Wanderlustress

Now this is progress...

Uzbek Peanut Butter:  A New Favorite in Tashkent Supermarkets

Domestically produced peanut butter is now on sale in grocery stores and markets throughout Uzbekistan. The peanut butter is produced by the Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) Chambil Yeryong’og’i in the Surkhandarya region of Uzbekistan. Initial investment in this business initiative was provided by USAID through the Community Action Investment Program (CAIP).

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Ripples...

Even before the Tulip revolution took place next door in Kyrgyzstan, the Uzbek government has started to audit international organizations operating in country.  If the auditors knew what they were doing, it would be one thing, but a two week audit of one organization has turned into a month of confusion.  And with renewed pressure and paranoia from above, the process will take much, much longer – or much, much faster with more negative outcomes.  In the mean time, accreditation for each organization to operate here are withheld until after audits are over, leaving everyone in limbo with expired visas – well, because visas don’t get renewed unless you are accredited, of course.

Peace Corps is feeling the pain, too, surprise, surprise.  I’m not sure if we are being audited or not, but I do know that our accreditation for this year is five to six months over due.  Moreover, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided only a two month visa for the new volunteers, and most likely nothing more until we are accredited.  Don’t worry, friends and family, Peace Corps is working with the highest level at the American Embassy to resolve the visa issue, and like last year, it may just take another sit-in at the MFA office by the Ambassador and the Country Director to get…ummm…maybe a three month extension.

So the ripples from the Rose, Orange, and Tulip revolutions and any other progress towards democracy throughout the world, continue to expand here.  They leave many of us spinning ‘round and ‘round in their wake, and the work that we’re here to do stuck in the doldrums…

Personally, I find that a lot of what I’m here to do – developing NGO’s – is necessary.  However, working with an already highly developed NGO, I feel very ineffective at helping them to overcome obstacles which are beyond our control.  They already have a lot of capacity, and a lot of potential.  I can help them win as many grants and contracts as I can, but it is pointless if their activities get blocked through the banking system, other official measures, or scare tactics.  As a result, I am focusing more on the individual level – starting English conversation clubs with youth and young professionals, and possibly organizing some rural school repair projects if funding comes through…

…all the while humming my daily mantra…“Big dreams, small miracles!”

Fully Funded!!!

Our “Peace Corps Partnership Program” donation drive was a huge success.  Together with funds from Peace Corp’s “Small Project Assistance” we are now fully funded and moving ahead with the Andijon Youth Leadership Project.  Our training activities will begin in May and resume again in September.  We expect to have the kids organize and complete several community projects by the end of the year.

A heart-felt thank you to all who contributed.  Your help will go a long way, and everyone’s moral support is…well…priceless!

Everyday Hazards

See exposed gas pipes, exposed gutters, and open manholes (all very typical throughout the country)...otherwise, its a very nice lot for the kids to play in...

Sumalak

It wouldn't be spring in Uzbekistan without making Sumalak.  Made by boiling a caldron of fresh wheat sprouts over wood fire, it produces a think, sweet spread, to be eaten with non (actually, everything is eaten with non).  These ladies spent the entire morning stirring and adding wood to the fire, right below my balcony...

Just a theory...

Let me use the term "center and periphery" not as political theory to explain "first-world" and "third-world" country relations (too old school), but to reflect the growing divide I've observed over the past year occuring in Uzbekistan and my own theory as to how it may be used here as a policial strategy...

Nathan at Registan.net touched upon this and he is correct.  The major urban areas seem to be growing at a rapid pace.  I have seen more BMW's and designer clothing stores popping up in Tashkent than I can remember a year ago.  We even found a store that sells Salomon skis and boots!  I mean, people do ski here of course, but not in Salomon gear at the average income level of $30 a month.  Someone is buying this stuff but I can guess that it is not the average cotton picker picking and planting cotton year-round for government export revenue coffers while they get paid in bags of flour.

As long as the major urban "centers" are kept rich and happy, the poor in the "periphery" are kept hand-to-mouth such that their main concerns are economic in nature.  This prevents any major political ideals from materializing to a point significant enough to forge a unified revolution.  Everyone is too busy competing with each other selling at the bazaars, applying for jobs, and looking for handouts.   Riots in the Ferghana Valley last year were due to changes in tax laws for selling imported goods and the clearing out of informal traders in the bazaars, nothing that signifies that they were looking for any kind political change.

I have maintained since travelling through Africa that our seemingly inviolable ideals are a privilege of the rich.  People at the impoverished level and even most of those in the lower-middle class value economic opportunity and peace in their daily lives.  Democracy, human rights, equal opportunity, ecology, etc., are too intangible as an antidote to their daily hardship.

I'll finish here before this turns into a dissertation.  And oh yeah, Uzbekistan also does not appear to have strong popular leaders as the opposition, so as another theory goes, "The devil you know is better than the devil you don't know."

Apologies for the pessimism.  I wish I had better news...irises are starting to bloom?

Tinchlik

Back in Andijon and all is peaceful ("tinchlik"), and Uzbeks like it this way.  General opinion surrounding the Tulip revolution next door was that "hooliganism" was causing all the chaos and government propaganda was successful in leading most to believe that American-backed institutions (specifically Soros) paid people to protest.  But no one could answer my question as to how much would it take them to stand up against the government, the riot police, and the militia.  I would not let them win the argument that it was all money and no heart.  Where I lose the argument is when they say, "At least it's peaceful here."  If that is the way they prefer things to be, then who am I to even suggest that my ideals are better?  At least the dialogue is there and that is enough for this American harbinger of democracy...

So I stay in all day from the mud and rain, clean my house, eat homemade peanut butter cookies, and read American history to prepare for the Foreign Service exam in a few weeks.  Its somewhat a right of passage in the expat community here to take it and fail, at least once.  But looking forward a year from now when we finallly COS (leave Peace Corps), it practically takes a year to prepare.  So half of me is forging ahead with projects (youth leadership, a couple of school repairs, all that good helpful stuff), and the other half is networking and focussed on finding a job, another half is planning some travel, and my last half is looking foward to some very exciting personal plans.

Life is peaceful, and generally good.  It certainly goes on...people have found a way to circumvent the closed borders to enter Kyrgyzstan to carry on their trade with the Korasu bazaar, internet cafes are sprouting like crazy and prices have lowered by half in the competition, and my NGO just signed a five year agreement for a UN project.  Tinch.