MAY/JUNE/JULY 2004 Newsletter

Can you tell that I got a fashionable new haircut at a local salon?  I'm glad they spoke English at least.

Hello everyone!

Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT!

Summer has arrived in Uzbekistan, which means it's HOT, HOT, HOT!  It also means vacation (ka-ni-koo-la: vacation) for school kids and weekend trips to the mountains to cool off.  One popular place is Chimgan (pictures right), where I went a few months before the summer season. It's a really beautiful place and generally peaceful, save for the young men who accost you until you agree to ride their horses (I didn't)

JDA took a trip to Kamushkan (another popular summer getaway) on the 4th of July, an hour and a half drive outside of the city.  There wasn't much of a river or pond to swim in, but it was a nice day, and we spent it hiking, sitting at an Uzbek table, eating, drinking tea, and playing cards; and playing table tennis.  Unlike Americans, when Uzbeks rest,, (a-di-hat: rest), they really REST, i.e. they sit around the Uzbek table and do absolutely NOTHING.  We also made it to the local pool, which was quite an experience.  The pool water was really dirty ; you couldn't see the bottom of the pool.  Of course, there was no filtration or any chlorine in the water.  Then, once you got in, you had to be careful not to cut your feet on the rough and crumbling bottom.  Despite all of these factors, we still had fun, splashing each other and playing volleyball in the water.

Above and below: Chimgan

The dry area behind us is sometimes a river.

Hiking..

LANGUAGE, LANGUAGE, LANGUAGE

I am STILL learning Russian, which I mean figuratively and literally.   It continues to be somewhat frustrating, though one of my neighbors complimented me the other day. Yura! (Russian for Yeah!)  One of the hardest things for me to learn is how to use the word "GO".  In Russian, before I use this word, I have to think: 1. whether I'm going by foot or by transport 2. whether I'm starting to go, in the process of going, or arriving 3. whether I do it every day or many times a day

Finally, there are many endings to choose from. For example, if I wanted to say that I was at the bazaar, the ending attached to the word bazaar would be different from a sentence where I was describing going to the bazaar.  Hmm, maybe I should switch to Uzbek.  Or just stay home.

On to the Serious Stuff. . .

Although I spend most of my time here making spreadsheets and crunching numbers, I'm still learning a lot about development -  what it is, how it can be done, what keeps development from happening - and there are two things that I've realized:

True positive, transformational development is not value-neutral.  Why?  Because true development is about producing, not destroying; hard work, not laziness; working together, not taking from others; long-term solutions, not "get rich quick."   What you value - these are the things that motivate people and communities. So, if we just give people things instead of asking them to take part in creating solutions, we essentially tell them " yes, you can do absolutely nothing and still receive all of this."   In fact, this is what has happened in some parts of Karakalpakstan (W. Uzbekistan) where years of drought brought humanitarian aid that stopped as soon as the drought was over. Unfortunately, "get rich quick" development often leads to "get poor again even quicker."

Changing people's beliefs is essential to development.  These changes can either be a precursor to development or development itself.   What I mean here are the beliefs that dictate the way we live our lives.   And bad or incorrect beliefs can sometimes harm us.  One dangerous example is in Afghanistan, where women believe that when children have diarrhea, it's best NOT to give them water so that they "dry up" and no longer have diarrhea.This is very wrong, of course, because when children have diarrhea, they need to be rehydrated even more than ever (and in developing countries, diarrhea is the leading cause of child mortality).

As always, thank you for your interest in the world of Uzbekistan and Afghanistan!

Thanks!  Rakhmat (Uzbek)! Spaseeba (Russian)! Tashakor (Dari)!

FINALLY....

If only development work was this easy... I bought this yucky old cabinet (left) and made it into this kinda cute new cabinet (right).   It took just a few Saturdays, an iron, some paint, and a scraper.