My name is Nate and I work ICMA's International Team. If you're just taking a look at my blog posting for the first time, I suggest you go back a few and look for a blog posted by Laura Hagg on behalf me, titled 'All Roads Lead to Kabul'. Over the next few weeks, I'll be providing international dispatches about my trip on behalf of ICMA to support the Commercialization of Afghanistan Water and Sanitation Activities (known as 'CAWSA') project taking place in several cities in Afghanistan. 'All Roads Lead to Kabul' will provide you a little more information about me.These dispatches offer my personal experiences traveling to, in and from Afghanistan while discussing some of the great work that ICMA's team-on-the-ground for CAWSA is accomplishing here.

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Great! Now that you've read 'All Roads Lead to Kabul', I'm combing two days of my thoughts and experiences with these dispatches, below.

Thursday, October 6, 2011,

I had a bit of time in Dubai Thursday morning to walk around. My hotel was near one of Dubai’s many miles of coast line, so I wanted to get up early and explore a little. I found myself walking along “Dubai Creek”. Dubai’s definition of ‘creek’ must be a little different than mine, because for all intensive purposes, the Dubai ‘creek’ seemed to be as wide as the Mississippi River is in some of its wider locations. In the early morning, the weather was perfect and there was an ocean breeze. Cargo ships and yachts were not far from each other and floating restaurant ships were docked nearby as well. At 6:30am, the wharf was already humming. Ship hands from Pakistan and India were loading unloading what seemed like every type of good imaginable. Some of the cargo included garlic, tires, rebar, concrete, soda pop, and refrigerators. There was much more beyond my immediate view that I couldn’t make out.  The cargo boats were of all shapes and sizes, many made out of wood, which contrasted sharply with the more modern yachts that appeared to be formed from plastic molds. Walking along the ‘creek’ I thought of ICMA members fortunate enough to have water running through their communities and the various efforts that many members have made to capitalize on such assets. Surely what I was seeing was unique, as Dubai is a global city, but looking out at the ships, the ‘creek’ and the city beyond, I was reminded that with a little ingenuity and hard work, almost anything is possible. Originally from Michigan, I thought to the successes that Grand Rapids and Lansing have had revitalizing their river fronts.

After taking in a bit more I headed to the airport. I couldn’t get over the size of the airport. It went on for several miles. After checking in, I boarded the plane to Kabul. A commercial flight, it hosted a variety of passengers, including businessmen, private security contractors and several Afghan families with small children. After three hours in the air, we descended quickly in to Kabul.  I made it through passport control, security and connected with ICMA staff waiting to pick me up. I was taken to the CAWSA project office which also has a small room available for use as a guesthouse for when visitors arrive. The CAWSA Afghan Chief of Party (the international development industry’s term for the director of a project) was waiting late Thursday afternoon to greet me (in Afghanistan, work weeks are from Sunday through Thursday, so I appreciated his willingness to stay late on the final day of the work week). I was greeted with open arms and to a hot cup of tea upon my arrival in his office. One of the special things about the CAWSA project is that it’s truly led by Afghans. The Chief of Party, or COP, is an Afghan with a depth of experience in the development industry. Unfortunately, with human capacity being such a challenge in Afghanistan, not as many projects in the country are actually led by host country nationals, so ICMA is fortunate to have such a capable person at CAWSA’s helm. Much credit goes to several ICMA home office staff for identifying and keeping this COP. We were both happy to meet each other face to face after having had so many phone conversations. We briefly went over our schedules for the next several weeks and after spending about a half of an hour talking, I realized that I had to let him go to get home and be with his family and not miss the call to prayer.

From my guestroom in the CAWSA building, I could see a bit of Kabul and, although it was dark, the city seemed beautiful glistening across the valley. Prior to 30 years of war, many had referred to this place as a “Shangri La”, a gorgeous, mystic city set in the mountains of Afghanistan. Kabul had been a place where young women studied medicine, where men labored away in light industry and where measurable leaps in basic health and sanitation were taking place. An American friend recently told me how his parents, who were working in Pakistan at the time, had actually fled TO Kabul for safety in the 1970s when there was unrest in Pakistan. Kabul was seen as a progressive, safe and open place. 

I’m looking forward to the coming weeks, interacting with CAWSA staff, the Afghan beneficiaries, USAID and playing my small part on behalf of ICMA’s members to further the commercialization of municipal water in Afghanistan. All for now.

Nate

Friday, October 7, 2011

I still haven’t fully adjusted to the time yet, and woke up this morning when it was still dark out. I walked out on to the rooftop deck of the CAWSA guesthouse and watched the light come over the mountains surrounding Kabul. Quite a site as I began to see dark, grey mountains give way to construction cranes, orante buildings surrounded by a smattering of dirt and newly paved roads that seemed to strakly contrast with each other. The weather was crisp and I enjoyed hearing the sounds of this city waking up while sipping a hot cup of tea, a drink which is ever-so-prevalent here.

After attending to some ICMA business on the computer, I coordinated with security staff to go out and stock up on some food and supplies for my time here, as well as drop by the offices of ICMA’s RAMP UP project. As we headed out into the city, I noted that shop keepers are selling all kinds of vegetables, household goods, hardware and clothing. Many vegetables found on the streets of Kabul, I’m told, are imported from neighboring Pakistan. Afghan security forces are everywhere. Police, Army, etc. Every compound seems to be fortified. Today was a day off and things were quiet and only a few cars on the streets. I’ll be curious to see how the main arteries of the city function during a normal work day. Streets generally are wide, but we did go down a few very narrow alleys. My thoughts turned to things like the flow of traffic, security on these roads, service delivery of fire and police in state of such fragile condition. I saw a few mature trees lining some streets, though I’m told that Kabul used to be much more forested than it is today. We passed a few men working on a construction project, several women carrying bags full of produce and some younger men haggling over the price of what appeared to be canned peppers. I saw a young boy who must have been about eight years old running down an alley flying a kite, just like a scene out of the book Kite Runner. The ethnic diversity of Afghanistan is immediately apparent. Down any given street, you may see people with Asian features, with rounder faces and darker hair or you may see people with blue eyes, blonde hair and pale skin. And everything in between. Yet, they’re all Afghans. And, as the title of my first dispatch suggested, for many people (approximately four million of them) all roads have led to Kabul.

After getting a taste of the city, I headed back to the CAWSA office where I spent a good deal of time chatting with the project’s Deputy Chief of Party. He provided a wealth of information on the history of CAWSA and the challenges faced in the water sector in Afghanistan. CAWSA helped set up the Afghan Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Company (AUWSSC), a fully owned government corporation responsible for municipal water supply. CAWSA is attempting to assist AUWSCC with the commercialization of water so that the supply is sustainable for people in the cities of Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Gardez, Ghazni, Kandahar, Zaranj, Lashkar Gar, Mehterlam and Torin Kot. CAWSA provides training on finance, cash flow management, budget tracking, technical assistance, maintenance planning, and overall management advice and support to AUWSCC (some or all of the above, depending on a variety of factors). The goal is to get the utility as far ahead as possible in order to allow it to continue to deliver water in the locations just mentioned as Afghanistan continues to take the reigns of its own development. Today, I’ve started familiarizing myself with matters that take place at the field level (in Afghanistan, as opposed to CAWSA-related things that I typically deal with at the ICMA home office in Washingtion, DC) on a daily basis. I’ve been studying organizational charts of AUWSCC, reading CAWSA reports to the Afghan Ministry of Urban Development and asking the Deputy COP lots of questions about the challenges for CAWSA from now until spring of 2012.

I’m looking forward to learning more in the coming days. I’ve spent a lot of time on the African continent and a popular expression there is, “T.I.A.” meaning, “This Is Africa”. When spoken, it generally refers to all the uniqueness, the wonders, and the challenges of that continent. For my trip to support ICMA’s CAWSA project, I’ve decided I’m going to borrow that expression from my friends in Africa. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the challenges and opportunities are different here. T.I.A.—This Is Afghanistan. All for now.

-Nate