Arts of Afghanistan and a Rainy Eid ul-Fitr

Rugs Show at the ACE House

My Favorite Prayer Rug

Gem Rough

More Rough Gems

Decorative Plaster Work

More Decorative Work

Carved Faux Pillar

Decorative Woodcarving

Rainy Kabul Street, Nearly Deserted

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Shams Market, Closed for Eid (Best it's Ever Looked)

Farewell Afghanistan: Updates and Finales

 



Footbridge and Vendors on the Kabul River

 

Homes Crawling Up a Hillside







I rained on Kabul last week. Not common for September; "Mud Season", as some of the expats call it, begins in October. It was enough of a change to start me thinking about wrapping it up here. I'm sure it will take months if not years to absorb all I've seen, heard and learned in Afghanistan. Whatever preconceptions I might have had are all evaporated in the face of reality. As one who constitutionally, perennially looks upon a half-full glass--I must say it's been a wonderful experience. This will be the last post before I return to my "regular" life. I do intend to add a reflective piece sometime later. And as I've agreed to return to Kabul for a month in January, there will be more posts at a future time.

 

 



I admit to a certain frustration coloring my impressions of this country. While I've come to admire the kindness and hospitality of the people, there is a nagging downside. After generations of subsistence living as a "donor supported state", many of the young people have an ingrained sense of entitlement. Of course it could just be me getting old and crotchety. Yet it's not just young Afghans. I've observed this same troubling trend at home. And perhaps the coming generation can be forgiven to some degree, especially here. They find themselves in a country and a time of transition. They are caught between the old ways--the pull of family and tribal ties, and the growing appeal of the global environment and the digital world.



Al Sharia Mosque









At this point I can't assess the level of success (or failure) of my endeavors. I'll leave that to others and the march of time. I am optimistic enough to have spent 3 days of the Eid holiday preparing bid quotes for a proposed reprise next year.  For now, I'll leave you, faithful followers, with more photos--random images from the past two months.



It Wasn't All Work

I



Job Service, Kabul-style





Home Away From Home

Courtyard of the Front Houses

The Office
(laundry room door open on L.)

Saturn House
(my room, ground floor, L)

Mercury House Porch
(at back of photo)

Mea Culpa

I was wrong. I made an error. I must apologize for an unfair characterization of a U.S. jewelry supplier. I had said they dropped the ball on the electrical equipment we received for our shop. Last week I actually LOOKED at the handpiece motors--and right there on the back was a sticker that said the motor is wired for 230 volts. It was the plug that threw me, but no excuse; now having the proper configuration of connection to the power source, all the flexshafts are working fine. And indeed the bigger, more powerful step-down transformer has the buffer a real work-horse. All's well that ends well. Mea culpa!

Progress and Training In Chicken Street

I've been sick. Again. This is the second bout with "The Aztec Two-Step". I had a go-round with altitude sickness in between. My friend told me I would be. (She knows who she is.)  "Just forget about it. You're gonna get sick, everybody does. Flies go everywhere." So, it's taken several extra days to get this post up. Forgive me. However, in my delirium on Saturday, the TV fairies did charge the satellite card and make my borrowed set work! Ah, news...in English. Thanks, Staff! Shout out to Alison!!!

What  will become my bench
(note the "hot-wired" A/C, now
properly wired and vented at left)

Early in the planning for this project it occurred to me to inquire in which era of history the craftsmen for the training would be working. Would it be Neolithic? Bronze Age? Iron Age?. How I would approach structuring the lessons would depend on the answer. I was assured that it would be Iron Age. But barely in the electrical age. The equipment I've come to rely on in my studio just doesn't work here. It's tough to teach modern techniques without modern tools. Part of the problem was breakdown of communication between the procurement people in-country and the U.S. supplier. Even though in the first talks I had I was persuaded by the company that they routinely ship abroad and knew the local systems requirements. They dropped the ball. Procurement didn't know to catch it. I'm screwed. All the stuff that needs plugged in came 110 volts. The power here is 220. I've tried several fixes to no avail. I know little more about electricity than AC/DC, 110v/220v and don't stick scissors in a wall outlet (I was three years old)! The handpieces blow fuses on the step-down transformers and run slowly with no umph. The buffer motor kicks off from an internal breaker after 7 minutes. ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!! I'm told there's a more powerful transformer (also more expensive) that will do the trick. We'll see...

Buffer-in-Progress

The Professionals
Gem Cutters in front
Jewelers, back right

Mujeeb, Professional Jeweler
at work

Anyhow, the training continues at Shams Market. So many new, inexperienced trainees showed up that I've had to split the group in two. And the schedule has changed so many times I don't even know who will come on a given day. I just show up and deal. Have I mentioned how chaotic this country is to outsiders? The good news is that the professionals, for whom the project was intended, have crossed a cultural divide and "complained", they weren't getting what was advertised. They then followed up by asking specifically for what they want to learn. A breakthrough! I can do that. So, we are going to do some fancy gem setting, beyond bezels and prongs. The men have asked to be shown flat setting, channel setting and pave' techniques. While I make a mean bezel in a good number of forms, I've done little of the above. I believe the mark of a true professional is to be able to make adjustments on the fly. Anyone who knows me knows I don't respond well to sudden change (OK, change. Period.) This will be a "baptism by fire", and I am equal to the challenge.



The Torch
runs on propane-no regulator
(these guys do amazing work with it)



There is supposed to be a show of sorts at some American installation on Friday. Again, the details and the level of involvement by our trainees has changed daily. This is supposed to be a much needed opportunity to reach the desired market of military, contractor and ex-pat buyers. A report on this later...



Jim and our Translators
Rasoul and Fazel



I have, this week, extended my time into September. Ramazan is half over, time grows short and some trainees have asked for extended studio hours. I am ever-optimistic to get in all I can in terms of training shared. I WILL be home in time for Fall Parks and Rec.

So, enjoy the pics of the facility and some of the people involved.

Still to come: Success in the Training and Scenes of Kabul

No Straight Lines; AA in Afghanistan

I believe there are no straight lines in Afghanistan. Apart from, perhaps, the runways of military installations, nothing goes straight for long here. It becomes apparent as soon as you arrive. Buildings aren't in neat rows as I'm accustomed. They angle and jut and careen around the mountainsides of Kabul. In true primitive manner most of the structures of age are built of mud-brick--adobe as I know it. Almost by definition they rarely rise above two stories. All are added onto as necessities arise. Never in straight lines. In the market what sidewalks there are rise and fall almost as if they "grew" there. They weave and undulate under one's feet. No straight lines. And the traffic, a subject on which I have already held forth (see: Traffic and Turquoise Mountain); no straight lines. Consequently the pedestrians, whether on sidewalk or street, must execute broken-field running the likes of which would put any NFL'er to shame. No straight lines!

Within a week of my advent in Kabul I checked the internet for the listing of international AA meetings. I found one here. I made contact with the individual facilitating the meeting and made arrangements to attend. Alas, I was thwarted in my first attempt due to some glitches in security protocol. Having ironed out  those wrinkles I made it to the next meeting the following week. A driver took me to the UNAMA compound where I was passed through security.

At the guard shack I met Scott. After the pleasantries were exchanged we began to walk onto the base. Ahead I saw hundreds of yards of level, unbroken pavement. A straight line that seemed to go on forever! I experienced a sense of release I can only liken to that of a prisoner set free upon completing a jail term. Freedom!!! I could walk at a brisk pace, unimpeded for the first time in weeks. A straight line.

Scott is an old hand at this "international" stuff. He's done the government thing and now is in humanitarian endeavors. We have somewhat similar geographic backgrounds. We traded "war stories" on our jaunt to the meeting room. He told me of being in-country for some months this time and only receiving one other inquiry from his internet posting. We had a reading and discussion and a very good meeting. Afterward we went to a small nearby restaraunt  on base and enjoyed freshly made pizza and more good conversation. It was good to get out. I took away not only serenity from that meeting but a sense of general good will knowing that AA members are truly active in sobriety all around the world. And I'm going back this week for more.

Next: More on Chicken Street

Shopping Trip: Camels on My Feet

Shortly before Coco returned to her regular life, we accompanied her on another shopping trip.We had already been to Zardozi's, a well known clothing, accessories and home furnishings emporium (complete with high-walled courtyard and armed guards). There I bought my pakool hat as seen in the photo with Johann, taken on the porch at Mercury House.

Swiss Sons of Different Mothers





On this day we were off to the leather shop, the glass shop and the tailor. The leather store is walking distance from the training location in Chicken Street. Jim and I were there to buy sandals and Coco thought she might buy a bag, if it didn't smell too much like dead something. Jim is a big fellow, 6' 1" and somewhere north of 280 lbs. Fair to say he dwarfs most Afghans. All around Shams' Market the street kids know him as "Mr. Big Show"! Of course there were no sandals in stock for a size 14 foot. He had to be measured for a custom fit. It's possible the leather crafter never before made bigger footwear. I, on the other hand, found a lovely pair of lightly detailed sandals in a natural tan camel leather. I had fun thinking of how, for years, I had smoked Camels and now I'm wearing camels on my feet. Jim would actually return twice for his new slip-ons, as they had to be let out even more on the second visit. Coco ultimately did not make a purchase.

Jim the Director on the Porch at Mercury House

Not so at the Herati glass shop on our way to the armored vehicle. In fact, Coco bought more than a handful of beautiful Afghan glassware pieces and returned for even more on the day of her departure. Mostly these were intended as gifts back home. I'll have some pics of the blue and green beauties when I make my purchases. After Coco they need to "blow some more"!

From there, on our retail therapy quest, we travelled to the tailor. Jim and I wanted to order sewn-to-fit traditional Afghan clothing. The ubiquitous men's garb of Southwest Asia, and indeed much of the Muslim world, is the Shalwar Kameez. It consists of loosely fitting, drawstring-waisted trousers (shalwar) and a long-sleeved, knee-lenghth shirt (kameez). Jim chose two suits in all cotton; one dark tan and the other gray, both with the ring-type collar. I picked a cotton version in the ever-slimming black with a fly-away collar. Once we were measured, and having payed in advance, we were told to return in two days. It would, in fact, be more than 5 days. Afghan time...Coco pressed into service a number of handy "male models" to help determine a size for a kameez as a gift. She was told to return in a few hours and it would be finished. Don't tell me a young, attractive woman can't get her way around here.

Mr. Aziz and Johann Outside the Chow Hall at Saturn House

When I finally got my new duds from the tailor shop, Johann, the Agribiz Guy (a Swiss native) and I made a grand entrance to dinner. Dressed in my local finery, Mr. Aziz, the Cook proclaimed my readiness to "walk in the bazaar". I may be starting to blend in.

Next up: No Straight Lines; AA in Afghanistan

The Workshop

As mentioned previously, the ASMED project training site is located at Shar-i-Now, Chicken Street in the Shams Market. Mr. Haji Mohamed Gul is the Director of Afghan Emerald Co. and head of the Association partnering with DAI. The association has provided space on the 4th floor of the market. The four rooms are secured for one year which concludes in 2012. The training area is actually quite spacious by Afghan standards. Any of you metalheads would be thrilled to have the square footage. Maybe not by the accomodations. It's woefully underpowered and largely unlit. There are a half dozen low-watt CFL bulbs dangling by wires from the ceiling. Power outtages are common. Of course it not being the U.S. the electricity is 220 volts so all our "made in America" electronics don't match up. More about that later. It's also stiflingly hot with little ventilation. There is no water, in or out . The toilet is one floor up and , well, it's Afghanistan...We'll use dry-sink protocol and make-do.

The jewelry room is wired with a dozen outlets, some of which are 6 to 8 feet from the benches. We must use extension cords and surge protector/power strips to reach. We will also be required to use step-down power converters (read: The Arrival). Two curious portable A/C units mysteriously appeared during the second week of design training. They require a special three-prong outlet. There being none available, copper wire was stripped of insulation and wrapped "hot wire" around the prongs. The other wire ends were merely shoved into the outlet. Field conditions! At least the unit moved some "cooler" air. Now if we can get the second one going...

Last Wednesday the equipment finally arrived. The best day yet! We spent several hours checking inventory against the manifest; lo and behold, it was all there. That is, everything that was ordered arrived. Of course I forgot a few things. None all that critical or season ending. We'll make adjustments.

Jim over-exerted a little on Wednesday so we took it easy as he rested up. The environment is so dry and it is at 6,000 ft. above sea level, so it's easy to become dehydrated without warning. On the down day I worked on refining my lesson plans. After the Friday holy day/day off we hit it again and got the unpacking nearly completed. Still much to do before a jewelry session can take place. Details are too numerous to list here but they will all be crossed off. Monday, August 1st is another Holy Day, First Day of Ramazan (as it's said in Dari). There will be no training. Hopefully, enough of the rough spots in the work space will be smoothed over and training can begin in earnest on Tuesday.

Due to the religious restrictions of the Holy Month (August), during which nothing may be consumed fom before sunrise until after sunset, our training periods will be shortened. We'll have only two hours each morning from 9 to 11 a.m. with alternating groups of 10 over a six day week. I am hopeful, as the students are all experienced makers, that the time will be enough to learn new and more advanced techniques. We can only do what we can do. Inshalla.

Next : Shopping trip--Camels on my Feet

Traffic and Turquoise Mountain

Travel in Kabul is beyond chaotic. This is my first overseas trip and I was unprepared for this. I've seen the movies and heard tales from many who have been abroad. There are those who say it's worse in other locales. I'll try to sum up the experience as best I can. Start with the worst Roman rush hour and take away all traffic control devices (lights, signs etc.) and lane dividers. Now add all manner of conveyance--private cars (mostly small Japanese 4-door sedans, Corollas are especially popular) every size and description of truck and van, scooters, bicycles and motorcycles. Mix in now, push carts, pull carts, donkey and pony carts as well as herds of goats and flocks of sheep. Heap in multitudes of pedestrians--men, women, children, beggars and cripples. Finally, do it all on a moto-cross course at breakneck speed! As I've said earlier, Afghans drive first with the accelerator, then the horn and lastly the brake. The whole dizzying scene is surreal and hard to get used to. I must write a few words about our DAI drivers. These are the most courageous and insane men with whom I have ever ridden! They take their lives (and ours) in their most capable hands to move us around on a daily basis. Salaam...

By the middle of the second week of this adventure our little group was ready for a field trip. Coco, our Master Design Trainer, worked for several months in 2009 with  the Turquoise Mountain Foundation. The Foundation, established by Scot Rory Stewart after a memorable walk across Afghanistan in 2002, is renovating the only remaining British fort in Kabul. TMF, as it's known, has a school at Murad Khane, the restoration site. With students numbering up to 125, the classes cover jewelry and gem cutting, ceramics, calligraphy and wood carving. The third year gem and jewelry students certainly were pleased to see Coco. They were first year class members when she was there before. We met the Director, Mr. Khalilli, and the Jewelry Master "Usted" Aslam. The tour lasted nearly two hours and I could have stayed much. The recent addition of a pre-school and health clinic further spread the outreach of the Foundation in the old historic district. More than the success of the restoration project and the classes, though, is the success of the recent graduates.

Renting space from TMF on the campus, a jewelry graduate has established his own studio. Fazel has a free year to get his business up and running. I was quite impressed with his professionalism, clean workspace (relatively speaking) and attention to details of the business side of his production. These young men are "hooked up" digitally in the larger world context. They know what's going on in the marketplace beyond their neighborhood. This is exactly the goal of the project we've undertaken.

Coming soon: The Workshop

A Few Pics While I Sort Out Labeling

This is 5th floor hotel restaurant patio where we eat breakfast most days.

Radio and TV Hill, the view from the patio on a clear day.

A Chicken Street silversmith at work.

First year students at the Turquoise Mountain Foundation School.

Third year students at TMF with Coco and "Usted" Aslam Jewelry Master
(3rd. from left)

Coco and Fazel, a TMF graduate in his studio on campus
(space is free for one year to limited no. of grads)

The Hotel and Chicken Street

Jim and I are staying at a private hotel run by an Afghan man called Mooby. He's a friendly fellow in his 20's with a tragic past and curtailed dreams. His command of English is above average and he has studied Internet Technology, but had to put his career plans on hold to care for his mother. The hotel appears to be fairly new, certainly post-Soviet construction. There are perhaps as many as 200 rooms on a courtyard with gardens and a fountain. A most a tranquil space mornings and evenings. However, the street entrance belies all that. Upon arrival from the Kabul airport Jim and I were quite taken aback to find armed guards, sand bags and a massive steel blast door. Jim noticed what he thought to be bullet holes! Having no idea what to expect next, we were ushered into a guard-shack, just ahead of another blast door where we were patted down and our bags thoroughly searched. Welcome to Kabul City!

The first couple of days in the hotel the A/C in our rooms didn't work. Certainly no help in overcoming jet-lag.It seemed that much of my electronic gear also went on the fritz. In an earlier post I described the replacement power converter. Eventually Jim and I were moved to rooms with functioning air conditioning and we settled in. With some help I got my machines straightened out. We still hope to move to the compound when rooms become available. Meanwhile, we breakfast at the hotel and take our dinner at the "house".

After shaking off some jet-lag, we three-Jim the Gem Guy, Coco the Designer and I, met with some staff and then were introduced to Chicken Street. I'm told the place is called Chicken St. because many years ago it was a poultry market. Over time it's become a series of carpet/rug and jewelry bazaars. They even have their own version of Starr Gems. It's a windowless, under-stairway space approximately 5' x 5' x 5'. Our training space is on the fourth floor in a large building owned by the Afghan Emerald Co. An "association" there has leased the four rooms to DAI for one year. The building overseers have been most accommodating. The men frequently show us parcels of raw and polished gems, which of course are for sale.

The jewelers and gem cutters involved in our training are, for the most part, shop keepers in the building or surrounding area. Initially we were to have up to 20 total trainees. On the first day we began with 8. Over two weeks we grew by half a dozen and yesterday swelled to 26! And all this for just the design training. We still have no equipment--or even a firm date when we will. But I believe we must be doing something right, If not, those first 8 would have dwindled to 5, then 3 and then none. So, our merry little band spend a day planning and a day training for 6 and then have Friday, the Muslim holy day, off.

Chicken St. is typical of the business districts here. Bustling sidewalks lined by open sewers along which vehicles and various carts pile up leaving at best one narrow lane for constant traffic. Afghans drive first with the accelerator then the horn and finally the brake. More about traffic later. Most of the shops our trainees occupy are small and crowded. Their equipment is standard and minimal. Nobody seems to use pickle and only batterns-type flux is evident. There is much to teach. Yet these men are friendly, most have some English and all are eager. I am encouraged so far that this endeavor will bear fruit.

Next up: Kabul City traffic and a visit to the Turquoise Mountain Foundation.

The Back Story

Late February 2011, as I was to depart for the annual Yuma Art Symposium, word came from long-time colleague Phyllis Woods, of an opportunity. She'd been asked to suggest someone to work with her on a design, gem and jewelry project in Afghanistan. Recruiting agency International Executive Service Corp., an arm of the Rockefeller Foundation, contacted me on Phyllis' tip. What proceeded was a 5 month, on-again-off-again, roller-csoster ride of an experience. Four departure dates from March 22nd, 3 application ordeals, countless other forms and documents necessary to the vetting process and at least 2 signed contracts led to a flight from Tucson by way of Dubai, UAE on July 7th, 2011. Due in part to some scheduling conflicts, Phyllis did not join the project.

The scope of work, as it's called here, is to train working Afghan jewelers and gem cutters in modern jewelry techniques and improve product quality, design and sales. The target market for those sales are U.S. military,contractors and ex-pats.

This project is being run by the United States Agency for International Development under it's Afghanistan Small and Medium Enterprise Development project and administered by Development Alternatives Inc.--U.S. tax dollars at work abroad. ASMED has as many as 90 projects completed or ongoing in Afghanistan from agriculture to marketing to this jewelry training.

The ASMED team is a polyglot of Afghan Nationals and Internationals, who, with equal parts professionalism and cynicism make it all work. From the DAI managers and security personnel (after all, it is a war zone) to the friendly Afghan drivers and housekeeping staff everybody seems to get along. The "compound" is a group of several large homes, guest houses and other structures on a main roadway. Currently only the Design Master Trainer, Coco, is housed at the compound. Jim, the Gem Trainer and I are staying in Kabul City at a hotel. We hope to move to the "house", as the Security Chief calls it, soon. Meals in the compound are superior to the hotel.

More about the hotel, the training and the experience in Chicken Street upcoming...

Arrival

Well, I'm here! It was a brutal flight. Twenty-two hours in the air, no time to check my blood sugar. By the time I arrived in Dubai it registered 283! Then shock set in. USAID had reserved a room for me at the Dubai International Hotel. I naively thought it would be covered. It wasn't; $248 for three hours, but it had a nice bidet. No, I didn't use it. But after an hour's rest I was back on a plane to Afghanistan.

What I've seen of Kabul, it is not a beautiful city. To be sure there are beautiful places within it. Parks, gardens and the several mosques we see on the route from the hotel to ASMED are each one more exquisitely more gorgeous than the last. The newest, Sharia Mosque is huge and ornately decorated. I don't know that I've ever seen more shades of blue in one building.

Days are hot and dusty, the air so polluted as to be truly unfit to breathe for some. Like Tucson, mountains surround the Capitol. One, sorta smack in the middle, called Radio and TV Hill predominates. The crest is spiked with perhaps 2 dozen aerials and half as many buildings. Some days it's impossible to see even the largest of them due to the haze.

As one might imagine in a third-world country there is staggering poverty. Yet in among the hovels of the poor are resplendent residences of the "haves". I marvel at the contrast.

Dervishes have taken over my electronic devices! The first night a power surge blew out the borrowed converter, The hotel manager was persuaded to seek a replacement at the bazaar. He returned with a Soviet-era monster looking rather like a kettle-bell. At least it works.Internet connectivity isn't to the level I expected. The result is that I've found it difficult to get posts on this site. The ISP at the hotel is, of course, Afghan--so when I try to blog there the thing goes all Farsi on me. I'll be restricted to blogging from the "compound". Oh, well. One of the managers here did me a solid and helped get this thing back on track. Props to Fridoon! So, please bear with me and have patience-- we are all, for the duration, on Afghan time. Pictures next...

here





at MBZ's hizzouse blogging away!

The pre-departure entry

Set up now to send dispatches from half a world away.