Power Spoof

What can I say…power has been a serious issue throughout Tajikistan this winter. We are going through the third round of serious power cuts this week. What is disturbing is there seems to be a direct correlation between the temperature and power. When it gets increasingly colder, power is increasingly lessened. No rhyme nor reason…It’s Tajikistan. The problem is the temperature has dropped drastically so I literally went from wearing my spring jacket one day to 4 layers the next. And so is adjusting to having get used to 4-5 hours of power to only 2 hours at night with minimal running water (hint: live on the ground floor…). Whoever is charged with turning the power off must have much joy in doing so because one night after 8pm, the power cut. However, it came back on 15 mins afterwards so I blew out the candle only to find myself sitting in pitch darkness seconds after!


Night view of Lenina St. taken from my apt.


Perhaps one positive out of this dire situation is one night, I was sitting with a friend looking across the river. At 9pm, we caught sight of the power cuts take place before our eyes. It was pretty amazing how all the lights just turned off all at once, leaving us to feel at ease knowing we were watching the lights go out from the outside instead of experiencing it from within.

You might be thinking how bad the locals have it here but I’ve learned that not only do most locals have their coping mechanisms either through getting a ‘red line’ emergency line only for hospitals, police etc. or use wood/coal stoves to get them through. The strong family/clan based culture ensures that if you are a part of a family, you will have the connection to survive these circumstances. I heard recently that 80% of Tajiks have ‘red line’ power. The result is that since most are on the red line, the power through these lines has also weakened and in some cases also cut. This is very serious as these red lines are supposed to be for important life-saving institutions and I’m hearing that hospitals are also without power and water at times. Can you imagine not being able to wash your hand in the hospital? Or performing surgery using a generator?!? This is definitely a motivation to stay far away from having to go to the hospital.

Read the article below to see how Tajiks are dealing with it in their own hands.
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=rca&s=f&o=333463&apc_state=henh

Have you heard enough? Well I think everyone here is sick of me talking about it. I’m sick of talking about it =P

Frenzy Feb

Whoa! What happened? February, why are you leaving us so soon? This month has been quite a blinding whirlwind for me, so much that I have not been able to capture any of it here until now. Well, hold still cuz here’s a frenzy recap for ya =)

If you don’t already know by now, the news is I have extended my stay here in Khujand to work with MEDA until the end of May. This is a very timely arrangement as the Gender Officer who I’ve been helping with the Small Matching Grant Program has left MEDA so I have taken over the implementing of the grant program. I will also get many other opportunities to put on my ‘trainers’ cap in the next few months.

Next week, along with the AgriBusiness Development Specialist, we will be facilitating a two-day workshop on business management, and planning. There are approx. 15 farmers who are training to be MEDA’s AgriBusiness Consultants (ABCs) and their final workshop session will be conducted by us. Once completed their training, the ABCs will go back to their different regions and work with village farmers by providing agricultural advice and support, to help them improve their growing methods and as a result better yields and quality to improve their income. I’ve spent the last 3 weeks or so putting together various modules for the training on topics like marketing management value chain and can finally say I’m done writing! Now my focus will be on how to facilitate it.

Interesting Experiment – Count how many Merecedes and BMWs you see on the road. During my 5 min walk on the main road, I saw 6 Merecedes and 1 BMW on the street…hmmm