Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s Transboundary Waters

By: Laura Schroeder and Derek Bradley Despite being a landlocked country with an arid climate Afghanistan possesses a surprising number of fresh water surface sources thanks to snowpack originating in its mountainous terrain.  While the country has several freshwater sources contained within it (namely the Northern water basin) all four of the country’s largest river […]

Afghanistan’s Transboundary Waters Read More »

Home to Portland

The plane landed on time Saturday in Portland.  Nevertheless, I definitely experienced “bobble head” on the almost 6 hour flight from DC to Portland! Whew! Spring arrived while I was in Aghanistan, but it is unseasonably dry here.  The Willamette River in front of our house is lower than usual.  This eastern Oregon girl, won’t complain though

Home to Portland Read More »

Door to Door: 41 Hours and Lots of Security!

Left the EQUALS Compound for the Kabul Airport at 3 pm Friday (approx 3 am Friday in Portland, Oregon) with the EQUALS security contractor PILGRIMS including our driver, armed security, and unarmed Afghan airport liasion.  When I was getting in the vehicle at the Compound, I was instructed to stay in the vehicle unless directed to leave it.  I was also given special

Door to Door: 41 Hours and Lots of Security! Read More »

Technical Secretariat

I presented the recommendations of the Governance training participants to the Technical Secretariat today in Kabul.  Afghan’s Technical Secretariat for the Water Sector is made of the following representatives: •MEW-Ministry of Energy & Water •MAIL-Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock •MRRD-Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development •NEPA-National Environmental Protection Agency •MUDA-Ministry of Urban Development Affairs •AWSSC-Afghanistan

Technical Secretariat Read More »

Winding Down

Tomorrow will be my last day of the Governance training here in Kabul with class ending about 11 am.  I will provide about a half hour of feed back to the Technical Secretariat at 2 pm.  The Technical Secretariat consists of all the in-line water ministries so will give me a chance to interact with

Winding Down Read More »

Holy Day

Friday is Holy Day in Kabul, Afghanistan so the cooking and cleaning staff at the compound have the day off. We’ll have a brunch at 10 am this morning, but cold meats and cheese later according to the ex pats living here with me. The dining room is adjacent to my living quarters (bedroom with

Holy Day Read More »

Arrived in Kabul

Safi Airlines required me to arrive at the Dubai airport 3 hours before my flight today leaving at noon–time to do additional reading in preparation for my governance and public administration facilitation! The flight from Dubai to Kabul was a little over 2 hours and now I’m another half hour time zone distant from Portland,

Arrived in Kabul Read More »

48 hours Before Deployment to Afghanistan

Preparing for deployment for a USAID consulting mission to Afghanistan provides a few additional challenges than the usual international work. These included security briefings, determining and purchasing culturally appropriate clothing, and considerations of appropriate teaching methods. The US State Department/USAID contractor that I am working for is IRD: http://www.ird.org/  My introduction toIRD came through Azad Mohammadi,

48 hours Before Deployment to Afghanistan Read More »

image_pdfimage_print
Scroll to Top