International Volunteer Day

by Jamie Rhein on

If you are a volunteer somewhere, give yourself a pat on the back. This is your day. Started as a UN resolution back in 1985, December 5 is a day to get people fired up for the other 364 days of the year. Even though the areas of economic and social development, are the target areas for applause, I say, if you’re helping anyone anywhere, bravo for you. Hmmm. Economic and social development. Those are broad terms. There’s a page on the International Volunteer Day Web site that lists the 7 Goals for the Millennium that volunteer activities are linked to. They are:

  1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  2. Achieve universal primary education
  3. Promote gender equality & empower women
  4. Improve maternal health
  5. Reduce child mortality
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
  7. Ensure environmental sustainability

Kabul, Afghanistan, Kathmandu, Nepal and Beijing, China are featured as areas where such projects are happening, but there are more. If you are looking for a place to make a difference when you travel, the International Volunteer Day Web site might be a place to start. Here are volunteer stories to get you inspired.

The Places In Between

by Iva Skoch on

We’re not shy about plugging audible.com. First, listening to books gives our computer-weary eyes a needed rest. Two, schlepping around an iPod is easier than a big, new hardcover. Third, often the authors themselves read the books, adding an extra dimension that reading can’t touch. (audible.com version of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, anyone?)

We’ve been hearing about another book for a while and we mentioned it a few months ago, but hadn’t picked it up until just now, because now we can hear it from audible.com: Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between.

What makes this book special? Mr. Stewart walked across Asia solo. The book is about just a relatively small portion of that trip: walking–as in on foot–across Afghanistan during the war in 2002. He’s a young, Farsi and Persian-speaking, former British diplomat and current resident of Kabul, and his tale is fascinating. He re-traced the steps of a 16th Century Muslim Emperor (Babur), straight across the country, across high mountain passes–in the middle of winter–from Herat to Kabul.

You’ll definitely gain new insights into the culture and people of Afghanistan and hearing it directly from the author himself is well worth a listen. It’s surprising and interesting, and you’ll definitely learn a lot. We sure did.

Puppets Teach Afghan Kids About Landmines

by Adrienne Wilson on

Here’s an interesting read from Indian culture blog, Sepia Mutiny, on the instruction of landmines through puppetry in a culturally sensitive film. The puppets are apart of a mission from the No Strings organization to save lives and teach Afghan children about the dangers of landmines. Apparently some 60 Afghans are killed or injured a month by mines and unexploded ordnance around the country. Sad, sad, sad. They go much more into detail at Sepia Mutiny than I’ll venture here, but I should say that the idea, while clever, is also bone-chilling to me. I’m trying to imagine the days when I would listen to a puppet over an adult and then I try to imagine if that puppet were telling me about landmines and minefields and how to go about avoiding them. (Shudders.) However, the kids seem to like the films, as one 11-year-old girl, who watched the first screening in Kabul said, “…I learned that you should stay away from fields that have red stones. There are mines there. I didn’t know that before.”

What a world we live in…

Dining in Dushanbe: Delhi Darbar

by Adrienne Wilson on

I’ve saved one of the best for last my foodie friends. After dining at Delhi Darbar about six times during my stay in Tajikistan I discovered one absolutely fantastic thing about the place and that one thing is this: there isn’t a single bad dish on the menu. Anything you order is guaranteed to be savory, scrumptious and gratifying. While I enjoyed sampling the local flavor and having a Tajik dinner or two, the traditional foods were just filled with too much oil. On the flipside the Indian fare felt healthier and can we say just about zero grease is used in preparation. Astonishing!

My favorite item of all was the vegetarian thali (right). Included in the meal is a spicy cauliflower, lentils, rice, a cole slaw with dill, yoghurt, and a sugary doughy dessert in syrup. Other good selections include the chicken tikka, lemon rice with garlic naan. If you’re looking for something sweet to sip try the pineapple lassi. Seriously, everything is good.

Outside the gateway to Indo-Fusion doesn’t look like much, but indoors it’s well lit with India inspired wall murals and Bollywood and Uzbek humming from the television above the buffet. The staff is all nice and always seem to wear very welcoming smiles.

Located at Rudaki 88 in Dushanbe, the chain also has locations in Khujand as well as Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan.

Word for the Travel Wise (09/07/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Since I can probably take a good guess at how many people will travel to Afghanistan or least think about going sometime during their life span and seeing that number isn’t high I’m going to point everyone to this small online Kabul Museum. In March of 2001 the Taliban destroyed all pre-Islamic statues and objects in Afghanistan. The Kabul online museum is in place to allow people to enjoy the museums contents before the destruction. Although there isn’t much inside the three galleries by virtually traveling there we can all say we’ve seen a small part of history aside from the news we get on CNN.

Today’s word is a Pashto word used in Afghanistan:

mujasemy – statues

Pashto is spoken by 40-50 million speakers in Afghanistan, western Pakistan and northern India. It became an official language of Afghanistan in 1936. Persian or Dari is also an official language. Good example sentences, historical information and links are all found at Wikipedia. Pashto.org has video, music, downloadable dictionaries, software and book lists. Yorku.ca has a long list of words to start along your Pashto learning path for at least a few weeks. Visit the BBCPashto page if you already have some understanding of the language under your belt.