Thursday, December 28, 2006

Alpine Fund Blog

These are pictures from the Petrovka weekend around mid-December.






I added the Alpine Fund Blog to the links on the right of the page. I write trip reports there frequently. Mine are the long, windy ones. There are a lot more pictures on that sight.


Money Makin' in the New Year

America has lots of money, which we happily give out to smart people with good ideas so that they can make more money for us. The Soviet Union has many secrets and technologies unbeknownst to the West.

Sustainability is sure to be a topic of increasing importance. Despite its high profile of late, it is probably only underestimated in terms of the esteem it ought to bear upon the future of individuals and societies the world over. Politically, developing countries must continue to expand and improve. The alternative of stagnation and frustration will only repeat the worst features of the 20th century. Taking steps to prepare a smooth landing for the rapidly developing societies of the world is in everyone's interests.

The Soviet Union was, not so long ago, a source of technological innovation. A institute of prestige for environmentally minded technologies was Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. My host father was one of the scientist. He has a number of cheap and employable technologies that can assist the peoples of the world in their quest for sustainablility. I have access to the people and the market to make it a reality. Together my host father and I can do the world a favor and prosper ourselves.

So goes my host father's argument for why I should transform myself into a venture capitalist. I can't really say no. It brings a smile to my face everytime I think about it.

The Alpine Fund is doing well on the whole. We are doing more programs and probably doing a better job of running them. There is a new English class, a new French class, and more trips to the mountains. All in the last month. We are on the hunt for old gear related to camping, climbing, skiing or even ice skates. Most notably, kids climbing shoes. We have also discovered a way to ship things cheaply from the states. We have contacts at the US airbase near Bishkek. Shipping between the US and a US military installation abroad is the same as shipping within the US. So let me know if there is moderately used or new gear anyone wants to send.

My director and I just bought a 200 euro worth of supplies for orphans. The money was raised by having the kids make Christmas cards and selling the cards to the Spanish airforce guys. (They rock and do a lot around here with kids). It worked out to about 2+ dollars per kid for about 120 kids. With that we got each kid a good pen, a notebook, an 8 page sketch book, a good pair of socks, a toothbrush with paste, and laundry detergent. All thanks to the local knowledge and bargaining ability of our director. She is 20 years old. We shopped at one of the two huge Bazaars in Bishkek.

These bazaars are very much linked to the ancient tradition of Central Asian markets which once served as the Silk Road. Today's silk road could be called the 'Rediculously Cheap Chinese Manufactured Goods Road.' It is estimated that the value of Kyrgyzstan's unofficial or illicit economy is greater than it's official economy. Kyrgyz traders have setup all over Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is a sort of hub for distribution in Central Asia because of it's relatively lax tariffs. Kyrgyzstan became the only Central Asian Post-Soviet member of the WTO shortly after independence.

Kyrgyzstan's officials are corrupt enough to allow you to get around the bureaucracy to do business but not so corrupt that it is not worth doing business. This only holds of course if you move enough material and make enough money to pay for bribes.

Anyway, the bazaar is alive and well here. I find it stressful and intriguing each time I visit one of these loud crowded polyglotinous marvels.

The Institute for Public Policy in Kyrgyzstan published a decent piece on bazaars a month ago.

I have to bring my camera next time, despite the risk of theft and certainty of being 'that tourist who thinks my livelihood is strange and fascinating guy.'

Monday, December 25, 2006

Ethiopia's Neoconservative Intervention

The Latest from the NYTs

Ethiopia has justified involvement in Somalia's civil war along lines that are remarkably similar to the US justification of the war in Iraq. Neoconservative foreign policy promotes the notion that nations are justified in going to war pre-emptively to stave off threats to their own national security. To the casual observer this may not appear to be an extreme position, the actual implications, however, are far reaching and destabilizing. Not to mention the fact that it flies in the face of over 2,000 years of Just War theory, dating back to Cicero in the first century BC (and Greek influence before that) and later popularized by Saint Thomas Aquinas in the 13th Century AD. The idea of a pre-emptive was allows the aggressor to interpret any form of threat or provokation as justification for armed conflict.

When the US used this justification for the War in Iraq it is my fear that we opened pandora's box by undermining any objective criterion for judging the validity of an armed conflict. (A Just War must meet a variety of criterion that makes violent resistance the lesser of two evils). The United States, and by extension the current international dialogue, no longer has firm moral footing for comdemning or shaming any war. For now our Executive is content to use this to our advantage, in this case tacitly supporting Ethiopia's pre-emption. A quick military victory will likely be short-lived, however, as the sources of the strife are intensified and the opponent rallies assistance to it's cause and learns to fight better.

The case may be that some degree of pre-emption may be necessary in a world of WMDs. If this is the case there must be criterion, hopefully based upon real, verifiable evidense. Realists have a point in arguing that states act in their own interests. However, over the long term it may be in the interests of states to adhere to norms of behavior (like individuals) in order to stabilize the global community of states (as within nations).

Merry Christmas. May there be one less Jihad, namely on the Horn of Africa.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

С Новым Годом! (Happy New Year!)

A great much has happened in the wide world of Central Asian politics. As everybody should know, Turkmenabashi died. Soon we will know the truth, was he evil on the outside with a creamy crazy interior or if his silly hijanks belied a far more sinister state system. I suspect that the answer will be yes. The latest NYT piece is here: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-turkmenistan.html?hp&ex=1167022800&en=87fdcca48ea7802b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Here in Kyrgyzstan all were surprised to hear that the government resigned. By government I mean all the ministers of all the cabinets including the prime minister. All are in league with the President. The Parliament did not resign. It is somewhat complicated but as I understand it the new constitution called for a simple, rather than 2/3 majority from parliament but it also upped the number of seats from ~70 (I think) to 90. As a result neither the government backers nor the opposition has enough seats for a majority.

The resulting stalemate frustrated the cabinet which is basically trying to discredit the system and for the parliament to self-dissolve. Parliament does not want to self dissolve however because many do not have to political or financial capital to be reelected. Chances are that despite their hesitation, pressure will force parliament to dissolve, sooner rather than later. If it happens in the next couple weeks, elections should occur in March or April. I will be most interested in how other nations weigh in on the elections. I would not be surprised to see more Islam this time around. http://ipp.kg/en/analysis/354-20-12-2006

At the Fund, things are being planned for next year. It looks like we may go for a van rather than a mashrootka. This will probably reduce the number of kids on the trips but will be more financially feasible. We figured out also that by sending stuff to Manas Airforce Base (the US base here) we can ship from the states to Kyrgyzstan really at US rates. We hope to exploit this. We are in the market for new, slightly used and still usable ski equipment (especially poles), cold weather gear, tents, climbing stuff (especially kids' shoes), ice skates, hiking boots, backpacks, and pretty much anything else you have used in the woods. So if that is something that would warm your heart, consider it this xmas. Email me (andersconway@gmail.com) and we can work it out.

My wallet got stolen for real today. I responded a split second too late to the old bump and grab. I even yelled at the guys that almost certainly took it. Without a direct witness however, I had to drop it. Not worth fighting over.

We got Ulan and Adilet (bazaar kids, english students and frequent helpers) cell phones. They do not have house phones and this seemed to be a good way to run things better and acknowledge our commitment to them and bind them ever closer to the fund.

I am taking the next couple weeks "off" this means I will catch up with words and office work. We have more volunteers coming in late January. That will be good.

I think that the bad-get adjusted phase has largely eclipsed and that I am mostly adjusted. I have been musing about how the cycle of adjustment to being abroad seems to work. The first month is dominated by wide eyes and bushy tailed wonder, followed by a frustrating period of 'almost there' during which language comes and goes in spurts as does familiarity and the feeling of "being on top of things." The frustration comes from know what to but not yet having it automated and thus not living up to expectations. Between two and three months this gives way to more reasonable self-expectation as well as improved competence. Thus my perception of success is more in line with my expectations. I have been through it all before, and knowing what to expect moderates the highs and lows but still, there is no escaping the process. I like that about life, you can know what has to be done and what will be hard and what will be great but you have to go through it. There is no avoiding life, change and either taxes or corruption, depending upon geography.

Losing the wallet teaches a similar lesson. I know it is not the end of the world and that a sequence of events can eventually deliver me from economic peril but it is still really really irksome.

I am a young adult coming to terms with reality. No way around that either. The break in studying and the gladness of emerging from a tougher period granted one of those lovely transcendental moments of clarity. Having seen the general lay of the trail ahead and being glad to have emerged from the switchbacks now behind me, I am happy. Happy where I have been, happy where I am and happy where I am going. That's the only real happiness there ever really is.

Also I received a Bistro and fresh coffee in the mail. This also made me very happy. Sometimes material crap does mean something. So with that, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year. May your long night be bright and your cold days cozy. Happy Rambings.

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Political Islam and the US

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/14/world/africa/14somalia.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

I think the US's problems in Somalia of late nicely illustrate the cycle of botched confrontation that the US has had since the Afghan war. Each conflict tends to bring radicals from disparate regions together where they form "Al-Qaeda" connections and radicalize a new region... where we confront, attract radicals and repeat the process.

Even a military victory early in the conflict will only exasorbate the feelings of frustrated impotence and exploitation that feed the Islamist cause. The US would do well to recognize the government in Mogidishu, send flood aid to the devastated areas as a sign of good will and try to broker some kind of peaceable agreement between Addis-Abbaba and Mogidishu. The fact that they are already reopening old nationalist institutions suggests that the realities of sustaining and affecting governance may make the Islamist leaders more open to dialogue than the fiery rhetoric (which much legitimize any sweeping new movement) would suggest.

I would also say that an islamist with "links to al-qaeda" today is saying about as much as saying "a leftist with past communist sympathies" did during cold war incubation. Al-Qaeda's purpose was to germinate and disperse. That goal is already accomplished. It is time for US policy to move beyond 1995.

Another Plunge

This weekend I will be taking kids from an orphanage I have yet to work with to the dacha. All other volunteers are unavailable or tied up with a pilot project on ski instruction. An expat volunteer (Toby) got a little frustrated with the reality that we tend to just supervise chaos on the slopes, lending a hand or a piece of advice here or there rather than really instructing the kids on how to ski. This is true. I have a mantra that has served me well working with kids and within various institutions. If you pick a battle, win it. If you are not sure you can win, don't struggle. That is why I did not try to teach how to ski properly. I do not think I could have.

His frustration gets to the heart of a dilema for the Alpine Fund. What is the point of bringing kids to the mountains for a weekend? I obviously think it serves a good purpose otherwise I would not be here. Doing activities thalike going to the mountains allows people to share interests and get to know one another. By transcending a giving receiving relationship, it builds trust, community, and understanding. These are things that, despite the best of intentions, are often lacking between NGOs and the people they are trying to serve.

The Alpine Fund has a way to go. Trips to the mountains are a base but I do not think it is enough in and of itself. Administrative instability the last couple years has taken its toll on our reliability and the continuity with our past. Because I met with the president of the Fund in Minnesota before my departure, I learned how it all got started. Interestingly, I have found myself continually correcting a some mythology surrounding our past from the "old hand volunteers." The longest term volunteer we have has been working with the fund on and off for a year. There are those who worked in the beginning but none have much of anything to do with the day to day anymore.

Getting inside institutions is great. Each is as idiosyncratic as any person. I always learn a lot and sometimes there is the opportunity to affect things a little, hopefully for the better. 'Tis late and four hours of straight English teaching has sucked me dry my will to be concious.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

I met a guy who taught himself English "in his room." Then he worked at the US embassy for a spell. now he goes to the American University. He speaks really well. He called me today and we went for a walk. Apparently, he has relationship troubles. I think this juxtaposes the US University experience pretty remarkably. He had been dating the girl for a month and received no kiss. Last night she declared that she wanted to see him drunk. Then she kissed him. He thought that was not the best time for a first kiss "if she was interested in building a serious relationship." I enquired as to why she wanted to see him drunk. He said she said (sweeeeet) that men tell the truth, what is truly in their hearts when they are drunk. Presumably she remained sober, like a proper young Russian lady. Then they 'had quarrels.' This was in the city center. She asked how he would get home. He would walk. He walked the five kilometers home. Today he was miffed that she did not call to make sure he arrived okay. Also, he does not like that she has only called him twice in the entire time of their dating. BUT he really likes her. He asked me what I would do if I were him. He was torn about calling her or not.

I thought that was pretty funny. I said that I didn't now the nuances of the relationship. Okay, I can't say that. I actually said "I don't know exactly how your... (how do I say relationship?) relationship is. All of the preconditions to his situation were almost unbelievable. We talked the situation over for a while, the gyst of my advice being, call her if you want to call her, don't play games, just ask her what is going on and tell her how you feel. He remained torn about calling her but told that he was surprised to find himself talking to an American about such things. I thought that he meant it in the way that it can be odd the sorts of things you will reveal to a stranger at the bus station or that most American's wouldn't have understood his Russian, or that he doen't talk to many Americans now. But he explained that all the Americans he had met in Bishkek had been missionaries. Confronted with similar situations, they had advised him to follow the Lord, read the bible at least two hours a day and get married before you smooch.

Here I thought I was dealing with some strange conservative Russian relationship posturing and he was suprised to find me not overwhelmed by the scandal of it all.

It was then that I knew I wanted to be a firefighter when I grew up.

I like that about traveling, Ilearn at least as much about where I am from (and the assumptions I hold thereof) as I do about where I travelled too.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

An Epic Post from Beyond the Moon!

Pictures are not working. I will abuse an internet cafe this weekend.

I've been struggling with how to approach absolutist worldviews as liberal or relativist in the classical sense. When I say liberal, I do not mean Ted Kennedy. I mean Thomas Paine.

Ulan says things that are a little hard to swallow sometimes. Like that Saudi Arabia is his favorite country. When I object he uses relativist jargon like 'there is no such thing as a bad nation, just bad people' or 'That's my perspective.' Exactly. But what Ulan doesn't know is that his perspective often claims to be the only correct perspective. Generally, I affect a passive interest in his studies and mosque attendence.

His mosque is teaching him arabic script. He wants to be able to read the Koran. He has not learned any words though, just how to read. It is more important to be read it correctly in complete ignorance of what is being read than to understand any part of it. That bothers me. At the end of the day I just think it's wrong. But live and let live. So even though Ulan wants to be a holy man, he has never read the Koran.

This sounds like I am being whiny but it is pretty found how the two outlooks are completely distinct and often fundamentally unreconsilable. The best I have found is to agree to disagree or to drop the subject. You pretty much have to because as soon as the conversation starts you are talking past one another or trying to alter an entire belief system. It's like trying to move an immaterial mountain. I also keep trying to have these conversations (I also had a counterproductive exchange with my 15 year old younger brother Stefan) with 15 and 16 year olds. Part of the reason is because you can have these conversations with kids that age without burning bridges. Often broach the topics with adults is to be arrogant and aggressive. But I think I am taking things a little too seriously. I got a good laugh out of that realization and re-realization when I repeated the process.

So this led me to the embrace of what I dubbed 'relative relativism.' It only makes sense. The false dichotomy implied would offer only 'absolute relativism' as an alternative. That just doesn't make sense. Not everything can be relative for that would be an absolute. Therefore only somethings need be relative. I love words, they can get you into and out of any contradiction. Necessarily so, for there could be no contradiction without diction.

Drunk man goes to sleep believing he has acheived sublime truth by cutting through complication to simplicity. The next day, Sober man has but disdain for Drunken works. They simply lack the nuance needed to arrive at Truth. Both seek, both find, neither may claim. Being defined, a thing escapes definition. That is the greatest source of wonder for me. The only thing I have stumbled across so far worthy of wonder and worship.

right...

Today is a Wednesday or as I have come to refer to them, Don't Lock the Dog in the Kennel and Everyone Leaveday. I leave late on Wednesdays because they are my morning off. I took my ice axe and quitely shuffled to the gate. The jingling of the keys always alerts 'EET' (dog in Kyrgyz) to my presence. I got the door unlocked quickly and I knew I was out of danger. The dog was regarding me curiously from the corner of the house. We stared. She gave a timidly assertive bark. I put the ice axe down and left. We may have turned a corner in our relationship. Probably not, I don't think she had a clear look at me.

The list of people I want to write postcards to is really long. I think I need to compensate for lack of quality intimate relationships on the ground with quanitity of distant relationships. As long as I am compensating, I may as well overcompensate and be sure.

This last weekend at the dacha I tested my bivy to the cold. It started out well and I caught up on my consistently inconsistent journaling. Then the heart-rate slowed as I attempted rest. The cooling of the body combined with the wetness generate by my breath made for a chilly night. The electricity/heat was out in the dacha. It took a while to warm up. I barely missed a cold, which is the best way to be. Ulan had it worse though. he slept in the dacha, but only with a sheet. That's cold.

The rest of the weekend was a success. We made potato dumplings... the girls most of the work despite my best efforts to rally the boys and lend a hand myself. Being unfamiliar with the exact routine, I would sometimes be slightly hesitant in the task at hand. Such weakness was not permitted and I struggled to salvage my self-respect as 13 and 14 year old girls tried to do my job (whatever job that was) all weekend.

Brown outs have been an uncommon presence in Bishkek. It is not easy to get out of bed before dawn when there is no heat. I have nothing but the most profound respect for the poorer folks on the edge of town that live without such conveniences as heat. The lows here get down around 0 degrees Fareignheit.

I had a surprising run in with the po-lice here. I was taking a picture of the 'I point at you then you bribe me game.' They didn't seem to notice, but 3 minutes later their tiny lada pulled up and they invited me over for a chat. I told them that we don't have Mashootkas in the USA and I wanted to show my friends at home as well as a cop in a fur hat. One seemed unconvinced but the other was more interested in being friendly. We took pictures. They offered to give me a ride. This is one of those moments when you have to make a split second decision and either option is full of potential pit-falls. I said yes, reasoning that hopefully I would stay on their good side and that I did not have very much money if they tried to get a bribe out of me. I did not want to offend and get them asking about my passport (at home to prevent seizure).

They never asked for my papers or anything. They did want my phone number. They also bemoaned the crazy drivers. I confirmed that things are different in the states. All were pleased with the encounter. So far, no phone call from my new friends(?).

I took videos from the last weekend. Maybe I can find a way to put them up. We pay per MG here, so part of the reason the pictures are slow coming is that it is expensive.

I am jealous of friends going home or having family visit for the holidays. Everyone I know abroad is doing one or the other (Ella, Pete, Pete, Greg and the crew in NZ). I plan to work straight through and pretend in a Scrooge-inspired performance. That or take the English class Caroling. We'll see. The thought that a plane ticket home could give a kid the training needed to be a professional (from a tech school) helps assauge the loneliness, and reaffirm my penchant for elitism.

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Not Yet the Eve of the Day That Shall Live in Infamy

Things have taken off at a sprint here for me in Bishkek. Anna and Sean took off via Almaty and I have been puttin' in work to make things flow. The current bigger project is auditing the alpine fund's last month of events. No one asked me to do it, but I think it will reveal some interesting stuff. That said, much of it is a bit arbitrary as I had to estimate the value of what we do based on the prices of comparable services.

It is snowing like the dickens here today. I even had a goodly frosty sheen on my beard and disappearing hair. I started a beginners English class for some of the kids that are willing to make a long trek from the orphanage to get some English. It is pretty remarkable how little one can learn after 7 years of "english class." The gals are in the 8th form (grade) which is a good time for them to get into a more intensive relationship with the fund.

I have lots of writing to do about the last week. I am going to try to get to it tomorrow but will surely be on top of things by this weekend. I don't need to go to the dacha this weekend. Despite the drain on office and event staff, a few folks have volunteered their services for the weekend trips.

I will be more thoughtful and hopefully thought provoking soon.

I miss everyone a whole lot but am happy to be here.