Mali

Click here to see my pictures of Mali.

I have rarely received more blank stares discussing an upcoming trip than when I mentioned I would be traveling to Mali. People seemed to be unaware of the location of the country much less any information about it. I found this fascinating given the country’s incredibly rich history.

Mali is one of the largest and most politically and socially stable countries in Africa. It was colonized by the French and is predominately Muslim. Home to Timbuktu, it has a proud heritage as one of the most powerful precolonial African empires, the Mali empire, which controlled much of the trans-Saharan trade in gold, salt and other precious goods in the height of its power in the fourteenth century. It was renowned as a center for trade and Islamic learning.

Mali is also is one of the world’s five poorest countries. The state of the capital city, Bamako, reflected this. Usually a country’s capital shows signs of development and wealth, but Bamako felt like a large, ramshackle village albeit with several highrises and better roads. I was only in Bamako for one night on the front end of my trip but then had a day and a half to explore before I headed home. Despite the dustiness, heat, open sewers, the crowds and the lack of any sort of city planning, I found it to have a certain charm. There is a vibrant energy throughout the city, with roadside stands and markets crowding the streets and animals busily herded through the neighborhoods.

I was several months pregnant at this point and had a nightmare of a travel itinerary – I started in California, had a layover in Atlanta, then a flight to Paris with a layover and then on to Bamako, where I had a few hours to sleep before catching a ride to Segou, a town a few hours west of the capital. I arrived exhausted and done in by the intense heat. Regardless, I really enjoyed my time in Segou, a charming town on the banks of the Niger river dotted with traditional mud architecture, beautiful old mosques and fishing boats. Life seemed to revolve around the river, used for fishing, transport, bathing, washing clothes and dishes and just hanging out and socializing.



I was in Segou for a meeting with the staff from all of the West Africa countries responsible for running CARE's programs. The meeting focused on ways to improve our partnerships with local community-based organizations. Halfway through the week we split into teams and went and interviewed CARE Mali's local partner in their women's empowerment program to get their perspective about how our model of partnership can be improved.

It was fascinating to be discussing women's empowerment issues in Mali at this time. Everyone I met and all of our staff there were heatedly discussing the situation with the "family law." This law would have changed many of the inheritance, land rights, marriage and other family law provisions to be less discriminatory toward women. The big controversy was that apparently the government had voted for the law and it had passed, but the weekend I arrived they had been forced to revoke it and reengage in debate about it due to the strong outcry and opposition from the more conservative Islamic community. One of my colleagues explained his shock at the situation because Mali has always been a moderate country, but over the past few years thanks to strong influencing efforts by countries like Libya and Saudi Arabia it has increasingly become more conservative. This latest situation has brought this trend towards conservatism to the forefront, and many of the more moderate elites were caught unaware.

After the meeting concluded, I drove through the beautiful Sahel landscape back to Bamako in time to have a lovely Vietnamese (clearly) meal with colleagues from Cameroon and Niger. I then spent the following day touring Bamako, spending a full morning at the market, having lunch at a popular colonial remnant French bistro and visiting the National museum to learn more about the history of Mali.

This was my last international trip pre-baby, which was weird! So I'll be on hiatus from posting until I resume my travels, probably sometime in September. Until then!

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Nepal

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I went straight to Nepal from Vietnam, although ‘straight’ isn’t the right word for the direct route of taking two flights and spending the night in Bangkok in order to get there. I was feeling the effects of my first trimester of pregnancy and was pretty exhausted by the time I got to Nepal, so I ended up staying in Kathmandu the whole time. I was a bit disappointed, as I really wanted to go on a trek, but I found that I could easily spend weeks absorbing Kathmandu.

Founded in the 12^th century, the city is a maze of alley-like backstreets and hidden squares, ancient temples and1000 year old statues on random street corners, monkeys hanging out on the side of the road and courtyards and carved wooden window terraces from the middle ages. It has this decaying museum-like quality that, combined with the polluted, concrete mish-mash ushered in by the modern era, makes the city a deluge of color and sights and sounds and smells. The old town, site of the royal palace and surrounding temples and shrines built in the 17^th century, is incredibly well preserved especially given that pigeons and monkeys and people all congregate on the buildings and monuments – it seems to function as more of a local hang-out spot than a tourist site. Only on my last day did I venture into Thamel, the nicer touristy area populated by western hikers and hippies, and found that I could easily have missed it altogether.

One of the most interesting sites I visited was the palace of the Kumari Dev, or the living goddess. At age 4, the goddess is selected from a specific ethnic group and caste based on which young girls meet 32 specific physical attributes and certain horoscope specifications. Those found suitable are taken to a dark room full of men in masks who try to frighten them. The least scared girl is chosen and then has to pass the final test of picking the correct jewelry and clothing from her predecessor to prove that she truly is the reincarnated goddess. She then moves to the temple in Durbar Square and lives there until her first period, at which time she reverts to the status of “normal mortal,” and the process for picking a new goddess begins again. As if being a teenage girl isn’t hard enough without being booted from the palace and having your goddess status removed!

I was surprised at the prevalence of Buddhist monks and monuments. I knew that although primarily Hindu, there were a fair amount of Buddhists in Nepal, but I wasn’t expecting such a strong presence, which is apparently due in part to the large Tibetan community in exile. There seemed to be almost as many stupas – Buddhist symbols of enlightenment – dotted throughout the city as there were Hindu temples and shrines. Interestingly, there are several sites of worship shared by both Buddhists and Hindus. On my last morning I went up to one of them – a huge stupa on the top of a hill overlooking the city. The site was packed with Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, with the Buddhists circling the stupa countless times and the Hindus praying and chanting. I don’t know if I can think of another place I’ve visited where I’ve witnessed two religious groups peacefully sharing a site of worship.

When I could find time away from sightseeing, I did have some actual work to do. I led a workshop helping our staff evaluate our work with the janjatis, one of the ‘endangered’ ethnic groups who are discriminated against and excluded from economic and educational opportunity. Nepal has identified about 70 such rural mountainous groups who are dying out, and CARE works with many of them. Similar to Vietnam, and many other countries where we work, the overall country and the majority population are experiencing economic growth, but the minority ethnic groups, often the indigenous ones, are being completely excluded from the process. It was exciting to work with the Nepali staff and hear about the large-scale work they’re doing to influence the government – one of the women I spent time with is serving as an advisor for the government team currently creating a country-wide health agenda.

The local work within the villages is just as vital – my favorite example was from Karuna, who explained very matter-of-factly, “The project I’m working on helps change harmful traditional practices. Many traditional practices are good, and it is important to encourage local groups to preserve them. But some are quite bad. In many villages, when women have their periods they are banned to a small hut in a remote area until they are finished bleeding. But you know, the tigers keep smelling the blood and coming to the huts and dragging the women away and eating them. I don’t care what they say about tradition, that’s just not a good thing.” I must say I tend to agree with her.

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Vietnam

I went to Vietnam in July, and the heat just about did me in (as you’ll see in my very sweaty pictures - click here to see the photos). I was really excited to go, as I had been wanted to spend more time in Southeast Asia. Vietnam is still a Communist country, but with a market economy, which makes for an interesting combination. The media still fairly controlled and the civil society tame but growing. Like many Asian countries, it has experienced good economic development over the past 20 years – consistent 8-10% growth – and it should become a middle income country in the next year.

However, because of its high dependency on exports (manufacturing, agriculture), the global economic downturn has greatly impacted its economic growth, slowing it to 4%. Many of my Vietnamese colleagues spoke about how many of those making a good living in the manufacturing industry have recently been forced to return to subsistence agriculture. Moreover, the country’s ethnic minorities have been left behind in the development process and haven’t benefitted from the economic growth. The majority ethnic group, the Khin, make up 70% of the population, and 45 other small local ethnic groups make up the rest. Most of CARE’s work is focused on reducing the marginalization and increasing economic development of these smaller ethnic groups, 50% of whom are extremely poor.

CARE also does a lot of climate change work in Vietnam, which is directly linked to economic development. Vietnam is one of the countries most affected by climate change, and as is the case globally, the poorest groups are the most vulnerable. The day before I traveled north to visit one of our projects, a mudslide killed 14 of the villagers, so there was a lot of discussion about the changes rural communities have witnessed in the past few decades. Increased droughts, flooding and landslides have undermined their ability to survive on agriculture and to rely on natural resources for their survival, as they have done in the past. Also, the seasons are changing, so their traditional knowledge that they rely on to survive about what crops to plant and when is being undermined.

I went a few days early on vacation and took an overnight Vietnamese wooden boat cruise out to Halong Bay off the coast of northern Vietnam, a UNESCO world heritage site of thousands of limestone islands and incredible biodiversity. It was incredibly beautiful and fascinating, and the boat was great – fresh seafood and juices for every meal, a lounging deck on top, manicures and pedicures – a real treat. We went visited some of the traditional floating villages, whole towns of small indigenous groups that are built to float on the water miles from land. Although their livelihoods of fishing and pearl harvesting have remained the same throughout the years, it was interesting to see signs of modernity even in these remote island-like communities with floating banks and schoolhouses.

I spent the next few days in our central office in Hanoi, a city of numerous lakes, food stalls on every block and temples. People are always outdoors, sitting and eating on the street and practicing t’ai chi around the lake. It’s an interesting blend of French colonial influence, a large Old Town that has been a center of commerce for 1,000 years and modern highrises. The religion, called Tam Giáo, or "triple religion, is quite the blend as well – a mix of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism plus a strong culture of ancestor worship. While I was there all of the students were taking country-wide exams and the temples were full of families bringing their kids to pray for luck, which apparently included touching the head of a stone turtle. I visited several temples but couldn’t figure out the religion for the life of me, and when I asked a friend living in Vietnam about it he said that outsiders looking in have dubbed it “Confusionism,” so apparently I wasn’t the first to be a bit lost.

During the second half of my trip, two of our Vietnamese staff members and I spent a few days in Bac Kan, the northern mountainous area populated by ethnic minorities. The drive to and from Bac Kan was beautiful, with incredible greenery and mountains and rice fields. We went to visit a project focusing on women from the Tai ethnic group and spent time with about 55 women, all of whom were uneducated and extremely poor

The project helps form women’s groups in small rural villages and provides them support to improve their livelihoods, which includes technical support with agriculture and livestock and economic development activities such as establishing links to markets, teaching financial skills and offering microloans. The groups also gain awareness about their rights, such as land rights, access to education and domestic violence laws. This education has transformed the women’s perspective on their role in society, and when I visited the group they mentioned several examples of how they now know how to use the law for their good instead of being exploited by it, which was all too often the case in the past. All of the women also spoke of how important it was for them to be passing on this knowledge to their children, both the boys and the girls, to change traditional discriminatory practices for the future.

During the meeting, I attended, the weekly focus was on sharing experiences about peanut crops. CARE had helped the women research the local market and they had found a large demand for peanuts but no local supply, so they focused on developing peanut crops this past year and have had huge success in cultivating and selling the product. The women also went over how to estimate cost versus expenses and helped each other track their profit.

This type of group – called women’s village savings and loan group – is the microloan model that CARE has in place in numerous countries and that the World Bank has adopted as a best practice for reaching the very poorest in society and connecting them to the economic process. Besides the various support and educational activities, the group sets up a revolving fund and the women propose various loan options and pay small interest so that the fund grows over time. In this way the groups become self-sustaining, able to grown and continue on their own.

This group has been meeting for 2 years and is now self-sustaining, so CARE is withdrawing in 2011. So that support is available if future issues arise, CARE had brought in a local women’s organization from the beginning to help train them how to set up, facilitate and grow such groups. They will now provide ongoing support as needed, and CARE is helping them replicate the model in other surrounding villages.

After the group meeting I went and visited the homes of several women and saw ways the loans have been used, including for pig rearing, raising chickens, peanut crops and a small roadside store. I spoke with two men who admitted they were unhappy at first that their wives were a part of the group and spending time away from the home, but that now they are so happy they are contributing to improving the family’s livelihoods. Both mentioned that it has helped them respect their wives more. The women all spoke of their increased confidence and self-esteem through participating in the group, and it was exciting to see not only the project’s very tangible economic benefits but also the emotional and personal growth that it has fostered.

Vietnam is a country that Americans know of because of the ‘American War’ as it is known in Vietnam. So I had always been interested in visiting. In some ways it was what I expected – the rice fields, the lush vegetation, the street stalls, the hip clothing boutiques – but in other ways it was completely surprising – a diverse population of numerous ethnic groups with different cultures and a society with modern and traditional ways of life coexisting in a way that seemed less incongruous than in many other places I travel.

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Uganda

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I recently took a two week trip to Uganda. I had been looking forward to traveling to Uganda for a while, as I have learned a lot about the country over the past few years. Joshua and I gave a donation on behalf of our wedding guests to a World Vision program in northern Uganda that reintegrated child soldiers into society as our wedding favors. I wrote a paper in graduate school examining the political situation in the country, particularly the factors that enabled such a protracted and horrific conflict in the north. And I greatly admire a bishop of the country, the Rev. Dr. Zac Niringiye, who I had the opportunity to meet and hear him give a lecture series. So, given all of this, I was quite excited to finally visit the country.

The reason for my trip was to meet with CARE staff from Uganda, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya, Myanmar and Nepal who will be working over the next five years on a program focused on empowering women in their various contexts by improving their economic status; role in decision-making processes at the household level, in the community and nationally; reproductive and maternal health; and addressing gender-based violence such as rape, sexual trafficking and domestic violence. The program is quite exciting, and it was incredibly interesting to work with staff from so many different contexts and learn about the situation of women in each particular society. So I spent most of my time working with them in the city of Entebbe, overlooking Lake Victoria.

A few examples of what we discussed: in Nepal, many remote villages still uphold the traditional practice of isolating women and girls who are menstruating in a hut far from the village, and tigers are coming and killing them. In Kenya, unequal property rights force widowed women to give up their land, often leading to homelessness or sexual exploitation. In Uganda, most women in the northern region have been widowed by the war and are now finding themselves the head of the household, trying to recover from the brutalities they and their children have suffered while figuring out how to provide for their families. And it was quite interesting to hear from Myanmar staff about the particular issues they face doing this type of work under a restrictive military government. Women in Myanmar are particularly victimized by the government because of the role that a woman, Aung San Suu Kyi, has played in challenging the government. She’s an international hero, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to bring democracy to her country – click on her name to read more about her, it’s a fascinating story.

Suffice it to say that discussing these issues with staff, and working with them to plan what they’ll be doing to create change in each of their countries, made for a very interesting and stimulating trip.

I was able to do a few touristy things while I was there as well. I spent a few days in the capital, Kampala. The one thing worth mentioning was a visit to the Kasubi tombs, the burial grounds of the former kings of Buganda, which was a large kingdom prior to colonial times and is the largest ethnic group in the country. The kings are buried in an enormous thatched hut, apparently the largest in the world, which is surrounded by smaller huts dedicated to the wives of the kings. To this day, the female descendents of the wives take turns staying in the huts throughout the year to symbolically care for the kings.

I had a great guide who explained about each of the kings and their role in regard to the external influences of Islam, Christianity and colonialism that at various periods of time influenced their kingdom. When the Muslim traders came through, the primary reason that the king at the time decided not to convert to Islam was because of the issue of polygamy: Islam only permits having three wives, whereas the Bugandan king traditionally had 52 wives, one from each of the clans that made up his kingdom, as a way to not show favoritism to any one clan. Another king burned 22 young men to death for converting to Christianity, enraged by their allegiance to 'another king.'

Also, the man I was working with there took me to dinner with his family, who are Ugandan, and I had an interesting conversation with them about the political situation in the country. I asked their opinion about the president, Museveni, and the debates around his change the constitution to extend the term limit so that he could stay in power. We had a long discussion about the political history of the country and about their concerns about rising corruption, restrictions placed on the freedom of the press and their overall concern about the future of democracy in their country.

Over the weekend I took a ferry out to the Ssesse Islands in Lake Victoria, an archipelago of 84 islands about 4 hours off the coast of Uganda. It was absolutely stunning – an undeveloped paradise of lush forests and small fishing villages. I went with a woman that I work with and we stayed in a small bungalow on the beach, which was really nice despite the lack of electricity or hot water. There was only one other tourist there, a UN worker in Sudan who was taking a vacation for the week in Uganda. We met several islanders who took us hiking, gave us a boat ride to watch the local fishermen and to see the other islands, and built us a campfire on the beach at night.

The islands are known for the huge variety of water and forest birds, and it was fun birdwatching with a friend’s borrowed binoculars and having a local guide point out the different species. It was also swarming with monkeys, walking around and jumping on the tables, and we saw two enormous “lake rats,” a local species only native to these islands that look somewhat like large alligators. So the wildlife abounded, including some very large and interesting looking insects that I stayed away from.

The villagers have traditionally relied on the abundant fish in Lake Victoria for their livelihoods, both for feeding their families and to sell to the mainland. But the fish are now almost gone, so their entire way of life is having to change. They are now cutting down the island’s trees, hauling the trunks over to the mainland in small canoes and selling the timber. People have to rely on natural resources to survive, but in the process the islands could become deforested, leaving them much worse off. There’s a lot of talk right now about better collaboration between organizations that focus on ‘saving the environment’ and those focused on poverty alleviation, recognizing the importance of considering both the human and the environmental aspects of development.

One of the nights sitting by the campfire watching the stars I said, “This is paradise” to Michael, a young Ugandan engineer from Kampala who was spending the week on the islands setting up solar panels. He laughed and said earnestly, “No, this is no paradise. The United States – now that’s paradise.” About an hour of conversation later, his entire image of the world had been shaken because he learned that there were actually poor people in America, and even people that live on the streets, and we had talked about good aspects of his culture that Americans could learn from. I find that in learning about the worldviews and cultures of different people around the world, and in sharing my own with them, both of our perspectives and opinions are broadened and become more nuanced. Which is one of the reasons I enjoy my travels so much!

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Bolivia

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Back to South America, that lovely continent of varied and breathtaking terrain, delicious food, fascinating politics, and welcoming people with a strong sense of their identity and culture. Yes, I sound like a travel channel special, but I can’t help it! I’m becoming obsessed…

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, with a life expectancy of only 63 years. It’s also the most forgotten country in the Americas. A recent poll showed that the majority of U.S. citizens don't know where the country is located. The presence of the United States is never forgotten in Bolivia, however. The livelihoods of many Bolivians literally depend on the United States for survival, as the economy depends on exports of zinc, tin and oil to the U.S. and Brazil. And, of course, on the exports of the biggest industry – trade in coca leaves. Bolivia is the world’s third largest producer of cocaine. The U.S. recently suspended trade benefits with Bolivia, and that combined with the global financial crisis is currently posing severe challenges for the Bolivian economy.

I spent all of my time in La Paz, the capital city. Few cities in the world can claim such a spectacular setting, built in a narrow canyon in the midst of the Andes mountains. The permanently snow-covered mountain Illimani looms over the city, and many of the city’s inhabitants still revere it as a powerful deity. The city as a whole is unlike most capital cities I’ve travelled to, where usually, more so than any other part of the country, you can feel the effects of globalization. La Paz, however, still feels removed from the pace of the rest of the world and less affected by globalization. It has retained its distinct cultural heritage, made up of two very different societies: the indigenous and European. La Paz was founded as a center of Spanish power in the Andes, but many of the indigenous Aymara people from the surrounding countryside were resettled right across the river from the Spanish city to serve as a pool of cheap labor. Ironically, this section of the city is also where most of the churches were built as part of the effort to convert them to Christianity.

The population is still very divided, with the colonial city center full of banks and government ministries on one side of the river and the main indigenous neighborhoods full of bustling markets on the other. I spent one of my afternoons wandering through one of the markets, where Aymara women were selling llama fetuses, dried frogs and lizards and a manner of other dead animals that are still commonly purchased for use in Aymara rituals. One of the women I was travelling with recently visited a small village and watched one of the rituals, where the priestess burned the llama fetuses during a ceremony of several hours and used the ashes to predict the future. my friend didn't catch all of it, but thinks it had something to do with anticipating the crops for the coming year.

More than 60% of Bolivians are of Indian decent, but traditionally the Bolivians of European descent have controlled the positions of power and wealth. Recently, however, the country elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Much of the language used in the election stirred up nationalist questions about who is truly Bolivian, and as a result, the country is very divided at the moment. When the public discourse emphasizes the rights of the indigenous people who, although the majority of the country, are the poorest, most marginalized and oppressed, it makes room for dissention very difficult. Many of the hopes initially placed in the new president to are waning. While I was there, I heard a political economist speak about the current context of the country, and in many cases poverty levels and discrimination are actually increasing. There are concerns that although the indigenous discourse is used, the structures still haven't changed, and the same people still control the country's wealth and power like they always have.

I spent most of my time working with CARE Bolivia’s staff, who, given the changing social, economic and political environment, are determining how to be most strategic with their work. This entails assessing the root issues in the country that are causing poverty and social injustice, and deciding what work would be most effective in addressing those issues. They focus their work on indigenous women and children, who suffer disproportionately from poverty and lack of access to opportunity. So the conversation was incredibly interesting, learning about the people they’re working with and the issues they face.

They promised that when I go back, they'll take me to the Amazon, where you have to get permission from the tribes to visit. I spoke with the guy who runs CARE's programs there, and his stories were unbelievable - snakes the size of trees, herds of the largest rodents in the world that swim, crocodiles on every side as you canoe through the rivers. Sign me up!

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Ecuador

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I am absolutely fascinated by South America. The diversity of culture, astounding range of ecosystems, the delicious food, the art and music: both Peru and Ecuador have been amazing trips. And as a plus, this was certainly one of the easier trips I’ve taken: Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, the same plugs, and it’s only a one hour time difference and a 5 hour flight!

While I was there the country was gearing up to vote for a new constitution and that seemed to be all anyone was talking about. Ecuador has had 9 presidents in the past 11 years, so quite a lot of political instability, but it has never erupted into violence, unlike most of the countries surrounding it.

Quito, the capital city, is in a dream setting, set within the Andes at an elevation of 9,350 feet. It has a beautifully preserved historical center, with old colonial plazas and balconies and cathedrals. Wandering through the old town on Sunday, when cars are banned from the road, I felt like I was back in Spain. I really can’t believe that Ecuador hasn’t become a tourist hotspot from the U.S., given Quito, the jungle, the Andes and the indigenous towns. And oh, the food. I love South American food! The ceviche, fresh fish with plantains and maize, avocado with everything and the amazing ajo, a type of spicy salsa, that you find on every table and that Ecuadorians heap on everything.


My trip fell over a weekend, so I took a trip up to Otavalo, an indigenous town in the northern highlands. The drive alone, through the mountains, past active volcanoes and lakes, was worth the trip. I stayed in a beautiful hacienda with a courtyard full of tropical flowers. The indigenous people who live in Otavalo and the surrounding areas have been the most successful at making markets work for their products, and the town reflects that success. It is incredibly clean and nice, with modern amenities, yet has still retained its traditional customs.

On Saturday morning I got up at 6 am to go to the animal market, where all of the people in the surrounding area buy and sell their livestock. It was unbelievable – a huge field full of all different kinds of animals and noises and smells and people bartering over them and carrying them home.

I then went to the craft and food markets, and bought some beautiful art and jewelry and, of course, went from stall to stall sampling the street food. I think I had one of the best meals of my life - pork with maize and tomato and salsa – although it was a bit unsettling that I was staring at the pig’s face while eating it. I went hiking around a nearby waterfall in the afternoon, and then went to a cockfight that night. Yep, a cockfight. They have a ring for it and everything, and go through such a process of weighing them, and matching them up and betting on them. I wouldn’t go back but it was quite the experience!

Similar to my work in Bangkok, I was in Quito to attend a meeting with all of the directors of the countries where we work in South and Central America, so it was fascinating to learn details about some of the political upheavals in the region. We spent one day of the meeting traveling to visit some of CARE’s work, and I went with a group to the education program for indigenous children. 25% of population in Ecuador is indigenous, and they are the most poor and marginalized people in the country. And in many ways their lack of access to education is what keeps them poor.


Indigenous children were rarely successful in school because classes were only taught in Spanish and curriculum were geared toward the dominant culture. CARE has helped set up intercultural and bilingual schools, and doing so has transformed student success rates and the view of the indigenous community that school can also apply to them and their children, and that they have the same rights and abilities as the majority population. And girls were rarely educated at all, because the community had felt that doing so was pointless when the girls are just going to get married soon. CARE's education program has succeeded in changing this perception, and now the community views education as an equal opportunity.


Additionally, most indigenous children stop attending school when they turn 10 years old to start working long hours in local flower plantations, part of Ecuador's lucrative flower export business. Addressing the child labor issue has proven much more difficult, because families are so poor that they need the income that their children bring in order to survive. So CARE has begun income generating activities at the school for older children, so that they can attend classes in the morning and work together with teachers on a project such as a bakery in the afternoons. This approach is proving quite successful, keeping children in school and simultaneously helping provide for their families.


The day after the trip to the rural indigenous community to visit the education programs I flew back to the U.S. and went to my sister's bachelorette party. It was quite the transition!

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Bangkok

I went back to Bangkok on a last minute trip – I found out I was going four days before I left! I was there for a week last year but forgot my camera, so I was excited to revisit the amazing temples and palaces and canals and capture it all on camera…

Unfortunately, the day I got there violence erupted between the anti-government protesters and the police. It’s been all over the news, but basically about 20,000 protesters led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy occupied the Government compound and claimed that they would not leave until the Prime Minister resigns. Last I heard they’re still camping there, and it’s been over a month. I went to dinner with one of my colleagues and her two Thai friends who live in Bangkok, and it was fascinating to hear their discussion about the current situation. It’s really a clash like many happening all over the world in countries we work in – modern versus tradition, rural versus urban, laborers versus the elite. Anyways, the day I arrived the government declared a state of emergency, so I was confined to the hotel for most of my trip and couldn’t put my camera to much use at all!

So it was a good thing that the work part of the trip was fascinating, since the tourist part was virtually nonexistent. I got to be a part of a meeting between all of the heads of the different Asian countries we work in and learning about the operations in each one. It helps put the reality behind the news stories in places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. A particularly interesting part of the meeting was the discussion about the complexities of operating in a conflict environment and the constant negotiation that doing so requires. It has been particularly difficult for our staff in Afghanistan – it seems to be getting worse every day, and it is heartbreaking to hear about certain situations and the overall downward spiral of chaos. I really believe that the U.S. action in Afghanistan was a major geopolitical opportunity squandered, and it is having ripple effects throughout the region, particularly in neighboring Pakistan. New terrorist cells are popping up every day, and staff are having to deal with the local mafia and kidnappings. The staff who have worked there for a long time see it reverting back to the kind of chaos and intimidation that the country experienced under the Taliban. One of our major focuses in Afghanistan is around girls’ education, and at this point the staff are having to have the conversation of, is it worth risking our lives to educate girls? It’s come to that point.

What’s always fascinating to me as I travel is the in-depth knowledge of and interest in American politics that I constantly encounter in people from other countries. Staff from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan who were attending the meeting had watched almost all of both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and they peppered me with questions. When I express my amazement at the level of knowledge about what’s going on – much more so than almost any American I know – they always point out that the outcome of the U.S. election matters almost as much to their lives as it does to ours. It is amazing how much Americans are respected, and how much our ideals are valued and emulated, and it is so disappointing to watch that standing in the world be tarnished. It really affects global notions such as democracy and equality. For example, there’s a big conversation going on about whether or not we should claim links to the U.S. in the countries we work in, because having those connections undermines our legitimacy to take stands against wrongful government actions. We cry foul for torture and detaining without trial, they point to our troops in Iraq and Guantanamo. It is so incredibly demoralizing.

So the one night we went out with everyone attending the meeting, the hotel arranged for us to go on a boat cruise. It was quite the cultural experience. If by cultural one means a bad prom out of an 80s movie, complete with corsages, posed photos under an arch with the Thai hostesses, awful renditions of bad 70’s and 80’s music, slow dances, disco lights and décor. It was a riot.

Perhaps the next time I’m in Thailand I’ll finally get to take some pictures, and get to plan my trip far enough in advance that I can do some traveling outside of Bangkok. Click here to see the few photos I took while on the cruise and from my hotel.

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Refugee Films

As Joshua and I are becoming more involved in the refugee community in Atlanta, we are aware that many of the 'international' issues that I encounter on my travels often hit remarkably close to home. I wanted to note a few documentaries that help give a sense of the struggle of refugees both abroad and in the U.S.

Rain in a Dry Land – This film chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a two hundred year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land. The film begins in January, 2004, at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where the featured families are stunned by what they learn about America in their "Cultural Orientation" class: refrigerators, stoves, bathtubs, elevators, stairs, buildings taller than one storey, schools, and all the things we take for granted in modern life.

God Grew Tired of Us- After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other parentless "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time. Capturing their wonder at things Westerners take for granted, this documentary, an award winner at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, paints an intimate portrait of strangers in a strange land.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars – A Documentary Film - This stunning documentary captures the triumphant story of six musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone's civil war, landed in a West African refugee camp and formed a band that would go on to travel the world. An unbelievable testament to the human spirit, the refugees' journey exemplifies the power of music. Directed by Zach Niles and Banker White, this film was honored by the American Film Institute in 2005.

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Global Food Crisis

While I was in Malawi, my youngest sister Molly was right across the lake in Tanzania for a summer school program. She sent an email saying that she completely understood my draw to Africa, because "there is so much poverty, and so much beauty." I found this to be particularly the case in both Malawi and Ethiopia, more so than other places I've traveled to recently. There is something so basic and terrible about malnutrition, and starvation, and drought, in a world of so much plenty. It literally robs people of their dignity and ability to just live, and undermines all other areas of development because all that people affected can focus on is how to feed their children.

The issue of food insecurity (the technical term) was a constant discussion point in both Ethiopia and Malawi, where it is a major cause of the widespread poverty. I have never traveled to a country with this scale of food and water shortages, and so learned a lot about the issues on this trip. And with the rising concern about a "global food crisis," and getting several questions from friends and family, I decided to post a seperate blog entry about the issue.

Villagers harvest maize in Malawi
Articles about the global food crisis are appearing in newspapers and magazines around the world - I saw several front page stories online during my time in Ethiopia and Malawi. There have always been cycles of food shortages and abundance, but what’s different about this crisis is that it’s a global one, not just localized. Usually a harvest fails in a particular country or region due to shortage of rainfall, spreading of crop disease, war, etc. This crisis isn’t just happening in one location. It is occurring in many countries simultaneously, which is unusual.

What's also different about this crisis is that it's affecting people not usually hit by famines - not just the poorest. A recent article in the Economist captures what this will mean for different economic classes: "For the middle classes, it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster. The poorest are selling their animals, tools, the tin roof over their heads--making recovery, when it comes, much harder."

And it's not just a matter of going hungry. Food crises are causing political instability in areas of the world where the political situation is hardly stable to begin with. Recently, food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator. In Haiti, protesters chanting "we're hungry" forced the prime minister to resign; 24 people were killed in riots in Cameroon; Egypt's president ordered the army to start baking bread; the Philippines made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment.


Global food prices have risen by 83% in the past 3 years. When global issues such as food insecurity occurs, it deals the most severe blow to the poorest countries in the world - mainly in Africa, where 95% of all agriculture success is completely dependent on rainfall levels - and to the poorest people in those countries - the rural population, particularly the chronically ill, women and children. Hence the affect on countries like Ethiopia and Malawi.

Taking Malawi and Ethiopia as examples, there are a lot of similarities between the two countries that explain why they are so affected. More than 85% of people in both Malawi and Ethiopia live off of the land, so their survival is very dependent on drought cycles and the harvest. Traditional agriculture systems for subsistence no longer provides adequately for household needs in most years, and there is little capacity or opportunity to develop other, more vialbe means of income. Agricultural production of one cash crop – tobacco in Malawi and coffee in Ethiopia - drives the economy in both countries, which is therefore also dependent on the harvest, as well as on global market prices.

Global market prices are falling, and harvests have been poor. Both countries have disproportionately large populations for their size, and agricultural development has been hampered by rapid population growth. Additionally, recurring droughts, which have hit this area of the world hard in recent years, deforestation and land degradation are affecting agricultural production. Malawi and Ethiopia have been unable to produce enough food in recent years to feed their populations, and the countries are too poor to import much food.

So that helps explain why a 'local' food crisis is occuring in two specific countries. But why the global one? Why are 36 countries in crisis in terms of food security, all of which will need external assistance this year? Why did the World Food Programme recently announce that, due to rising fuel and food costs, it's 2008 budget won't even cover current deliveries?

It really all boils down to supply and demand. World food consumption has actually been greater than supply for the past 5 years, gradually eroding stockpile levels to where it's just now affecting us. The demand has been increasing, primarily due to two key factors: 1) Rising per capita consumption in rich and emerging economies. In particular, emerging economies with large populations, in particular China and India, are becoming richer and are thus consuming higher quantities of food (burgeoning middle classes means rising purchases of meat and dairy products, which are highly inefficient to produce in terms of grain and water use); and 2) Use of crops to create biofuels in an attempt to move away from a dependency on oil (the U.S. alone spends $7 billion a year creating ethanol (made from corn and grains).

The supply, on the other hand is decreasing. 1) It's costing more to produce food due to rising energy costs. Fuel is used in every part of the agricultural system, both directly (cultivation, processing, refrigeration, shipping, distribution) and indirectly (manufacture of fertilizers, pesticides – the cost of urea, a fertilizer, has almost tripled since 2003); 2) Increasing water and land scarcity. The global demand for water has tripled in the past 50 years, and we're running out. 70% of all water used by humans goes into food production. As for land - only 12% of the world's land is still available for agriculture; 3) Extreme weather. In the short-term, poor rainfall levels in recent years has resulted in poor crops. In the long-term, climate change will increase the number of people at risk of hunger and will lead to an increase of between 40 million and 170 million in the number of undernourished people; 4) Trade policy. Agriculatural subsidies in the US and EU have made agriculture unprofitable for various other countries.

For those of you interested in reading more in detail about these issues, here are two useful links: Click here to read a short list summarizing the key issues driving the food crisis. Click here to read a more in-depth paper on the issues. Or, really, just google "global food crisis." The New York Times, the Economist, and bunch of others have recently run good articles - most drawing on the research and statistics from the above papers.

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Malawi

Click here to see my pictures from Malawi.

Malawi is an incredibly beautiful country, covered by broad, rolling expanses of yellows, greens and purples, mountains and the huge Lake Malawi, which is more like an ocean. It is also an incredibly poor country. The average annual income per person is $160, making it one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. And because it suffers from one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, with around one million people infected and half a million children orphaned by parents dying of AIDS, the workforce is increasingly being decimated. The average life expectancy is only 37 years old.

Rarely for such a state of poverty, Malawi is a very peaceful country. 1/4 of the population is Muslim and the rest are Christian, but there are no major religious or ethnic divides. In fact, our taxi driver told us that "things like that are other countries’ problems – we don’t understand it here!' There is a growing political divide between the current government and the opposition, however, which is to be watched because of everything else going on in the region. Neighboring Zimbabwe isn't exactly a success story. So the upcoming elections may be a concern.

Unlike my time in Ethiopia, I was really able to get out of just the capital city and see different parts of the country. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and two of my colleagues and I took a day trip on Sunday to Lake Malawi. The hour and a half drive from Lilongwe through the incredible scenery was almost as enjoyable as our time on the lake, with its beautiful beaches and crystal blue water. I had some of the most delicious food there – fresh chambo, a white fish only local to Lake Malawi, and mounds of maize. This was really my only “local” meal – the other local food, “Malawian sausages,” or rats being roasted on the side of the road, didn’t look too appealing!!

When I wanted to have chambo again a few nights later back in Lilongwe, I discovered a striking example of the lack of development in the country. The man I was with explained that it wasn’t readily available, and if it was, it wouldn’t be fresh. As for the huge quantities only an hour and fifteen minutes away in the lake? The systems and infrastructure aren’t in place to pack the fish, transport them in a refrigerated truck, and deliver them to Lilongwe.

My next trip was for work. I drove north of Lilongwe, once again through the beautifully endless savannas, to work with one of the CARE projects improving food security and nutrition in one of the poorest areas of the country, Ntchisi. The project focuses on several areas to increase livelihood sustainability for rural families, with a specific focus on chronically ill and single woman-led households: providing basic assistance with seeds, crop diversification and updated agricultural techniques; enabling community members to access microcredit; and bringing together farmers, local organizations, chiefs, village councils, international organizations to advocate to the government about certain food issues. I spent the day with the staff working in the area and learned a lot about the successes and shortcomings they’re facing with their work, and then they gave me a tour of the village and explained a lot of the issues facing farming communities.

85% of the population live in rural areas like Ntchisi and live on what they can grow to eat (called subsistence farmers). Their survival is therefore very dependent on the harvest and the level of rainfall, and even during good harvests food security never really exists. Alarmingly, over half of all children under 5 are chronically malnourished. Besides growing food for consumption, the major cash crop in Malawi is tobacco. Tobacco is Malawi’s main export, accounting for 60% of the country's earnings. It’s really hard on the land and expensive to grow, and farmers are 4 times removed from the actual profit. They grown the tobacco, harvest it and dry it, and then a buyer comes to the villages and purchases the plants that he wants, then takes the purchased plants to Lilongwe and sells them to a trader, who sells it on the trading floor to the tobacco companies.

The tobacco harvest had just occurred, so I was able to watch the villagers drying, packing, selling and shipping the tobacco to Lilongwe for the trading floor. So as you can imagine, the farmers themselves make next to nothing for their work, and they and the overall economy of the country are at the mercy of international tobacco prices. And with one of the lowest 3 GDPs in the world, Malawi doesn't seem to be profiting much from all of the labor and cost and land use that goes into producing tobacco.

I had a great trip, especially because I had several opportunities to see the country. Although the traveling part of it wasn't so great - I had to fight my way onto the plane headed home, they lost my bag, and I sat next to an 85 year old elephant poacher from Texas who talked to me the entire 19 hour flight back to Atlanta! I arrived back just in time for Joshua's graduation.

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Ethiopia

Click here to see my pictures from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, where the oldest remains of a human were found (Lucy) and cultural remnants date back to 1000 BC, is referred to as the cradle of humankind. As the oldest independent country in Africa, Ethiopia has retained such a distinct culture and rooted sense of history and identity. It feels very different from most of the countries I travel in that were colonized.

I arrived in Addis Ababa on the morning of the Ethiopian Orthodox Easter. Yes, Easter - their calendar is different than ours due to the way they calculate the dates of various biblical events. They just celebrated the millennium last year, and they still tell time differently (never quite figured it out - I think they start at 1 at sunrise and go through 12 at sunset and then start back at 1 -12 again). From the dates and time to the art and decorations, the influence of the Ethiopian Orthodox religion can be felt everywhere. My boss is Jewish and he was having such a difficult time finding gifts to bring back home - everything has a cross or Jesus' face on it!

Another central part of the culture is the food. One of the best parts of the trip was just wandering through the city and happening upon little restaurants and coffee shops with menus only in Amharic, baskets for tables, and young men performing traditional music on drums and some type of string instrument. We ate at people's homes two nights, with amazing huge spreads of food. The raw meat was a bit much (!) but actually really tasty, except that one of the women I was traveling with got quite ill. They serve the food on huge table sized pieces of injera, a type of spongy bread used to eat the food with instead of utensils, and ladle portions of goat meat, cabbage, bean puree in front of each person. It's all incredibly spicy and delicious. And oddly, they bring big bowls of popcorn after every meal as dessert.

And best of all - the coffee. Oh lovely country where I wasn't served Nescafe instant coffee every morning! Coffee is 60% of country's exports and by far their most important industry. It is incredibly good. I attended a traditional coffee brewing ceremony, where the raw coffee beans are brought in and roasted right here in front of you, giving off an amazing smell, and then filtered with water and spices.

Addis is definitely one of the few cities that I've visited overseas that I could live in. I pictured it as being dry and dusty given the famine and drought issues, but it is incredibly green and lush and surrounded by hills. Apparently the rest of the country is exactly as I had pictured, however; it becomes incredibly dry and dusty about 10 miles outside of Addis. Not quite sure why I liked the city, though - there aren't any street names or addresses, there's no center to the city, and it's big and sprawling. But it somehow manages to have a lot of charm. Everyone I met was really friendly and engaging, I was not once approached on the street for money or stared at, and it's safe to walk everywhere, even late at night.

I was working like crazy for most of the trip, so didn't get to do any sightseeing outside of Addis. I will definitely make time for it the next time I go - northern Ethiopia is a fascinating mix of half Muslim, half Christian, dotted with religious monuments and ancient kingdoms dating back to medieval times. Even though I spent most most of my time in the head office in Addis, I did spend a lot of time working with the Ethiopian staff and discussing development issues in the country.

Ethiopia ranks 169 (out of 177) out of all the countries in the world in regard to poverty and level of development. It is plagued by constant drought and famine, causing major issues for a population of primarily rural farmers and herders. Women are some of the most marginalized people in society, and CARE focuses on working to empower them in various ways. For example, tradition holds that a bride price must be provided in order for a marriage to occur. The groom’s family pays a high price to the bride’s family and an even higher price for the wedding. This practice is causing a major issue that CARE is working to reduce: bride abduction. Men who can’t afford the bride price abduct young women and rape them, rendering them unmarriageable to anyone else and helpless to do anything about it. Ethiopian law was finally amended in 2004 to penalize abduction, but the law is largely ignored by law enforcement and the judicial system. A shocking 69% of marriages in Ethiopia result from abduction, with young women forced into marriages based on violence that exposes them to HIV infection, much less psychological trauma.

CARE does some very innovative work fighting against this practice, with their interventions based on the success they’ve had in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa to reduce the harmful traditional practice of female genital cutting. I had heard a lot about the work with genital cutting and some of the successful changes made in communities, but wasn't as aware of the extent to which bride abduction is an issue in Africa - I had only heard about it in Central Asia.

So after a whirlwind of a trip mainly spent eating and working, I flew down from Addis to Lilongwe, Malawi for another week.

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A Day in Paris

I unexpectedly had a 14 hour layover in Paris, which didn't turn out to be all that bad! I arrived at the airport for my flight to Lagos, Nigeria and then on to Ethiopia and they wouldn't let me on the plane. Apparently you have to have a visa to even land in Nigeria, and I was only going to have a 3 hour layover! Turns out that several people I knew told me, after the fact of course, that they knew of instances where people were thrown in jail for arriving without a visa. So I suppose I'm thankful that Delta wouldn't let me on the plane!!

Rerouting issues and long waiting time in airports aside, the day in Paris was lovely! I've been three times, but it was the first time I've been there since I graduated from college and the first time I was able to just walk around and enjoy the city without engaging in a whirlwind of sightseeing. The weather was beautiful and I spent the day wandering through neighborhoods, drinking wine and coffee at cafes and eating delicious French food and desserts. It makes such a difference spending time in a city without having to feel like a tourist!

I only took a few pictures, but click here to see them.

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