew had been extended for the last couple of weeks, but I think things will be tightened for the next couple of weeks for sure. I think we’ll probably lay-low this weekend and just take it easy at home. After something like this, it doesn’t really make you want to be out and about in the city, but we’ll see what happens.
Hope everyone is well
Khuda Hafiz…
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
PCOs and M-Paisa
One of the comments on my blog asked about Roshan launching a Grameen type phone service, so I thought I would dedicate this entry to write about some of the interesting projects going on here at Roshan.
Roshan presently has two projects which may be interest. The first is the Public Call Office aimed at people in small villages and communities who may not have access or cannot afford a mobile connection. Even now, these PCOs are found in main cities such as Kabul. Individuals can go to a PCO office and pay a small fee to make or receive phone calls. Roshan provides loans to buy PCO machines, to women, ex-combats and the ultra-poor. PCO owners can make up to $300 a month.
Last month, basically a week after I got here, Roshan with Vodafone, launched M-Paisa, Afghanistan’s first mobile money transfer system. M-Paisa provides an easy, secure and cost-effective way for customers to transfer money using SMS. M-Paisa is ideal for both large and small enterprises, and for non-governmental organizations, including health care facilities and educational institutions that require an instantaneous transfer of money.
The new system is useful to microfinance institutions and assists them extending microfinance to those who have not had access to financial resources in the past. Each transaction is securely recorded to ensure financial integrity and to prevent money laundering and illegal funding.
Using an application provided on the SIM card (customers just bring their old SIM to one of our shops and exchange for a new one), it is easy and quick to transfer money across the country. M-Paisa provides the Afghan people with superior, cost-effective alternative to other money transfer methods. As a result, M-Paisa also contributes to local wealth creation and economic development because it eases business transactions, loan repayments and the movement of money nationwide. Roshan has partnered with FMFB with this program. My friend who launched M-Paisa here (and who previously launched M-Pesa in Kenya) is now working on launches in Iraq and Mozambique with other companies. There is a huge demand right now for people to work in mobile banking product development. There are about 90 million microfinance customers throughout the world, imagine intergrating the mobile phone into the exchange of money, the options are limitless.
If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments section of my blog or e-mail me. I'm more than happy to answer your questions.
Roshan presently has two projects which may be interest. The first is the Public Call Office aimed at people in small villages and communities who may not have access or cannot afford a mobile connection. Even now, these PCOs are found in main cities such as Kabul. Individuals can go to a PCO office and pay a small fee to make or receive phone calls. Roshan provides loans to buy PCO machines, to women, ex-combats and the ultra-poor. PCO owners can make up to $300 a month.
Last month, basically a week after I got here, Roshan with Vodafone, launched M-Paisa, Afghanistan’s first mobile money transfer system. M-Paisa provides an easy, secure and cost-effective way for customers to transfer money using SMS. M-Paisa is ideal for both large and small enterprises, and for non-governmental organizations, including health care facilities and educational institutions that require an instantaneous transfer of money.
The new system is useful to microfinance institutions and assists them extending microfinance to those who have not had access to financial resources in the past. Each transaction is securely recorded to ensure financial integrity and to prevent money laundering and illegal funding.
Using an application provided on the SIM card (customers just bring their old SIM to one of our shops and exchange for a new one), it is easy and quick to transfer money across the country. M-Paisa provides the Afghan people with superior, cost-effective alternative to other money transfer methods. As a result, M-Paisa also contributes to local wealth creation and economic development because it eases business transactions, loan repayments and the movement of money nationwide. Roshan has partnered with FMFB with this program. My friend who launched M-Paisa here (and who previously launched M-Pesa in Kenya) is now working on launches in Iraq and Mozambique with other companies. There is a huge demand right now for people to work in mobile banking product development. There are about 90 million microfinance customers throughout the world, imagine intergrating the mobile phone into the exchange of money, the options are limitless.
If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments section of my blog or e-mail me. I'm more than happy to answer your questions.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Recap of the weekend...
Back to work today :(
I had a pretty busy weekend. On Thursday night we ended up going to a Bollywood themed party at one of the guesthouses here and got to meet some people who work for a few organizations here in Kabul. Friday morning I ended up going to one of the markets here which is only for foreigners, but items are brought in by the locals. The whole thing is super secure, you need a passport to get in and there are guards everywhere, not to mention most of the people who come shopping are members of the military.
In the afternoon I finally got to visit the Serena Hotel which is another AKDN entity like Roshan, basically our sister company in Kabul. It was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful architecture. They had a couple restaurants inside, and a lounge area, which they use for high tea. I’m going to be planning a few events that will probably take place at the Serena, so it was good to visit and see the space. For those of you who do not know the Serena Hotel was attacked this past January by the Taliban. Since then a lot of people have been weary about going back there, and you can definitely tell. The hotel is pretty empty and it’s pretty sad. Business wise I heard from a friend that things aren’t doing so well for them and they are losing quite a bit of money. Apparently, the Justice and Finance Ministers in Afghanistan are very anti-AKDN and went into the Serena’s bank account and took out a lot of money (people I have talked to have said close to $400,000), claiming they hadn’t paid certain taxes. Things have been a lot worse for them since that.
Friday evening Nokia-Siemens had a party at their guesthouse, so I ended up going to that. They ordered in amazing Lebanese food and had all the amazing fruit juices on their terrace. It almost made me forget I was in Afghanistan. Yesterday was pretty low-key for the most part. Now it’s back to work today. I just got back from the Ministry of the Interior. When I arrived I had filled out a Foreigner’s Registration Card and apparently, I was suppose to go to the Ministry within 24-48 hours of arriving to get it stamped. On the actual card it says to go to the Ministry 24-48 hours of leaving. There was quite a few of us who hadn’t gone since we arrived so we all went together. They ended up putting us all in a room and made us wait for awhile. They wanted to charge us each a 4000Afs penalty, equivalent of $80 for not coming right away to get our cards stamped. We had taken one of the guys from our legal department and he managed to talk us out of it and we got a lovely lecture on coming to the Ministry right away the next time we enter into Afghanistan.
Nothing too exciting going on otherwise, which is probably a good thing. Excitement isn’t something I should probably be looking for in Afghanistan. Security was pretty tight this weekend, so I don’t know if they are speculating an attack or something. I got stopped once this weekend and asked for my passport, and again this morning on the way to work. Our security department has let us know of anything so I think everything is fine.
This weekend I think we’re going to try and plan a picnic for Barbur Gardens, which is another AKDN project which has been undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). AKTC takes on a lot of restoration projects in the areas in which AKDN works. Check out this article in Time magazine if you want to read more about the gardens: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/best_of_asia/article/0,28804,1614524_1614477_1614465,00.html
I had a pretty busy weekend. On Thursday night we ended up going to a Bollywood themed party at one of the guesthouses here and got to meet some people who work for a few organizations here in Kabul. Friday morning I ended up going to one of the markets here which is only for foreigners, but items are brought in by the locals. The whole thing is super secure, you need a passport to get in and there are guards everywhere, not to mention most of the people who come shopping are members of the military.
In the afternoon I finally got to visit the Serena Hotel which is another AKDN entity like Roshan, basically our sister company in Kabul. It was absolutely gorgeous, beautiful architecture. They had a couple restaurants inside, and a lounge area, which they use for high tea. I’m going to be planning a few events that will probably take place at the Serena, so it was good to visit and see the space. For those of you who do not know the Serena Hotel was attacked this past January by the Taliban. Since then a lot of people have been weary about going back there, and you can definitely tell. The hotel is pretty empty and it’s pretty sad. Business wise I heard from a friend that things aren’t doing so well for them and they are losing quite a bit of money. Apparently, the Justice and Finance Ministers in Afghanistan are very anti-AKDN and went into the Serena’s bank account and took out a lot of money (people I have talked to have said close to $400,000), claiming they hadn’t paid certain taxes. Things have been a lot worse for them since that.
Friday evening Nokia-Siemens had a party at their guesthouse, so I ended up going to that. They ordered in amazing Lebanese food and had all the amazing fruit juices on their terrace. It almost made me forget I was in Afghanistan. Yesterday was pretty low-key for the most part. Now it’s back to work today. I just got back from the Ministry of the Interior. When I arrived I had filled out a Foreigner’s Registration Card and apparently, I was suppose to go to the Ministry within 24-48 hours of arriving to get it stamped. On the actual card it says to go to the Ministry 24-48 hours of leaving. There was quite a few of us who hadn’t gone since we arrived so we all went together. They ended up putting us all in a room and made us wait for awhile. They wanted to charge us each a 4000Afs penalty, equivalent of $80 for not coming right away to get our cards stamped. We had taken one of the guys from our legal department and he managed to talk us out of it and we got a lovely lecture on coming to the Ministry right away the next time we enter into Afghanistan.
Nothing too exciting going on otherwise, which is probably a good thing. Excitement isn’t something I should probably be looking for in Afghanistan. Security was pretty tight this weekend, so I don’t know if they are speculating an attack or something. I got stopped once this weekend and asked for my passport, and again this morning on the way to work. Our security department has let us know of anything so I think everything is fine.
This weekend I think we’re going to try and plan a picnic for Barbur Gardens, which is another AKDN project which has been undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC). AKTC takes on a lot of restoration projects in the areas in which AKDN works. Check out this article in Time magazine if you want to read more about the gardens: http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/best_of_asia/article/0,28804,1614524_1614477_1614465,00.html
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Fire and Kabul University
So things have been INSANE for the last 24-hours
Yesterday, we received a credible report that a suicide bomb attack was planned on a high-profile ex-pat in Kabul, so we were all restricted to movement to and from the office. At about 4:30 our phones and internet stopped working, so initially some of us panicked and thought that this planned attack had something to do with it.
We were later informed that there was a fire at one of our sites and everything would be down for sometime. Apparently, the air condition unit at the site was fixed earlier that day, and it was that unit that started the fire. When our IT guys got to the site, they found that the electrical fire had been put out with water making the damage even worse. The phones were completely down and we had no way to contact each other, let alone our PR agency to get a radio spot on air to tell people that things were down and that service would be available as soon as possible.
Luckily, our phones were up and running in about an hour, but we still have no access to e-mail, any of our work documents, or land phones; and the IT department is still assessing the damage. A lot of my friends who work in IT have been working around the clock to get everything up and running, but most of it is just waiting for the equipment to dry out and hopefully work. A couple of my friends were supposed to go to India this week for the visit, but now will not be able to go. Our customer service centre and all our regional offices are still down and customers aren’t too happy from what it seems. There is literally no work to do at the office, since none of us can access e-mail or any of our files. So things have been pretty boring for the most-part. Trying to find things to do….a lot of our local staff have already left for the day.
This morning I finally got a chance to visit Kabul University. I went with two others from the office, as well as with one of the heads of our security company. There had been an attack a few weeks ago at the university so they wanted to make sure we were safe on the premises. Kabul University has been around since the 1930s and was even open during the time of the Taliban; however, females obviously did not attend classes during those years. At York, in Toronto, the majority of students are female and here it was quite the opposite, not that I expected otherwise, but you really notice it from the moment you step on to the campus.
Roshan is working with the university on a park beautification project and a couple other proposed partnerships. I had to visit the university to see if there were other ways we could collaborate to work with them. We had a tough time actually getting into the university through the gates; the security gave us a pretty tough time. The campus is not very well kept, but is still absolutely beautiful. It’s very green, lots of trees and plants. it sort of reminded me of the UBC campus in that way. The buildings are quite well-built, but we weren’t allowed to actually go into the various faculty buildings. We did manage to sneak into a women’s computer lab to take a look around. The women’s lab is funded by the World Bank who pays for both the equipment and staff. Each of the seven staff members is paid $100 a month, which is virtually nothing. A nice apartment (and they really aren’t so nice. They are in my first set of pictures if you want to see) costs about $700 a month. The women who run this computer centre virtually make no money. The locals in the office make about $500 a month. The World Bank sends its IT people to periodically check, but some of the computers are already out of date and the internet connection is quite poor. The men’s computer lab has superior high-speed connection. Go figure!
At the University once again I stuck out like a sore thumb, as did my colleagues, and no one is scared to keep looking at you. We had a ton of kids following us around, asking for money and then the students (17-22 years old) just kept staring and pointing at us. It really makes me uncomfortable always being pointed out as an outsider. It’s the one thing that I really hate about going out and doing anything here. People can easily tell that we are high-profile ex-pats, especially when you have a security guard putting you in the car, and following your every move. I wish we could just blend in, but it is virtually impossible. A lot of other ex-pats who work with other smaller NGos have a much easier time just being. But, for us, it is virtually impossible.
TGIT….I’m so excited for the weekend. Hopefully everything will be up and running again by Sunday morning.
Yesterday, we received a credible report that a suicide bomb attack was planned on a high-profile ex-pat in Kabul, so we were all restricted to movement to and from the office. At about 4:30 our phones and internet stopped working, so initially some of us panicked and thought that this planned attack had something to do with it.
We were later informed that there was a fire at one of our sites and everything would be down for sometime. Apparently, the air condition unit at the site was fixed earlier that day, and it was that unit that started the fire. When our IT guys got to the site, they found that the electrical fire had been put out with water making the damage even worse. The phones were completely down and we had no way to contact each other, let alone our PR agency to get a radio spot on air to tell people that things were down and that service would be available as soon as possible.
Luckily, our phones were up and running in about an hour, but we still have no access to e-mail, any of our work documents, or land phones; and the IT department is still assessing the damage. A lot of my friends who work in IT have been working around the clock to get everything up and running, but most of it is just waiting for the equipment to dry out and hopefully work. A couple of my friends were supposed to go to India this week for the visit, but now will not be able to go. Our customer service centre and all our regional offices are still down and customers aren’t too happy from what it seems. There is literally no work to do at the office, since none of us can access e-mail or any of our files. So things have been pretty boring for the most-part. Trying to find things to do….a lot of our local staff have already left for the day.
This morning I finally got a chance to visit Kabul University. I went with two others from the office, as well as with one of the heads of our security company. There had been an attack a few weeks ago at the university so they wanted to make sure we were safe on the premises. Kabul University has been around since the 1930s and was even open during the time of the Taliban; however, females obviously did not attend classes during those years. At York, in Toronto, the majority of students are female and here it was quite the opposite, not that I expected otherwise, but you really notice it from the moment you step on to the campus.
Roshan is working with the university on a park beautification project and a couple other proposed partnerships. I had to visit the university to see if there were other ways we could collaborate to work with them. We had a tough time actually getting into the university through the gates; the security gave us a pretty tough time. The campus is not very well kept, but is still absolutely beautiful. It’s very green, lots of trees and plants. it sort of reminded me of the UBC campus in that way. The buildings are quite well-built, but we weren’t allowed to actually go into the various faculty buildings. We did manage to sneak into a women’s computer lab to take a look around. The women’s lab is funded by the World Bank who pays for both the equipment and staff. Each of the seven staff members is paid $100 a month, which is virtually nothing. A nice apartment (and they really aren’t so nice. They are in my first set of pictures if you want to see) costs about $700 a month. The women who run this computer centre virtually make no money. The locals in the office make about $500 a month. The World Bank sends its IT people to periodically check, but some of the computers are already out of date and the internet connection is quite poor. The men’s computer lab has superior high-speed connection. Go figure!
At the University once again I stuck out like a sore thumb, as did my colleagues, and no one is scared to keep looking at you. We had a ton of kids following us around, asking for money and then the students (17-22 years old) just kept staring and pointing at us. It really makes me uncomfortable always being pointed out as an outsider. It’s the one thing that I really hate about going out and doing anything here. People can easily tell that we are high-profile ex-pats, especially when you have a security guard putting you in the car, and following your every move. I wish we could just blend in, but it is virtually impossible. A lot of other ex-pats who work with other smaller NGos have a much easier time just being. But, for us, it is virtually impossible.
TGIT….I’m so excited for the weekend. Hopefully everything will be up and running again by Sunday morning.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Salaam from Kabul
Things have been super busy, so sorry for not writing sooner....
This past weekend we went on a hunt for the bookstore and managed to find it. It felt really weird to be inside the structure I've been reading about for the past month. Rais, himself, was not there, but I managed to pick up a copy of his book and some postcards (a rare find in Afghanistan). I also had a chance to visit the Safi Landmark Hotel which is located in the main city centre mall here. The food was amazing and they had a live sitar and tabla player (I hope I'm spelling that right).
I also went for my first meeting at the First Microfinance Bank Afghanistan (FMFB-A) which falls under the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance. I met with the CEO, CFO and Marketing Manager, and got an overview of the Annual Report project they would like me to complete. There is a lot of work coming up with this report, but I think it will be a good challenge. They are big on me doing some capacity building while I'm here and ultimately want me to train their Marketing Manager to take over the Annual Report for the years to come. I've been really overwhelmed thinking about how I'm going to teach this guy how to write and manage this report for the years to come, especially when his English reading and writing skills aren't too strong. He's on vacation for the next week, so I have some time to come up with a strategy to not only involve him in the project, but give him ownership over it.
Over the next couple of weeks the planning for the Tajikistan FMFB report will begin, and I will hopefully make a visit there at the end of June or early July. I'm really excited about getting to do some travelling while I'm there. A friend of mine just left Roshan to go back home to Tajikistan, so hopefully I'll get to visit him while I'm there.
I got a very cool project assigned to me at work, which I'm unfortunately not allowed to discuss because it's a first in Afghanistan, and no one wants the project to be leaked out and potentially picked up by other mobile operators in the country. I am handling the media and event launch of this interesting product, which I'm really excited about. All I can say is it's big. I'll write more about this when we are closer to the launch date and I'm allowed to open my mouth.
The Dari classes are coming along, slowly but surely. I'm having a bit of a tough time with it. I think I really need to start reviewing and practicing everyday outside of class. I have this instinct to built my sentences in Dari like I do in French and it's frustrating because the structure is completely different. The vocab is a bit difficult to pickup. I need to find some cue cards, or make some because I think that's going to be the only way I pick this up.
This past weekend we went on a hunt for the bookstore and managed to find it. It felt really weird to be inside the structure I've been reading about for the past month. Rais, himself, was not there, but I managed to pick up a copy of his book and some postcards (a rare find in Afghanistan). I also had a chance to visit the Safi Landmark Hotel which is located in the main city centre mall here. The food was amazing and they had a live sitar and tabla player (I hope I'm spelling that right).
I also went for my first meeting at the First Microfinance Bank Afghanistan (FMFB-A) which falls under the Aga Khan Agency for Microfinance. I met with the CEO, CFO and Marketing Manager, and got an overview of the Annual Report project they would like me to complete. There is a lot of work coming up with this report, but I think it will be a good challenge. They are big on me doing some capacity building while I'm here and ultimately want me to train their Marketing Manager to take over the Annual Report for the years to come. I've been really overwhelmed thinking about how I'm going to teach this guy how to write and manage this report for the years to come, especially when his English reading and writing skills aren't too strong. He's on vacation for the next week, so I have some time to come up with a strategy to not only involve him in the project, but give him ownership over it.
Over the next couple of weeks the planning for the Tajikistan FMFB report will begin, and I will hopefully make a visit there at the end of June or early July. I'm really excited about getting to do some travelling while I'm there. A friend of mine just left Roshan to go back home to Tajikistan, so hopefully I'll get to visit him while I'm there.
I got a very cool project assigned to me at work, which I'm unfortunately not allowed to discuss because it's a first in Afghanistan, and no one wants the project to be leaked out and potentially picked up by other mobile operators in the country. I am handling the media and event launch of this interesting product, which I'm really excited about. All I can say is it's big. I'll write more about this when we are closer to the launch date and I'm allowed to open my mouth.
The Dari classes are coming along, slowly but surely. I'm having a bit of a tough time with it. I think I really need to start reviewing and practicing everyday outside of class. I have this instinct to built my sentences in Dari like I do in French and it's frustrating because the structure is completely different. The vocab is a bit difficult to pickup. I need to find some cue cards, or make some because I think that's going to be the only way I pick this up.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Searching for the Bookseller of Kabul
Åsne Seierstad published a book titled The Bookseller of Kabul based on her experience living with Kabul's most famous bookseller Shah Muhammad Rais. The bookstore is one of the most famous bookstores in the city, and even struggled to stay open during the Taliban regime. Seierstad talks in her book of Rais hiding books in attics throughout Kabul to preserve Afghan culture and history.
Seierstad lived with Rais' family (of twenty) in a four bedroom house for six months to observe his life and the interactions within his family. The outcome was a controversial book that led to one of his wives leaving him, and several of his children fleeing the country. He claims that her book destroyed his life. In response, Rais published a book titled Once Upon a Time There was a Bookseller in Kabul where he tells his story and basically dismisses Seierstad's story which paints him as a tyrant. Rais has asserted in numerous interviews that Seierstad violated the families trust by disclosing to the public stories told in confidence. The book describes a rape committed by Rais' son, as well as the story of a family-friend who was beaten by her family for riding in a taxi with a boy she had a crush on.
Rais' bookstore still exists in Kabul today, and tomorrow a few of us are off on a hunt to find it. There are clues throughout the book about where it is located, but after doing some research online we've pinpointed the exact location. It should be interesting, I'm about half-way through The Bookseller of Kabul so I'm interested to see the man who I've been been reading about for the past couple of weeks. His shop apparently has a really good selection of books on Afghanistan. I'm hoping to get a copy of his book in English, as well as a few others about the country.
Hopefully an interesting story and some photos are to follow....
Seierstad lived with Rais' family (of twenty) in a four bedroom house for six months to observe his life and the interactions within his family. The outcome was a controversial book that led to one of his wives leaving him, and several of his children fleeing the country. He claims that her book destroyed his life. In response, Rais published a book titled Once Upon a Time There was a Bookseller in Kabul where he tells his story and basically dismisses Seierstad's story which paints him as a tyrant. Rais has asserted in numerous interviews that Seierstad violated the families trust by disclosing to the public stories told in confidence. The book describes a rape committed by Rais' son, as well as the story of a family-friend who was beaten by her family for riding in a taxi with a boy she had a crush on.
Rais' bookstore still exists in Kabul today, and tomorrow a few of us are off on a hunt to find it. There are clues throughout the book about where it is located, but after doing some research online we've pinpointed the exact location. It should be interesting, I'm about half-way through The Bookseller of Kabul so I'm interested to see the man who I've been been reading about for the past couple of weeks. His shop apparently has a really good selection of books on Afghanistan. I'm hoping to get a copy of his book in English, as well as a few others about the country.
Hopefully an interesting story and some photos are to follow....
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Friday, May 2, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
