Greetings from Dushanbe, Tajikistan
I have been told that it has been a while since I have posted anything to my Blog. You are correct with that observation, as it has been a busy week here in Tajikistan.
We left the office for the South, down by the Afghanistan border, on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for a Regional Agriculture Fair taking place in that part of the country. When we arrived, the staff of Mercy Corps was frantically working to try and get the place ready for the next day's event. We all prayed that night for good weather the next day, as it did not look good at that point and the venue was to have the fair held outdoors. The alternative, should it be raining was to hold it in a large theater type facility which would not have been conducive to holding such an event. No place for the farmers and dealers to interact. After doing what we could at the site, we checked into one of the two hotels in town. We were told, “If you liked it, then it is the best hotel in town. It wasn't too bad, although you needed to have full control of your faculties, as the bathroom was down three flights of stays and across the back 40. Thank God mine were in control for once! You will see a photo of what the toilets are like here in the countryside, so folks, hope whether you are standing or squatting you have good aim, as the hole you are trying to hit is pretty darn small. Is sure looks so easy for folks here squatting on the side of the road to sit. Guess experience since childhood pays off. When visiting that community a week earlier, I was told a foreign consultant, female, needed to use the facilities and would not use the local toilets. Why was she here then? When in Rome do as the Romans do. We had a nice dinner that night, as the team from our office, before calling it a night. I was able to get to know some of the staff much better as a result of our time together that evening.
On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we headed down to the site of the Ag Fair. What chaos was happening, dealers and organizations both were vying for the few tables and chairs that were available for their use. We tried to set up our display at one of the tables in the tent that had been set up the afternoon before and was told that we had to move, as this area was reserved for some of the local dealers. Since our crew was running around like chickens with their head cut off, I looked around and saw an open space with two shrubs that were about the right distance apart, so I told the crew to get some string and we will hang our project’s banner between the two shrubs. While we were hanging the banner, a couple of the staff went for some tables and chairs and soon we had a nice display. I must admit, I was very worried about pulling this off. Well, the crowds were great and the people really appreciated receiving our educational posters and materials on growing apricots, lemons, watermelon, tomatoes and onions. This particular area focuses mainly on watermelons, but also the farmers were interested in the other project supported crops. As part of the Ag Fair, we said we would hold some training sessions on our pending voucher programs and also provide some technical information on the crops our project is focusing on. The day could be determined a success, as farmers interacted with dealers and dealers established good contacts with farmers. One of the dealers from the North, who had driven about 11 hours the day before to get to the Fair, had a great display of trees for sale; he/they had brought 350 with them and sold all of them. He reached in his pocket, with a smile on his face, and pulled out a wade of money. He was happy; the trip for him was a success. Mercy Corps had estimated the Fair would go until 4:00 p.m., however, we were out of there by a little after 1:00 p.m. So, we headed as a group, both the carload that came down yesterday and the one that came today, to a local restaurant for lunch. We all broke bread together before the one car headed back to Dushanbe. Husnidin and I planned to stay another night, with a different driver this time, so we could meet with prospective farmers for our demonstration plots. We used the spare time we had that afternoon, to go visit a couple of farmers further South, one growing onions and one who would be growing watermelon this year. After visiting with those farmers, two of our 30 demonstration sites were selected, I hope! When in the village, leaving the future site of the watermelon demonstration plot, I saw some plastic covered structures and asked if they were the Lemon Greenhouses that I have heard about and was told yes, so we stopped and I was given a tour of that structure. While there, Husnidin was able to work with the farmer on some issues he was experiencing with his lemons. Good Extension moment. From there, we headed back to the hotel for a dinner meeting with USAID. What a small world we live in. One of the two folks we met with, was a former Peace Corps Volunteer that I met originally in 1994 in Armenia and again many times after that when I would go back to visit Armenia. I think Chuck said he lived there for over 12 years. We had a nice evening together reminiscing about our previous experiences in Armenia with the others at dinner. Unfortunately, not sure we got much work accomplished that evening. So, it was decided we would meet in the morning for breakfast and focus on work at that time.
On Friday morning after our morning breakfast, we started back towards Dushanbe. However, we had previously planned to visit some areas along the way to explore where we would be establishing a Lemon plots this year. While on our way to the village, we received a call from the office telling us not to stay to long before heading back, as it is snowing in Dushanbe and would probably be ice later. We did go to one of the areas and meet with one lemon farmer, the site of the project’s Lemon Demonstration, last year. He had an insect problem and again it proved to be an Extension Moment. Before leaving the village, we spent a long time in the marketplace talking with input dealers about our project and the pending voucher program. We also talked with some fertilizer dealers about the project before heading back to Dushanbe. The closer we got to town, especially over the last pass, got interesting to say the least. When going through one town, near the river, we stopped and I bought a stringer of fish - good for the diet you know. When we got back to the office, we had a short meeting with the Chief of Party for our project, about our meeting with USAID. By this time, I was exhausted and ready to get to the apartment before the weather got too bad. So when I got home, after cleaning the fish, I decided to put some money on my Skype account and call Merry, since she did not have access to Skype this weekend. So the Girl ended up costing me $0.73 to talk with before going to bed. Actually, called her a couple times before calling it a day, so now she is into me for $0.94. What a great communication tool. Here I am on the other side of the world and can talk to her for 2.3 cents a minute through the computer and you would think we were sitting next to each other.
After getting motivated on Saturday morning, I went to the office for a while. For lunch, I went out with Husnidin to the restaurant we went to last Sunday. Didn't like what I had today as much as last week, but it was still good. This time, in addition to the Borsht, I was able to have a nice plate of tomatoes and cucumbers along with some boiled beef for the main course. On the way home, I was asked if I would like to see where he went to the University and where he worked for two years. This proved to be a good stop, as I had an opportunity to talk with one of Husnidin's colleagues at the University about possibly involving some of their students this summer helping with our many demonstration plots. We will need to follow up this discussion more next week. But he was very interested in the idea, as this could prove to be their final paper before graduation. He said that would be one additional level of motivation for them.
Now time to head home and prepare a boiled fish dinner. Since I had to go back and make some changes in what I had previously written, I can update you on the boiled fish dinner. The veggies were great, the fish way to boney, so most of it found its way into the garbage, unfortunately. More later - do visit my Zenfolio site from time to time to see additional photos that will be added when I have enough Internet access to upload the photos to my site.
http://www.zenfolio.com/farmeray/p828498799
I have been told that it has been a while since I have posted anything to my Blog. You are correct with that observation, as it has been a busy week here in Tajikistan.
We left the office for the South, down by the Afghanistan border, on Wednesday afternoon in preparation for a Regional Agriculture Fair taking place in that part of the country. When we arrived, the staff of Mercy Corps was frantically working to try and get the place ready for the next day's event. We all prayed that night for good weather the next day, as it did not look good at that point and the venue was to have the fair held outdoors. The alternative, should it be raining was to hold it in a large theater type facility which would not have been conducive to holding such an event. No place for the farmers and dealers to interact. After doing what we could at the site, we checked into one of the two hotels in town. We were told, “If you liked it, then it is the best hotel in town. It wasn't too bad, although you needed to have full control of your faculties, as the bathroom was down three flights of stays and across the back 40. Thank God mine were in control for once! You will see a photo of what the toilets are like here in the countryside, so folks, hope whether you are standing or squatting you have good aim, as the hole you are trying to hit is pretty darn small. Is sure looks so easy for folks here squatting on the side of the road to sit. Guess experience since childhood pays off. When visiting that community a week earlier, I was told a foreign consultant, female, needed to use the facilities and would not use the local toilets. Why was she here then? When in Rome do as the Romans do. We had a nice dinner that night, as the team from our office, before calling it a night. I was able to get to know some of the staff much better as a result of our time together that evening.
On Thursday morning, after breakfast, we headed down to the site of the Ag Fair. What chaos was happening, dealers and organizations both were vying for the few tables and chairs that were available for their use. We tried to set up our display at one of the tables in the tent that had been set up the afternoon before and was told that we had to move, as this area was reserved for some of the local dealers. Since our crew was running around like chickens with their head cut off, I looked around and saw an open space with two shrubs that were about the right distance apart, so I told the crew to get some string and we will hang our project’s banner between the two shrubs. While we were hanging the banner, a couple of the staff went for some tables and chairs and soon we had a nice display. I must admit, I was very worried about pulling this off. Well, the crowds were great and the people really appreciated receiving our educational posters and materials on growing apricots, lemons, watermelon, tomatoes and onions. This particular area focuses mainly on watermelons, but also the farmers were interested in the other project supported crops. As part of the Ag Fair, we said we would hold some training sessions on our pending voucher programs and also provide some technical information on the crops our project is focusing on. The day could be determined a success, as farmers interacted with dealers and dealers established good contacts with farmers. One of the dealers from the North, who had driven about 11 hours the day before to get to the Fair, had a great display of trees for sale; he/they had brought 350 with them and sold all of them. He reached in his pocket, with a smile on his face, and pulled out a wade of money. He was happy; the trip for him was a success. Mercy Corps had estimated the Fair would go until 4:00 p.m., however, we were out of there by a little after 1:00 p.m. So, we headed as a group, both the carload that came down yesterday and the one that came today, to a local restaurant for lunch. We all broke bread together before the one car headed back to Dushanbe. Husnidin and I planned to stay another night, with a different driver this time, so we could meet with prospective farmers for our demonstration plots. We used the spare time we had that afternoon, to go visit a couple of farmers further South, one growing onions and one who would be growing watermelon this year. After visiting with those farmers, two of our 30 demonstration sites were selected, I hope! When in the village, leaving the future site of the watermelon demonstration plot, I saw some plastic covered structures and asked if they were the Lemon Greenhouses that I have heard about and was told yes, so we stopped and I was given a tour of that structure. While there, Husnidin was able to work with the farmer on some issues he was experiencing with his lemons. Good Extension moment. From there, we headed back to the hotel for a dinner meeting with USAID. What a small world we live in. One of the two folks we met with, was a former Peace Corps Volunteer that I met originally in 1994 in Armenia and again many times after that when I would go back to visit Armenia. I think Chuck said he lived there for over 12 years. We had a nice evening together reminiscing about our previous experiences in Armenia with the others at dinner. Unfortunately, not sure we got much work accomplished that evening. So, it was decided we would meet in the morning for breakfast and focus on work at that time.
On Friday morning after our morning breakfast, we started back towards Dushanbe. However, we had previously planned to visit some areas along the way to explore where we would be establishing a Lemon plots this year. While on our way to the village, we received a call from the office telling us not to stay to long before heading back, as it is snowing in Dushanbe and would probably be ice later. We did go to one of the areas and meet with one lemon farmer, the site of the project’s Lemon Demonstration, last year. He had an insect problem and again it proved to be an Extension Moment. Before leaving the village, we spent a long time in the marketplace talking with input dealers about our project and the pending voucher program. We also talked with some fertilizer dealers about the project before heading back to Dushanbe. The closer we got to town, especially over the last pass, got interesting to say the least. When going through one town, near the river, we stopped and I bought a stringer of fish - good for the diet you know. When we got back to the office, we had a short meeting with the Chief of Party for our project, about our meeting with USAID. By this time, I was exhausted and ready to get to the apartment before the weather got too bad. So when I got home, after cleaning the fish, I decided to put some money on my Skype account and call Merry, since she did not have access to Skype this weekend. So the Girl ended up costing me $0.73 to talk with before going to bed. Actually, called her a couple times before calling it a day, so now she is into me for $0.94. What a great communication tool. Here I am on the other side of the world and can talk to her for 2.3 cents a minute through the computer and you would think we were sitting next to each other.
After getting motivated on Saturday morning, I went to the office for a while. For lunch, I went out with Husnidin to the restaurant we went to last Sunday. Didn't like what I had today as much as last week, but it was still good. This time, in addition to the Borsht, I was able to have a nice plate of tomatoes and cucumbers along with some boiled beef for the main course. On the way home, I was asked if I would like to see where he went to the University and where he worked for two years. This proved to be a good stop, as I had an opportunity to talk with one of Husnidin's colleagues at the University about possibly involving some of their students this summer helping with our many demonstration plots. We will need to follow up this discussion more next week. But he was very interested in the idea, as this could prove to be their final paper before graduation. He said that would be one additional level of motivation for them.
Now time to head home and prepare a boiled fish dinner. Since I had to go back and make some changes in what I had previously written, I can update you on the boiled fish dinner. The veggies were great, the fish way to boney, so most of it found its way into the garbage, unfortunately. More later - do visit my Zenfolio site from time to time to see additional photos that will be added when I have enough Internet access to upload the photos to my site.
http://www.zenfolio.com/farmeray/p828498799
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