I just checked in for my flight home from Addis. There was an American in line before me and I noticed an Afghan flag on his bag so I mistakenly asked him when he had been there. “June 04 to July 05”, he said. Oh no, he is military. I then found myself at a complete loss for words. My first reaction is to attack him for the atrocities in Afghanistan last week. My second reaction is to ask him his perspective. In the end I say nothing.
I caught the tail end of a preview for a CNN show at 4 am this morning when I was a little sleepy, but I swear I heard them say, “...responds to reports of US troops shooting unarmed civilians in Kabul.” CNN showed the footage of US troops shooting unarmed civilians - I saw it with my own eyes - so why are they now talking about “reports” of murder? The footage showed a US army Hummer driving down a street in Kabul firing off to the side into the crowd. Don't believe the reports that soldiers may have fired over the heads of civilians when they were trapped and surrounded by a rock throwing crowd after a car accident that was caused by break failure. CNN also showed a still photo of this car accident that stared off the whole incident. There were three Hummers in the photo involved in the accident. I also have it from good authority that it was not break failure but rather reckless driving - speeding - that caused the accident (which also explains how three Hummers were in the same accident). CNN told the true story right after the incident but now is playing a different tune. True propaganda.
I am so disappointed in my country: the military, the government, but most of all, the media. If they are lying to the people about this, how many other times have they covered for the US military?
As for the soldier and the many others like him, I don't know how I feel. I know they are generally good people doing service for our country, or maybe less idealistically: poor people who use military service as a way out. I generally just feel sorry for them. They are brainwashed as I suppose they need to be and I know they do not understand the issues. I had lunch with a former British Special Forces officer while I was in Afghanistan a couple of weeks ago. He was asking me about my reasons for being vegetarian. I told him that I cannot disengage my mind to distinguish between the meat on plate and the animal in the field, and so I feel guilty eating meat. He replied that he feels the same way, but he feels no guilt when shooting an enemy combatant. I guess you have to have a supreme level of arrogance and faith that you are in the right to be able to kill another human being in cold blood and believe that you are right.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Hard day
What a way to end a trip. I spent the first eight hours of the day locked up in the hotel slaving away on the evaluation report and using up all my brain cells - so I felt like I deserved a little treat this evening.
I first went for a run in the gym and managed a whole 6km, which at 2,000 meters (6,000 ft) is actually quite an accomplishment and not bad for my triathlon training. I got off the treadmill 10 minutes late for my massage appointment which was not exactly enjoyable but definitely good after the fact as I had requested a “strong” masseuse – the employees thought that was hysterical and told me that they gave me a fat masseuse. I then went and sat in the sauna for 20 minutes and detoxed. After a shower I checked my email, chatted with one friend in Addis, one in New York, and one in DC – gotta love instant messanger. I finished off the evening with pizza delivered via room service. A perfect relaxing evening to prepare me for a 4am wakeup call for a 7am departure to DC via London. Speaking of which, it’s now 9pm, time to book that ride to the airport and get some sleep.
I first went for a run in the gym and managed a whole 6km, which at 2,000 meters (6,000 ft) is actually quite an accomplishment and not bad for my triathlon training. I got off the treadmill 10 minutes late for my massage appointment which was not exactly enjoyable but definitely good after the fact as I had requested a “strong” masseuse – the employees thought that was hysterical and told me that they gave me a fat masseuse. I then went and sat in the sauna for 20 minutes and detoxed. After a shower I checked my email, chatted with one friend in Addis, one in New York, and one in DC – gotta love instant messanger. I finished off the evening with pizza delivered via room service. A perfect relaxing evening to prepare me for a 4am wakeup call for a 7am departure to DC via London. Speaking of which, it’s now 9pm, time to book that ride to the airport and get some sleep.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Disgrace
I am sitting here in my hotel room in Mekele, Ethiopia shaking. I just saw footage of a US armored vehicle firing a machine gun into a crowd of civilians in Kabul, Afghanistan. I feel nauseous and dizzy but most of all I am irate! I don’t even think I can write rationally at this point.
I heard there were riots in Kabul this morning. Then an email from Afghanistan told me that the situation was far worse than what was being reported on CNN, but I still could not imagine how bad it could be. Footage is being broadcast around the world of American soldiers shooting Afghan civilians armed only with rocks, which they were throwing at a US convoy because three vehicles had been speeding through the city as usual and had killed a child in a car accident. The footage is very clear – it cannot be misinterpreted. The US military spokesman made a statement to say that all families will be compensated for their loss. How dare he say that? How can financial compensation make up for careless loss of life? CNN has since pulled the footage and is falling into line - not reporting at all on the fact that US soldiers shot unarmed civilians. And we think we have free press? I am sure that the US will pay dearly for this rash act by arrogant untrained uncultured soldiers and I have to say that at this moment while it does not justify their actions, I can understand the motivation of the perpetrators.
Just three weeks ago I was in Kabul at the ISAF (international security force in Afghanistan) craft fair. Because the soldiers are not allowed off their compound, they have a craft fair on the base every Friday. I felt very uncomfortable in their midst. I was very aware of all the guns around me and had a suspicion that all it would take was one shot and suddenly everyone would be firing in all directions. I was also uncomfortable because of the conversations around me between the soldiers and the Afghans selling their wares. I was acutely aware that these soldiers from all over the world (Australia, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and the US) were completely insensitive to the Afghan culture and I was embarrassed to be there. I did not want to be associated with these people and while the other development workers I was there with chatted to the soldiers, I kept my distance.
In one swift move these soldiers have now put Afghanistan on an entirely different path. If I was home, I would protest my own government loudly and vehemently – I am truly ashamed to be an American and want someone to pay for this despicable act! It is going to be difficult to claim that this was a one time infraction with the ongoing case in Iraq where it is claimed that US soldiers entered into houses and killed innocent civilians. I now have no doubt that this is true and have no words for the repulsion I feel towards my own government and the soldiers that do their dirty work. The irony of my present location is not lost on me. The Ethiopian government shot 60 protesters armed with rocks last year – my own government has just put themselves on the same level.
I heard there were riots in Kabul this morning. Then an email from Afghanistan told me that the situation was far worse than what was being reported on CNN, but I still could not imagine how bad it could be. Footage is being broadcast around the world of American soldiers shooting Afghan civilians armed only with rocks, which they were throwing at a US convoy because three vehicles had been speeding through the city as usual and had killed a child in a car accident. The footage is very clear – it cannot be misinterpreted. The US military spokesman made a statement to say that all families will be compensated for their loss. How dare he say that? How can financial compensation make up for careless loss of life? CNN has since pulled the footage and is falling into line - not reporting at all on the fact that US soldiers shot unarmed civilians. And we think we have free press? I am sure that the US will pay dearly for this rash act by arrogant untrained uncultured soldiers and I have to say that at this moment while it does not justify their actions, I can understand the motivation of the perpetrators.
Just three weeks ago I was in Kabul at the ISAF (international security force in Afghanistan) craft fair. Because the soldiers are not allowed off their compound, they have a craft fair on the base every Friday. I felt very uncomfortable in their midst. I was very aware of all the guns around me and had a suspicion that all it would take was one shot and suddenly everyone would be firing in all directions. I was also uncomfortable because of the conversations around me between the soldiers and the Afghans selling their wares. I was acutely aware that these soldiers from all over the world (Australia, Spain, France, Italy, the UK and the US) were completely insensitive to the Afghan culture and I was embarrassed to be there. I did not want to be associated with these people and while the other development workers I was there with chatted to the soldiers, I kept my distance.
In one swift move these soldiers have now put Afghanistan on an entirely different path. If I was home, I would protest my own government loudly and vehemently – I am truly ashamed to be an American and want someone to pay for this despicable act! It is going to be difficult to claim that this was a one time infraction with the ongoing case in Iraq where it is claimed that US soldiers entered into houses and killed innocent civilians. I now have no doubt that this is true and have no words for the repulsion I feel towards my own government and the soldiers that do their dirty work. The irony of my present location is not lost on me. The Ethiopian government shot 60 protesters armed with rocks last year – my own government has just put themselves on the same level.
Democracy
One day in Mekele I found myself heading off to a meeting on my own in the car with one of the drivers. As soon as we had pulled out of the parking lot of the hotel, he turned to me and told me, “TPLF is democracy”.
TPLF is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. It started out as a resistance group that built an army, launched a war, and eventually managed to defeat the military regime in Ethiopia, the Derg, in 1991. It then became a political party and has since been the ruling party of Ethiopia. The problem is that the ruling party was responsible for the massacre of 60 unarmed protestors last year (some in the back). Supposedly, they thought they were facing an insurrection driven by the Diaspora which explains why the government-owned cell phone company (a monopoly) has banned text messaging. So Tigray, the strong-hold of the party, is a very politically contentious region that is pretty much despised by the rest of the country. At the same time, the people of Tigray are desperately poor as it is a very arid region and has frequent famines and is in the far north on the border with Eritrea and has been the battleground for almost all of Ethiopia’s wars over the past few centuries, including the Ethiopian-Eritrean war from 1998-2000 which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
I am here evaluating a project that provides funding directly to the government of Tigray, so it is a very politically contentious evaluation. The staff of the organization implementing the project does not even think that the organization should be supporting the government in this way or working here at all and many of the staff avoid coming to the project area as much as they possibly can. On the other hand, the few staff that are based in Tigray support the government and the project. A very difficult evaluation.
The driver had obviously overheard conversation from the backseat and perceived that we were not exactly supportive of the TPLF (although I have made an effort not to openly discuss local politics here as my view is not the general view of the population). The driver wanted to be sure that I heard his side of the story. He told me in broken English that since the TPLF came to power the living conditions of the people of Tigray have improved and are vastly better than they were under the Derg. It is impossible to make him believe that the economic situation could be even better and it should not be traded off against his freedom.
TPLF is the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. It started out as a resistance group that built an army, launched a war, and eventually managed to defeat the military regime in Ethiopia, the Derg, in 1991. It then became a political party and has since been the ruling party of Ethiopia. The problem is that the ruling party was responsible for the massacre of 60 unarmed protestors last year (some in the back). Supposedly, they thought they were facing an insurrection driven by the Diaspora which explains why the government-owned cell phone company (a monopoly) has banned text messaging. So Tigray, the strong-hold of the party, is a very politically contentious region that is pretty much despised by the rest of the country. At the same time, the people of Tigray are desperately poor as it is a very arid region and has frequent famines and is in the far north on the border with Eritrea and has been the battleground for almost all of Ethiopia’s wars over the past few centuries, including the Ethiopian-Eritrean war from 1998-2000 which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths.
I am here evaluating a project that provides funding directly to the government of Tigray, so it is a very politically contentious evaluation. The staff of the organization implementing the project does not even think that the organization should be supporting the government in this way or working here at all and many of the staff avoid coming to the project area as much as they possibly can. On the other hand, the few staff that are based in Tigray support the government and the project. A very difficult evaluation.
The driver had obviously overheard conversation from the backseat and perceived that we were not exactly supportive of the TPLF (although I have made an effort not to openly discuss local politics here as my view is not the general view of the population). The driver wanted to be sure that I heard his side of the story. He told me in broken English that since the TPLF came to power the living conditions of the people of Tigray have improved and are vastly better than they were under the Derg. It is impossible to make him believe that the economic situation could be even better and it should not be traded off against his freedom.
Climbing to Salvation
Saturday was my one day off, so myself and two other consultants (an Irishman, a Brit and an American – I’m sure there’s a joke in there somewhere) rented a car, a driver, and a guide and headed off into the middle of nowhere to go explore some ancient churches that were carved directly out of the sides of mountains. The scenery on the drive was spectacular and I was amazed to find myself in an area that looked just like the Arizona desert. If it weren’t for the small cottages constructed of stone, I might have forgotten where I was.
We opted to go to two churches that were considered to be less difficult to get to. Now keep in mind that Mekele is 2,000 meters above sea level and the two churches we visited were at the top of (at least) a 1000 ft high pinnacle, which we had to scale up. I definitely got my exercise for the day. In some places, we were literally climbing up sheer cliff faces using toe holds. The Brit panicked at the sheer drop and went back down, but two of us made it to the top and it was well worth the climb. Not only were the views out of this world, but the churches themselves were spectacular.
It is believed that the churches were built in the 9th to the 15th centuries (up to 1200 hundred years ago) and that they were built in such remote locations to preserve their existence. Ethiopia went through a period of Christian-Muslim wars that resulted in the burning of many churches. Other than that, there is not a lot known about their history, but some historians believe that the Templars were involved in their construction. The religious history of Ethiopia is truly fascinating as this all ties into the Ethiopian claim that they have the original arc of the covenant (the box that housed the original tablets inscribed with the ten commandments that Moses brought down from the mount – see Raiders of the Lost Arc if you want more info!) They believe that the Arc is kept in a specific church in Axum and there is only priest who is allowed to see it and touch it. On his death bed, he names the priest who is to take over his role. If you ever tell an Ethiopian that you heard they believe that they have the arc, they will be completely offended and dumbfounded and simply tell you it is true (and wander why you question it).
We opted to go to two churches that were considered to be less difficult to get to. Now keep in mind that Mekele is 2,000 meters above sea level and the two churches we visited were at the top of (at least) a 1000 ft high pinnacle, which we had to scale up. I definitely got my exercise for the day. In some places, we were literally climbing up sheer cliff faces using toe holds. The Brit panicked at the sheer drop and went back down, but two of us made it to the top and it was well worth the climb. Not only were the views out of this world, but the churches themselves were spectacular.
It is believed that the churches were built in the 9th to the 15th centuries (up to 1200 hundred years ago) and that they were built in such remote locations to preserve their existence. Ethiopia went through a period of Christian-Muslim wars that resulted in the burning of many churches. Other than that, there is not a lot known about their history, but some historians believe that the Templars were involved in their construction. The religious history of Ethiopia is truly fascinating as this all ties into the Ethiopian claim that they have the original arc of the covenant (the box that housed the original tablets inscribed with the ten commandments that Moses brought down from the mount – see Raiders of the Lost Arc if you want more info!) They believe that the Arc is kept in a specific church in Axum and there is only priest who is allowed to see it and touch it. On his death bed, he names the priest who is to take over his role. If you ever tell an Ethiopian that you heard they believe that they have the arc, they will be completely offended and dumbfounded and simply tell you it is true (and wander why you question it).
Fish Out of Water
I feel like I have landed myself in a group of very non-like minded folks.
The only American
The most annoying person that I met in my two years of backpacking was a German guy who started out the conversation by telling me that I had no idea what it like to be from Germany, a country that will never be forgiven for its past. I retorted that he has no idea what it is like to be from a country that will never be forgiven for its present. (Yes, it was a great start to a very brief travel companionship).
Every once in a while I meet someone who delights in belittling the United States and me as an American. The one Brit on the four-person evaluation team (of which I am the only Yank) is really getting a kick out of taking easy shots at the US, which then of course begins a long conversation on all the negatives of the US. I am the first person to provide rational criticism of my own government, but when outsiders take easy pot shots it’s just tacky.
The only non-direct budget support expert
This assignment is an interesting learning experience, but I am feeling a bit like a fish out of water as it is a huge learning curve, but I guess that is one of the advantages of doing “cross-cutting” work – I get to learn about different sectors.
The only feminist (aka self-respecting woman)?
At dinner just now, one of the expat project staff was asking about the lifestyle of an international consultant. I told him about my sometimes crazy (and sometimes not) schedule. “Your life will change when you have children. You will be happy to stay in America” said one Ethiopian at the table. This did not surprise me, even from a highly educated and interesting Ethiopian that I really like – after all, this is a country where the average age of marriage is 13 and half of girls are married by abduction. What amazed me was that everyone around the table readily agreed! The other expats are mostly Brits and they are just so old fashioned, including the one twenty-something woman. Good thing that I am the one evaluating the gender component of the project!
Ahh to be back in Afghanistan surrounded by like-minded people. Okay, maybe not, but at least the other expats that I met out there were cool – and one in particular.
The only American
The most annoying person that I met in my two years of backpacking was a German guy who started out the conversation by telling me that I had no idea what it like to be from Germany, a country that will never be forgiven for its past. I retorted that he has no idea what it is like to be from a country that will never be forgiven for its present. (Yes, it was a great start to a very brief travel companionship).
Every once in a while I meet someone who delights in belittling the United States and me as an American. The one Brit on the four-person evaluation team (of which I am the only Yank) is really getting a kick out of taking easy shots at the US, which then of course begins a long conversation on all the negatives of the US. I am the first person to provide rational criticism of my own government, but when outsiders take easy pot shots it’s just tacky.
The only non-direct budget support expert
This assignment is an interesting learning experience, but I am feeling a bit like a fish out of water as it is a huge learning curve, but I guess that is one of the advantages of doing “cross-cutting” work – I get to learn about different sectors.
The only feminist (aka self-respecting woman)?
At dinner just now, one of the expat project staff was asking about the lifestyle of an international consultant. I told him about my sometimes crazy (and sometimes not) schedule. “Your life will change when you have children. You will be happy to stay in America” said one Ethiopian at the table. This did not surprise me, even from a highly educated and interesting Ethiopian that I really like – after all, this is a country where the average age of marriage is 13 and half of girls are married by abduction. What amazed me was that everyone around the table readily agreed! The other expats are mostly Brits and they are just so old fashioned, including the one twenty-something woman. Good thing that I am the one evaluating the gender component of the project!
Ahh to be back in Afghanistan surrounded by like-minded people. Okay, maybe not, but at least the other expats that I met out there were cool – and one in particular.
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