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