A Letter written to an old friend with whom I had recently reconnected.
Monday 13 October 2008
Janet. It is 4:15. It was a
glorious sunny day today but it is already getting dark here. I am at my desk
in my office -- a bit tired and unable to focus on work. So - let me take a
stab at the question you asked in one of your recent emails - what is my day
like here.
I get up
around 6:30 or 7.00. I have my own room with a bathroom, not attached, but next
door and it is -- as I have made clear - "my bathroom". Five of the
six flat mates I share this villa with have "ensuite" bathrooms
attached to their rooms - but I insist that Josef (who doesn't) use the
bathroom downstairs and not mine. So - I can get a shower when I'm up. Grab
something to eat - usually mueseli with fruit (whatever is in season - mango
for awhile, now pomegranates from Kandahar) and dried mulberries which I
have become quite partial to - and yoghurt. If I get the chance on Fridays to
go to the French Bakery at the other end of town (takes about 1/2 an hour by
car), I can have good sour yoghurt. Otherwise, it is not so sour but
OK yoghurt from the supermarket on 15th Street. I live -- our UNHCR
guesthouse -- in a lane off Indira Ghandi Road which is off 13th St in the
neighbourhood called Wazir Akbar Khan -- a wealthy area of large villas that
commanders and politicians built for themselves, and then rented out to the
international community. So - I eat my yoghurt, usually watching BBC or CNN or El Ghazera. Then I feed the cats. We
have 5 what were kittens two months ago and now have become quite aggressive
cats. Quite small but getting fat -- 3 males and 2 females. I buy the cat food
and feed them. And try to keep them out of the house. But if someone leaves the
door open, those cheeky little animals find a way in - and then we play chase
the cats to get them out again. I will have the chokidors -- sort of
gatekeepers for the compound -- build a little house for them for the winter.
But by then I will be gone and they will be someone else's responsibility
- or have to fend for themselves in this quite Hobbsian world that animals live
in here. (Eating generally from the bins or catching mice and lice.) I digress
again. So, with breakfast in me, I catch a shuttle (all armoured jeeps now) to
the office. The first leaves at 7.30 - and then there are cars at 8.00 and
8.30.
Today, I was late
and didn't get into the office till 8.00 - in part because I woke up at 1.00
a.m., couldn't sleep, and so read for 2 hours -- The Reluctant Fundamentalist -
a good and quick read by a Pakistani
author Mohsin Hamid. An interesting insight into America after 9/11. So it must
have been 5:30 before I slept again and
it was a struggle to get up.
But today, I had the monthly meeting of the IDP Task Force to Chair at
10.00. The supposed Chair of the meeting is the Deputy Minister of the Ministry
of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR). But, last month, he didn’t show for the
meeting and today he informed me – when I called – that he was being called
away urgently to Parliament and would send one of his staff instead. I then had
to scramble to find someone who would interpret, knowing that this staff member
of MoRR was not likely to speak English – and it was a hassle because half of
the staff seems to be on leave at the moment. But, I was found someone. Yesterday,
I had to scramble to find a room – because the Conference room we normally use
for these meetings was booked for a training session. And, though I am supposed
to have someone to help on these administrative matters, in the end – I need to
sort them out myself.
It was actually a useful meeting – lasted almost 2 hours – where we
discussed, amongst other things, the fact that nothing seems to be happening to
provide assistance to the IDPs and others living in the slum district of Kabul
(Chahari Qambar) though the Water and Sanitation Cluster should be doing water
tankering or digging some wells, and the Ministry of Health should be
inoculating children and providing medical care, and the Government (in
general) should be assuming its responsibility for dealing with these 500+
families living in miserable conditions in tents or partial mud huts. We also
addressed the problem of IDP children unable to get into schools because they
lack documentation and agreed to support the efforts being made by Sub-Office
Kabul to get the Ministry of Education to ensure that kids can be registered
without such paperwork. We decided to set up a small group that would start
working on a strategy to proactively address the issue of how we reach and
provide assistance to “battle-affected IDPs’” (those forced to leave their
homes because of fighting – but who will, for the most part, return after
battle moves elsewhere) and the “drought-affected” IDPs, those leaving their
villages because they have run out of food and water. And, we agreed to draft a
statement concerning the decision of the Spanish PRT
(Provincial Recontruction Team – which is a military unit that does some
“development” work) which insisted on providing relief food to battle affected
IDPs in a Western province when specifically asked not to do so by the IDP Task
Force, because the Government had food to distribute. When the military starts
doing “humanitarian” work, it blurs the lines between humanitarian and other
interventions, and makes humanitarian actors targets for the Taliban. There are
Guidelines which state that military personnel should only provide support to
humanitarian assistance in last resort life saving situations and when
requested by the Government – but in the effort to “win hearts and minds” –
these Guidelines are often not followed.
After the Task Force meeting, I had lunch
– we have a “cafeteria” of sorts – at least, for $50.00/month, we get lunch
made by a cook whose idea of a good balanced meal is pasta with tomato sauce,
rice, fried potatoes, and possibly beans. We have tried giving him instructions
and menus and recipes, but the effort overwhelms. Today he actually had salmon
steaks, but they were breaded and fried - so…
The rest of the day I spent doing the
minutes and finalizing a paper I have been working on for over 6 months – a
National Profiling of IDPs in Afghanistan. It should have been adopted at the
IDP Task Force meeting today, but since the Deputy Minister was not there and
I’ve had no feedback from MoRR, I have made the last changes that UNHCR’s Rep
wanted me to make. I have had a bit of a difference of view on exactly who
should be considered IDPs. But, fortunately, I have been able to alter the text
in a way that he has accepted it without any major compromises.
Yesterday – was a little different.
The
Day Before, Sunday – 12 October.
I had a meeting at the UNAMA (UN
Mission in Afghanistan – the “Mission”) Compound at 8.00. This was for a small
group of us from the Protection Cluster (which I chair for UNHCR) to go an meet
with the Speaker of Parliament to discuss the rising number of civilian
casualties caused both by pro-government forces (usually ISAF – International
Security Assistance Forces) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom, US forces) and
ANA (Afghan National Army) –
especially aerial bombings, and/or unnecessary force used at checkpoints, or in
searches, or against people detained – on the one hand, and anti-Government
forces (notably the Taliban in suicide bombings as well as abductions,
assassinations, etc) on the other. I was meeting with Norah Niland – an Irish
woman in her late 50s who head the Human Rights Unit for UNAMA (and who has
become a good friend – we sometimes go carpet shopping together – a very
expatriate Afghan pastime), Simon Russell (a Brit, in his 40s, a judge on
refugee cases in the UK but also, like me, in the Procap Program, assigned to
UNAMA to work on the issue of Protection of Civilians), who set up the meeting
for us; Dr Mayer, the Deputy Director of ACBAR – which is a network of about
100 mostly Afghan NGOs. UNICEF was also supposed to come but, when I called
them at 8.30, they claimed to have another more important meeting – I should
say it took us nearly a month to get this meeting with the Speaker, so I was
less than pleased. We should also have been joined by the Director of the
Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), an NGO that is deputy chair of the Cluster,
along with UNAMA, but she had flu, and by a Commissioner from the Afghan
Commission on Human Rights (AIHRC). AIHRC, however, instead of sending a
Commissioner, sent two staff, and the Political Office informed us that there
was no way that the Speaker would accept them as part of the delegation. So, in
the end, it was just Norah, Dr. Mayer and myself that went to see the Speaker
at 10.00.
A handsome, sophisticated man in his early
40’s, wearing a Western suit and tie, very cosmopolitan, and smart – tho
clicking worry beads when we entered. He was a commander in the Northern
Alliance (represents the Northern Alliance in Parliament) – a Tajik – very very
anti-Taliban. So we talked. I introduced the Protection Cluster to him – which
is new in Afghanistan. Mentioned rising civilian casualty figures which he is
well aware of. Then told him we hoped for the help of Parliamentarians in
trying to influence the Taliban as well as ISAF/ANA
forces. Norah talked more about casualties and Mayar about an NGO Declaration
with recommendations. He was responsive, though told us that we had to remember
that this was a war against terrorism and in war, one doesn’t give out chocolates.
Didn’t hold out much hope of influencing the Taliban who is convinced have an
agenda in which respect for human rights or humanitarian law is irrelevant.
Did, however, agree to help us set up meeting with Parliamentarians who have
links to the Taliban as well as to the Defense Commission and Internal Security
Commissions of Parliament. So – all in all, a successful meeting. And, in the
end, it was probably better that we were a small group rather than a larger one.
After lunch, followed up on a phone call
from the Canadian mission which wanted UNHCR to help a CBC
TV journalist visit some IDPs
“settlements” in and around Kabul. Our
sub-Office was prepared to take her to see some IDPs on Tuesday – but not to
take her to a Kabul slum called Chahari Qambar, where she wanted to go as well.
The journalist – a woman who had been doing some reporting from Kandahar in the
South -- was prepared to go to CQ herself. (In fact, as she was supposed to
have come a week earlier, and postponed it, here “fixer” had spent some days
setting up interviews for her in that slum.) But she also wanted to do an
interview with UNHCR, so I contacted our Rep and our Public Info person about
it. As it turned out, we had 3 people from UNHCR who were in QC that morning;
and as they were leaving, they met this Canadian journalist and set up the
interview to take place that afternoon at 3 p.m. I, subsequently, had a rather
frantic phone call from the Canadians about the time and place of the interview
– but as I had a bunch of things I was dealing with (e.g., an Update I edit on
IDP situations around the country), I was quite brusque in conveying the
minimal info I had -- that it was to take place at 3 p.m. at the UNHCR compound. Around 6 p.m.,
I had another phone call – this one from a friend who works at the Intl
Development Law Association (IDLO) asking if I was OK. Yes, of course, why? Was
my response. Well, her security had told her that a Canadian had been kidnapped
that afternoon. So – as it has turned out – this journalist was abducted just
after our people left CQ and is still missing (though her driver and translator
were not taken). I don’t know details. The story has NOT made the international
or Canadian press and is being kept under wraps as negotiations are on-going
for her release. So, Sunday night I didn’t sleep too well.
17 October – Friday.
Sorry I never got around to finishing my letter. Events have
a way of taking over and things like
letters get put aside. But I intend to finish and send this. Today – Friday –
the weekend, was another fantastic day – sunny – warm. The roses of Kabul – including in our
garden – are still in their glory though the evening are now cold. This morning
I was good. I was up at 7.00 and did an hour in the gym (really a part of our
guesthouse) – 30 minutes on the tread mill and 30 minutes of workout with weights. Then, at 11.00, I was
picked up by some friends – as it happened – it was 6 men I went out with – one
a Brazilian married to a Canadian, two internationals (one a Brit and one an
Aussie – both gay) and three Afghans, friends of theirs – also I think all gay
– and all with a good sense of humor. We went to the Serena Hotel
– a very plush hotel that, until this week, was on the prohibited list for
UNHCR staff – but with the restriction lifted, decided to go for their
extravagant brunch. Everything from smoked salmon to sushi and salads and meats
and cakes. So we spent almost three hours in leisurely dining. And then went to
a shop (Sardosi’s) actually run by a Canadian, where there make handmade goods
– everything from dresses to tablecloths and jewelery – where I ended up buying
a ridiculous pair of embroidered boots that I have no use for (but maybe
they’ll fit my 14 year old granddaughter) and a jacket, that will be nice once
the tailor does the alternations that were necessary – shorten the sleeves and
take in the back. And then I came home – sat outside and read for awhile and
was rewarded with one of the 5 cats, the one I call tiger, coming up onto my
lap for the first time.
OK – I’m going to mail this now. This is probably a lot more
that you bargained for and I hope I haven’t bored you to death.
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