Patrick Eckford's Tales of Osh - Part 2, 2010
July 21... Off to Osh, Kyrgyzstan again! New job for Mercy Corps administering a B & M Gates Foundation grant for economic recovery (in the aftermath of recent tragic events in the south). Dixie will join me in a month or two. Sitting here at the gate in Portland waiting for my flight - San Francisco, London, Almaty, Biskek
July 22... Oh man, could I ever use a shower! But made it to London okay and now have about a 4 hour wait for the next leg to Almaty. Hoping the luggage made it this far too (after $400 in excess baggage charges!). Now it's time for a pint... Thanks to all the well wishers... much appreciated.
July 23... Bishkek - made it here okay yesterday at 2:20 AM and SO DID MY LUGGAGE! Yes! It's really nice to be back and so warmly welcomed by everyone but my head is spinning after an all-day briefing...much more to come today and tomorrow before heading south to Osh and the real action on Monday. Thanks for all the support. Will write more in a few days after getting settled.
July 24... Safely in Osh and even back in our old apartment. Quite a surreal experience. Lots of evidence of the clashes and burned out building but things are calm. Still there's a strange palpable tension in the air and everything is unusually quiet. No kids in the streets, hardly any traffic, lots of boarded up businesses.... Will write more when and if I have time. Meeting after meeting...! Ugh
July 31... Incredible sadness - renewed determination. Yesterday was Day 5 on the ground in Osh and although I'd already witnessed many damaged and destroyed homes and businesses this was my first chance to tour the most impacted mahallas (neighborhoods). It was heartbreaking. I talked to numerous owners, mostly women, now... living in UN and Red Cross donated tents in the charred rubble of their former homes.
Through streaming tears they talked of what had happened and what they had lost. Everyone wanted me to tour the ruins of their homes, hear their stories, take pictures and bear witness their loss.
As we stood looking at the mangled remains of one young woman's former living room she showed me photos stored on her cell phone of what it looked like before. "See that twisted metal thing there in that pile…that's our brand new ceiling fan…look at the photo…it was so beautiful" …then quiet sobbing. I tried to console her.
The scale is mind boggling. In one neighborhood alone the swath of destruction is ½ kilometer wide by almost 2 kilometers long. Virtually every home and business has been destroyed. Burned.
Less than a year ago on weekends my wife and I would leisurely ride our bicycles through these same streets, dodging playful kids and waving and smiling to the friendly residents. Now they're filled with giant piles of rubble and burned out cars and are eerily deserted of people. No playing children. Residents are afraid to leave their compounds.
I struggled to keep my own tears back…then returned to the office with a renewed sense of purpose and determination.
August 7... Approved 130 small business grants for micro entrepreneurs who lost their businesses (and often home). Feels great to make progress...after all the planning and research it also means a lot to our staff to see the fruits of their labor. It's been very traumatic for them to interview victims, see the ruins of their lives & hear stories of the horror of those days over and over again.
August 15... Got a good catfish recipe? Used the nifty online translation site "translate.ru" to decipher the meaning of an email in Russ I'd received from a colleague at M C's microfinance institution. One sentence came out: "I separately have not had time to write you the letter on the necessary sum on Tuesday as I have specified more low to us for delivery of grants 18/08/2010; 1,023,000 catfishes are necessary."
September 7... Eckford Laughter of a child....When I was briefed at Mercy Corps headquarters just before leaving for Osh this time, a field veteran mentioned an important security indicator to watch for when entering a conflict zone: the presence of children.
If there are kids playing in the streets, he said, there's a good chance it's relatively safe. Parents just won't knowingly put there kids in harm's way. On the other hand, if there are no children in sight, you should be on guard.
September 10... Other night was taxing. Water was out in the moring and still off when I got home (came on until following morning, the color of chocolate milk)...turned on work laptop to check mail and it totally failed - ominous MS error messages. Started to make dinner and the power went off. No prob. Lit some candles and started eating a sandwich when the building started to shake. Earthquake! Just a evening day in Osh.
October 11... So far, so good. Looks like we dodged a bullet with the elections here yesterday. No significant problems so far. In their first parlimentary elections, no party broke 9% so it will be coalition time... Let's hope the peace holds... It's good that the nationalist party got the most votes. Will be hard for them to complain about the process. At best they'll only be a part of a multi party coalition.
October 21... Water, water everwhere but not a drop to drink.
Osh's annual "cleansing of the pipes" will occur next week. Not that kind! Cleaning the water system will take 3 full days from Oct 26th until midnight Oct 28th There will be NO PIPED WATER IN OSH during that period. Be prepared that after the pressure comes back on, the tap water may closely resemble chocolate milk. So every single vessel within you sphere of influence, full to the brim with water.
Make sure you have plenty of drinking water (not from Hibernation Kit supply!) If by chance you had planned a 3-day driving tour of the New England fall colors, this might be a really good time. Cheers, Patrick (Mercy Corps)
PS: The other annual cleansing of the pipes will undoubtedly take place soon - when the government will distribute free anti-worm medication. I passed last time but am reconsidering this year!
August 9, 2010 - From dirty socks to geopolitics
October 28, 2010 - Tardy greetings from Osh, Kyrgyzstan
Osh2: - August 9, 2010 - From dirty socks to geopolitics
Remarkably I slept in until 8 o'clock! Then I remembered the laundry. Jumped up to load the washing machine with two weeks of dirty socks etc. Struggled to read the Russian instructions and remember the right settings. Then a quick breakfast of toasted nan and jam and some Nestles "classic" instant coffee. I picked up a Turkish made toaster in Bishkek and it has been a great addition to the kitchen. Extends the life of nan to about three days. Otherwise you end up with hockey pucks after just a day.
Got two loads of laundry in before the Mercy Corps driver arrived to take me to a "business lunch meeting" with the US Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and a small embassy delegation. Go figure. This was a hastily arranged meeting with representatives from the four major NGOs ("actors") working in the south including Mercy Corps. Okay now for the scary part… he actually wanted to pick our brains to understand the situation on the ground in the south! Remember now, I've been back here exactly 13 days! The other guys have a week or two more time on the ground since the June events but are all completely new to this region. However that didn't stop them from offering their pet theories about the causes of what happened. For once I managed to keep my mouth mostly shut. Remember, we were talking to high-ranking career diplomats and officials who probably had up to the hour CIA briefs sitting right in their attaché cases. Not that that would necessarily provide them with better insight of course! Anyway, I answered specific questions but tried not to expound on the geopolitical implications of events this little corner of the world. My restraint seemed appreciated and later I got some interesting one-on-one time with them and very nice comments about Mercy Corps' record and reputation in the region. Turns out they were here to work on a specific, very sticky problem – the resistance of the Kyrgyz to allow an international peacekeeping police force to be set up in Osh. This is a real hot potato. The OSCE had already signed a watered down agreement with the government to send a small contingent but as word got out, ethnic Kyrgyz reacted very strongly against it. They claim they can look after things themselves and that the international community is attempting to vilify them with revisionist versions of the June events – foreign police would just be agents of that effort they say. They also claim programs are favoring Uzbeks in the distribution of aid, and that the OSCE is pandering to the Uzbeks with this initiative to send international police in order to fabricate "evidence" against the Kyrgyz. A touchy situation to say the least. To add to that, there are parliamentary elections set for October. If we even get that far, these issues will add significantly to the volatility. The US, through the INL, will apparently support the authorities (and OSCE?) leading up to the elections by providing police training and funding (via something called the 1207 fund). The long reach of the US government.
Back to more mundane things. With most of the day off (likely to be a very rare occurrence), I've been trying to get to some chores. Done laundry, swept the floor and the decks, have pot of beans soaking on the stove…some ironing... Was thrilled to be able to get back in our old apartment. It was a bit of a disaster the day I arrived but I still crashed here that first night. Nothing too serious but the owner, a bachelor, had just used it as an occasional crash pad over the last 9 months so it was pretty cruddy in a frat house sort of way. That first night I scrubbed and tidied a narrow swath through things – just enough to get to the bed, the shower, a cup of coffee and out the door with the next morning. Then bless her; I paid our wonderful Russian cleaning lady Lubov ("Love") to undertake a major toxic dump clean up. It took her two part days but she did a wonderful job and now I feel back at home and really quite cozy. There are still a few missing items and required repairs but nothing to lose sleep over. The satellite TV doesn't work anymore and several light fixtures are on the blink. The gas has been off since June but there is a small electric hot plate. The yards (back and front) are absolute disasters though and I haven't had time to do anything about it except to water three or four of the perennials we planted that had miraculously survived. The rest is a thicket. My little pond (the salvaged bathtub) is still there and looks like it could be resurrected. Later though.
Have to say it was really strange but also quite pleasing to walk back into a place I thought I'd never see again and find many traces and "artifacts" of our previous presence. Alisher, the landlord had kept many of the extra things we had added, like some kitchen items including a cute little tea service set that our Canadian friend had gifted us last year for serving tea on the topchan (thanks Jane!). The topchan (Central Asian raised seating platform) in the back yard is still there but the carpets were unfortunately left out in the elements and are completely ruined. We must get that back in order! All our slippers were still on the stand near the front door and some of our dry goods and spices…including a jar of "herbes de provence" were still in the cupboard. I found a big jar of my One-a-Day vitamins in the bathroom and the makeshift clothesline still strung up to the apple tree in the back yard. My beer mugs were still in the freezer!! In a drawer this morning I even found a bundle of the dried chinar leaves that I had spray painted silver for Christmas decorations to make the place a little more festive for Dixie's arrival last time.
Maybe you've noticed that I haven't been talking yet about what I've seen here. I guess it's because it's hard to know what to say. Somehow I'm still not quite ready to say too much. Not because I'm so shaken, even though I was very shaken. But because I haven't really processed it yet. Some of you might have already read what I posted on Facebook last week. That's about as far as I have gotten...
"Incredible sadness - renewed determination - Yesterday was Day 5 on the ground in Osh and although I'd already witnessed many damaged and destroyed homes & businesses this was my first chance to tour the most impacted mahallas (neighborhoods). It was heartbreaking. I talked to numerous owners, mostly women, now living in UNHCR and Red Cross donated tents in the charred rubble of their former homes. Through streaming tears they talked of what had happened and what they had lost. Everyone wanted me to tour the ruins of their homes, hear their stories, to take pictures and bear witness to their loss. As we stood looking at the mangled remains of one young woman's former main room she showed me photos stored on her cell phone of what it looked like before."See that twisted metal thing there in that pile…that's our brand new ceiling fan...look at the photo...it was so beautiful"...then quiet sobbing. I tried to console her.
The scale is mind-boggling. In one neighborhood alone the swath of destruction is ½ kilometer wide by almost 2 kilometers long. Virtually every home and business has been destroyed. Burned. Less than a year ago on weekends Dixie and I would leisurely ride our bicycles through these same streets, dodging playful kids and waving and smiling to the friendly residents. Now those streets are choked with giant piles of rubble and burned out cars. They are eerily deserted of people. No playing children to be seen. Residents are afraid to leave their compounds. And they huddle inside those compounds, trying to find shade from the glaring sun, determined not to leave their land – the only thing they have left.
I struggled to keep my own tears back…then returned to the office with a renewed sense of purpose and determination..."
But happily I can report that yesterday was a really good day. We approved over 130 "equity grants" (cash disbursements) to micro-entrepreneurs who suffered direct losses. Mostly their businesses or inventories had been burned or looted. In more than half the cases their homes had also been burned. Our grants are up to $750 and while that amount will not nearly cover their actual losses it is still a significant amount of money here and will help many begin to reestablish an income stream…to restart their micro business (like baking, sewing, carpentry, mini shop, etc.). Mercy Corps' micro-finance institution, Kompanion is also actively forgiving or restructuring loans for victims of the violence. It is really heartening to see how a little bit of good news lifts people's spirits in spite of the horrific times they've been through. MC's and Kompanion's staff have also been under tremendous stress as they try to respond to the immense need – that we are now actually dispensing aid and disbursing money is a huge morale boost for them too. They feel proud of their role and impact. But even for those who are moving ahead with rebuilding their lives the future is very tenuous. Economic activities are slowly reviving but there are almost no peace or reconciliation initiatives underway and little apparent interest demonstrated at any level. Especially in Osh, there's a lot of tension in the air that doesn't seem to be abating…it may be increasing. Actually we will be launching a new UN funded program called Peaceful Change in September so I will have a chance to see firsthand if the concept of peaceful coexistence can gain any traction at all...
Hey guess what! I turned the gas-stove knob and out came GAS! Yeah! Now I'll have an oven too. Ersatz pizzas!!! Things are really looking up. On to the chores...
Note to self: Need pressure cooker. Beans have cooked for three hours now and are still hard as rocks...
Warm regards from Osh,
Patrick
PS – the photo titles are pretty much self explanatory but the "burned stump" one is especially interesting. It is of a totally burned tree that now has bursts of new growth coming from the stump. When I was focusing my camera on it the owner lady asked why I was interested it that. I told her I hoped that it was symbolic of what could happen here...rebirth. She nodded her head vigorously and with more tears in her eyes said, "yes, yes, that's what we pray for..." I have another photo of fruit trees where all the fruit was baked to a crisp right on the vine.
Osh2: - October 28, 2010 - Tardy greetings from Osh, Kyrgyzstan
Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I wrote last. Rather demanding work schedule this time to say the least. Some of you have been asking for an update. I had the following almost ready to email a couple of weeks ago but just never got to the "send" button. Hope you don't mind a somewhat dated note… I miss you all and wish you the best!
October 10th - It's a nice fall weekend in Osh and all appears to be calm but unfortunately I'm sequestered in my apartment under a security lockdown. Today is the day of the much-anticipated national parliamentary election and in light of the June violence and prevailing ethnic tension, there is concern over what could happen. Intuitively, I feel it is unlikely we'll have much trouble but agree it would be stupid not to be prepared. So, much of the last week has been spent implementing a higher level of security procedures. We've stored elaborate "hibernations kits" at the office and our main guesthouse (in the same building as my apartment), upgraded our vehicle emergency kits and fuel supplies, stashed vehicles in multiple locations, removed all sensitive files and cash from the office (left the safe doors open), removed our servers and hard drives to secure locations…you get the picture. And we're going to stay closed over Monday, the day after. One of real challenges here is the chronic lack of quick, reliable local news and information. Rumors abound but it is often very hard to really know what's happening right in our own back yard. Several times I've heard or seen something on BBC before anyone here knows it's happened. And unfortunately, it is known that false rumors played a significant role in the spread of violence in June and continue to exacerbate the state of ethnic relations. We spend a lot of time debunking them.
The good news is that every day Osh seems to rebound a bit more. Businesses are reopening, the smaller bazaars coming back and "transitional housing" is being constructed at an almost frantic pace (by international humanitarian actors, not the government). Everyone is conscious that winter is just around the corner and yet there are still hundreds of families without adequate housing. On the other hand, there is almost no evidence of any significant reconciliation initiatives in the south and serious tensions and feelings of distrust prevail between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks.
My work here has morphed significantly. I was originally supposed to manage a single economic recovery program sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation but by the time I arrived there were no less than 10 grants from different donors to administer. Several are small but there are a couple of big ones as well. As a result I'm doing far more office/agreement administration work and less field programming than I had expected - grrrrr. I'm also "head of office", overseeing all the southern operations with a staff of about 40 (soon to grow to about 55) and daily having to cope with the our own stifling bureaucracy. On top of that I'm MC's representative in the UN-led humanitarian response "cluster system" in Osh (ideally the system of coordinating activities of all the participating orgs). There are presently two other MC expats with me, Tom the recently arrived program manager for one of our biggest grants (USDA-funded Food for Peace) and Meghan, a monitoring and evaluation officer. Tom is an old MC hand with a ton of senior experience in many interesting places. Meghan was an intern in our Bishkek office for several months and has just signed on for her first full time MC position (she's also from Portland). Tom will be transitioning to take on more responsibilities for countrywide strategy and the pursuit of new programming. These are all great folks but I can't deny that I liked it a lot more when Dixie and I were down here essentially by ourselves in 08/09. Then we didn't attend a single expat social event but this time I've already been to two big parties and several other events. There were probably over 80 foreigners at one of the parties! I've also had to meet with never ending stream of US officials. Since MC is one of the few US organizations on the ground here, our input is often sought after by US officials. Not sure they actually listen...
I have a bit of a reputation as the "old hand" in Osh even though we were only here for a year. Last weekend I was talked into arranging a hike for a fun and diverse group of UN expats. We went to Dixie's favorite spot about 15 kms up the Ak Burra River where the river cuts through an impressive chasm. It's a long steep climb up to a lookout point down into the gorge and while it almost killed a couple of them, everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. I was amused by getting a ride in one of the World Food Program's sexy Toyota Land Cruisers, replete with armor plating, bullet proof glass, triple redundant GPS and satellite phones, refrigerator, a huge flapping flag from it's antenna tower, etc. – at a cost way over $100K! We ended the excursion with a plov picnic (local rice delicacy) prepared by the drivers and I even convinced a couple of the more hardy Norwegians to join me for a brisk dip in the river. Even though I preferred being here on our own last time, I must admit there are some extremely talented and engaging people present from all over the world and I've really learned a lot about humanitarian aid, early recovery issues and how the cluster system works (and sometimes doesn't).
Brief update – It is now the 28th and as I predicted the election period passed without much trouble. "Back to business" seems the order of the day although of course a lot of challenges remain. I barely survived the last few days, as the dreaded quarterly reports were due on all my projects – ugh! Also have had several donor site visits to our projects – always a stressful experience.
Yeah! Dixie is finally due in Bishkek on Nov 5th after what's been a whirlwind few weeks for her back in Oregon, including having to drive the last load of household things over to Sisters in a snow storm! I'm really, really looking forward to her arrival but I must say, not the 3:15 AM airport pickup! I think we might drive back down from Bishkek on the 6th if the weather holds – about 10 hours by car. Trying to avoid as many flights as possible – those old Soviet Yak planes aren't getting any younger!
Warmest regards from Osh… Write if you get the chance – it's always very welcome to get any contact.
Patrick
