Afghanistan

Kabul – An Expatriate Restaurant Is Closed

Notice of the closure of L’Atmosphere, due to tax problem L’Atmosphere, a French restaurant hidden in a small dusty alley in Kabul, is forced to close by the government, due to a tax failure. I have a personal experience with this restaurant. In 2006, the first day of my arrival in Afghanistan, an Indonesian friend of mine took me to the restaurant to watch the opening match of the World Cup soccer championship. I was not interested to watch World Cup, but as he said that it was a public place with giant screen – which he supposed to make watching football much more interesting, I was thinking of a giant screen in the middle of an open field where a crowd of turbaned Afghan men cheered and supporting their favorite teams. I accepted the invitation. Located in unsigned property in a nondescript dusty alley of Kabul, here is one of the renowned expat heavens in Afghanistan This was the perfect hangout place for the expat. After the closure, many of the Kabul foreigners miss the atmosphere of L’Atmosphere But I was surprised to come to the place. No turbans, no burqas. In fact there is a huge notice in [...]

June 6, 2007 // 0 Comments

Kabul – Those who Survive on Afghan Streets

Ni’mat, the shoe polisher The decades of wars in Afghanistan have left scars on Afghan community. Victims of wars are still visible on busy Kabul streets. War widows and orphaned children beg for donations from the crowds, and poor children also have to work instead of getting access to proper education. The economy disparity causes many people are still not adsorbed into proper occupation. If a father does not make enough money to support his big family, which is very common in Afghanistan, then young children have to start to earn for living. Ni’mat is an 11 year old boy. His name in Arabic means mercy, but his life is not quite a mercy. At this early age, he has to work on streets as shoe polisher. He started this work a year ago, and now he has more responsibilities. His mother does not work, as most women in Afghanistan. His father used to be street worker, hanging around on the street to offer his muscle power. But then, last month, his father got accident because stepped on landmines and stay at home just like his mother. Ni’mat, a cheerful boy, said that he also goes to school in the [...]

May 22, 2007 // 6 Comments

Kabul – Life from the Stinky Mountains

Searching for possible “treasures” in the garbage dump of northern Kabul North of Kabul, on the top of barren hills, is located the garbage dump of all waste of the capital. The complete waste, after passes the selection of waste pickers from all around the capital, ends its journey here. Waste pickers, those who try to find treasures from dumps of waste, can be recognized easily. They are people in dirty clothes, with a sack on their backs, and dwindle around Kabul streets or garbage dumps searching for something. Most of the waste pickers in Kabul are children, besides adult men and women. Garbage from the streets is then dumped here, on a hill north of Kabul, as the final dumping point of all garbage in the whole capital. Garbage which makes its way here can be assumed as the most unusable kind of garbage, or we can say the garbage of all garbage. But still, this kind of place may provide life for some people. Lunch, everybody? Waris, 12 year old boy, spends his full day picking garbage at this central dumping point. Actually not much valuable thing he can find here, but plastic bottles and Coca Cola tins. [...]

May 8, 2007 // 4 Comments

Kabul – Some Broken Eggs from Kabul to Share

“My eggs are broken… my parents will punish me … keen to help?” Broken Eggs A boy is crying as his eggs are broken on a pedestrian street in Kabul. I was among sympathetic passers-by who donated some coins to this poor boy. Later I found out this is a common scam in the capital, as you may find this trick: a boy crying in Kabul’s many busy streetsnext to broken eggs to gather some symphathy from unsespecting people. Telur-telur yang Pecah Seorang bocah kecil yang menangisi telur-telurnya yang pecah di sebuah trotoar di Kabul. Entah apa yang dipikirkannya. Apakah sang ayah akan menghajarnya karena ia telah menyia-nyiakan uang belanjaan hari itu. Apakah sang ibu akan mencacimakinya karena kecerobohannya. Yang jelas, saya bersimpati dan menyumbangkan beberapa keping uang receh yang disambut dengan tangan yang terjulur dari balik wajah yang tersembunyi itu. Kemudian baru saya mengetahui, bahwa ini adalah salah satu teknik mengemis yang mutahir di ibu kota ini: bocah-bocah kecil yang menangis di samping tumpukan telur-telur pecah, menangisi jalan-jalan ramai di kota Kabul, sambil menanti gemericik uang receh dari para pejalan kaki. Scars of war on the streets of Kabul Scars of Wars Three decades of wars have left grey [...]

April 26, 2007 // 3 Comments

Kabul – Brother Ambassador

The Indonesian Embassy in Kabul Today there is opening of a photo exhibition in the newly renovated Kabul Museum, just across the Darulaman Palace. The exhibition shows some old photos of Afghanistan, taken in the 1970s, about the glorious era of the covered bazaar of Tashkurgan. The covered bazaar now is gone. And European historical site preservation mission is trying hard to return the legendary bazaar back to its golden time. As photographers we were invited to attend the opening ceremony. There were long, long speeches from authorities and historians about the importance of preserving historical sites, the mission of photo exhibition, and about the destroyed bazaar of Tashkurgan. Many of the invited guests are foreigners. I feel a strange feeling surrounded by high class Afghan expats accompanied by their super muscular bodyguards. I am just a little photographer assigned by a local office here. During the speech I noticed a man standing next to me. He also looked at me. I was not sure whether he was Indonesian or not, but he seems so. As many Indonesians, I also have a strange hobby of guessing about other people’s identity. Hmm…, this man looks like Indonesian. But I have never [...]

April 25, 2007 // 1 Comment

Kabul – Demonstration against Tolo TV

“Go down with Tolo!!!” scream the protesters There is a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the biggest Afghan private TV station, Tolo TV in Kabul, following urge of the Afghan Attorney General on closure of the TV station. According to Abdul Jabar Sabet the Attorney General, the TV Station had made false report on his comment. He claimed that he was saying that the judicial system was not good, but then reported by the TV he was saying it is the country’s system which is not good. Sabet is very unhappy by this report, as this left impression that he was speaking against the government, not the judicial system. The protesters—the supporters of Sabet—also brought the name of religion and Prophet in their action. The scale of the protest is not really huge—some media reports there are 200 protesters, but I just saw only some dozens. Anyway, the protesters claim there would be 500 people joining their action, a number supposed to be alarming for the capital’s security. By noon, arrive some vehicles bringing more protesters in front of the TV station. Tolo TV’s directors denied Sabet’s accusation, insisted that they did not distort Sabet’s contentions. According to [...]

April 19, 2007 // 1 Comment

Tehran – An Old Friend

March 12, 2007 Tehran – An Old Friend An accidental meeting on Internet made me finding my old friend. Her name is Dina, but Indonesian bloggers knew her as ‘bundakirana’ (http://bundakirana.multiply.com). I actually don’t check Internet quite often except only for emails, chat, and news. But that day, when I was quite bored in an Internet Café in Esfahan, I found out her message on a traveling forum: “Soon I am going back to my home, leaving Iran, where I have spent my 8 years. I am thinking of writing a book about traveling in Iran. So I want to ask your suggestions of what should I include in my travel writing, for example what stuff that Indonesian readers might be interested.” I replied her message by saying that I was also, by accident, in Iran. I invited her to visit my blog as well. Out of my expectation Dina was enthusiastic in replying my message and even to meet me when I returned back to Tehran. She tried to arrange everything for me, but she also had some limitation of her work and family. But she asked a friend of her to host me for some days, thus we [...]

March 12, 2007 // 3 Comments

SNAP (2006): Mencari Warna-warni Kehidupan

No. 006/2006 SNAP (Majalah Fotografi) JALAN-JALAN | Asia Selatan Mencari Warna-warni Kehidupan NASKAH & FOTO: AGUSTINUS WIBOWO Ketika saya masih duduk di kelas 1 SD, pernah seorang guru bertanya tentang cita-cita. Saya menjawab dengan polosnya, “Ingin jadi turis!” “Lho, jadi turis, kan, bukan pekerjaan?” katanya terkejut. Hari ini, dua puluh tahun kemudian, saya berada di Afghanistan, setelah satu tahun lebih mengelana melintasi negeri-negeri Asia, dari gunung-gunung tinggi hingga padang pasir tak bertuan. Berjumpa dengan suku-suku terasing di pedalaman, hingga mengunjungi pabrik-pabrik senjata ilegal. Separuh turis, separuh jurnalis. Sama sekali tidak kusangka, cita-cita masa kecil kini tercapai. India Kaya Warna Perjalanan panjang ini adalah perjalanan mencari warna. Menemukan arti kehidupan yang tersembunyi dalam ragam-ragam budaya, serta saling berbagi dengan pembaca yang mungkin tak berkesempatan menengok sendiri. Kamera, bagi saya bukan hanya alat untuk mengabadikan pengalaman, namun juga media berkomunikasi dengan penduduk lokal. Memulai dari Beijing, Cina, setelah tiga bulan perjalanan darat sampailah saya di Nepal, sebuah negeri mungil yang terjepit di antara dua raksasa Asia, India dan Cina. Budaya Hindu begitu mewarnai kehidupan masyarakatnya. Warna mistis dan kepercayaan kuno, disemerbaki oleh harumnya asap dupa yang dibakar oleh para penganutnya, menjadikan Nepal negeri yang penuh misteri, terkunci di antara puncak-puncak salju yang [...]

December 30, 2006 // 5 Comments

Alichur – Kyrgyz Community

The steppe of Alichur Actually I planned to stay for some more days in Langar, but I have heard that the transport onward to Murghab would be very difficult to get. This was caused by the high oil price, so people couldnt afford anymore to travel, and instead of going to smaller and hopeless Murghab they opted to bigger Khorog. Suddenly, even when I was not prepared yet, there was a passenger jeep going to Murghab on 27th. The khalifa told me if I didnt take this car, the next transport might be a month after. I had no choice but to leave Langar. The road continued to east along the river bordering Afghanistan. Afghanistan on that side of the river had no more motorable road as it already entered the Big Pamir area. Sometimes caravans of Bactrian camels were visible along the dirt road on that side of the river, while we were travelling in a russian jeep. World differed more than a century in the two sides of the river, which was very shallow and narrow in winter. It should be very easy to cross the border illegally here. The camel caravan must be the Afghan (Pashtun) traders [...]

October 28, 2006 // 0 Comments

Langar – Connecting Afghanistan

Yodgor family. Aga Khan portraits always decorate the houses of Ismaili families in Tajikistan Pamir. Three months ago, on July 31st exactly, I came to this little bridge. That time I was coming with the Shah (the King) of Panjah, district officials of Khandud, and Afghan soldiers. At that time, we were there to see the opening of the bridge and overwhelmed by the optimistism of the desperate Wakhi people from Afghan side, about the change of their future by this new border. Today, I am at the other side of the bridge, seeing the barren hills of Afghanistan with all of its hopes, from Tajikistan side, with Mulloev Yodgor Dildorovich, the khalifa (religious leader)-cum-teacher of Langar. Yodgor was among those who were overwhelmed by millions of mixed feelings when the border was opened, only for one day. On August 1, 2006, there was held an Afghan bazaar just next to the bridge in Langar side. The people from Afghanistan Wakhan Corridor were coming from all directions, from as far as Khandud and Sarhad-e-Boroghel, to attend this rare moment. So were people from Tajikistan side. This was not merely a moment of trading, but also a moment of reunion of [...]

October 26, 2006 // 1 Comment

Vrang – Life in Vrang

Green, peaceful, and lazy … Vrang Travelling in Tajikistan side of the Wakhan Corridor was as difficult as in Afghanistan side. Public transport was rare, the oil price got higher as the altitude got higher. It was 3.50 Somoni per liter of petrol here. No one was sure when the coming transport would come. And even when it came, it was often full, no space to share. It was indeed luck to be able to travel according to what one has planned. I was patient enough even though I worried about my short visa. Dr Akhmed was a doctor in Tughoz. I was waiting for transport to Vrang, 5 km away from tughoz, in his hospital. As the main doctor in this village, he earned only 50 Somoni per month. You would go nowhere with that amount of money in Tajikistan. But everybody was optimistic with his life. Working with little income was still better rather than begging on the streets. I have heard beggars in Jakarta could earn at least 60 dollars per month, about 280 Somoni, or 4 times higher than Dr Akhmed’s income. You need a lot of money and bunch of patience to travel in Tajikistan. [...]

October 25, 2006 // 0 Comments

Tughoz – Aliboy Family Aliboy family

The Aliboy family His name is Tuloev Aliboy Jumakhanovich, an unemployed man who sometimes work as driver, 33 years old. He greeted me, “We, Ismailis, dont go for hajj in Mecca. We dont waste our money for hajj. But our leader says, providing shelter and food for poor traveller, the mosafers, that is our hajj pilgrimage.” That is the reason of the hospitality of the Ismailis. No matter that there is no even wheat to make bread, being hospitable to a guest is compulsory. Aliboy sheltered me in his traditional house. There were his old father, Jumakhan, 72 years old, the old mother, sisters, cousins, and children in his little house. People of the Pamir are said to have long ages, like Jumakhan’s grand father who lived until 120 years old of age. Maybe it was because of the pure water. Aliboy had no job, even though he had a car. Here we could observe how live reduced dramatically to its modest form since the breakaway of the USSR. From a car owner to be an unemployed whou couldnt sustain sufficient income for basic needs, life have never been easy afterwards. The situation in Tajikistan was much worsened by the [...]

October 24, 2006 // 0 Comments

Ishkashim – Bodurbekov Family

Alisher (a.k.a Muhammad Bodurbekov) with his cousin “Now you are not guest anymore. You are part of our family. Welcome!” – Muhammad Bodurbekov Since the first minute I arrived in Ishkashim, I was impressed by the hospitality of the people in the Wakhan Valley. I was invited by Muhammad Bodurbekov, 29, to his house in the village. Muhammad, alias Alisher, worked in Dushanbe in Aga Khan’s NGO, MSDSP. He had classes in Khorog and he then had chance to see his family in Ishkashim. He spent a month in the UK for his higher education, and he still maintained his British accent. Alisher was an educated professional and he had so many things to discuss. So before starting, let’s sit on the ‘kurpacha’, the guest welcome matress, which Alisher laid between the pillars of Ali and Muhammad. Sitting on the kurpacha symbolized the acceptance of the welcome gesture from the host. In this house there were Alisher’s father, mother, sister, and some nephews and nieces. Alisher sister was married already but she was staying in her parents’ house. She was married to a man from Shegnon and according to the Shegnon tradition, the first child should be born in the [...]

October 22, 2006 // 0 Comments

Ishkashim – Peeping into Afghanistan

Afghanistan, seen from Tajikistan It is just separated by a river. But the live over there is a world away. Khorog and Ishkashim are connected by a stretch of a 106 km long asphalted road. It is a 3 hour journey with public jeep, but cost as much as 20 Somoni ($6). Despite of lack of money that people earn, everything in Tajikistan is very expensive as the country produces almost nothing remarkable but water and electricity. The road to Ishkashim as along the Panj river, with Afghanistan Badakhshan province at the other side. The river itself had not strong stream (as the temperature is already quite low at this moment) and was not wide at all. Afghanistan is just less than 20 m from here, but the life there is a world away. While we are traversing smooth road of Tajikistan with a jeep, the road over there is complete dirt road and you may observe Afghan travellers wandering the world on donkeys. When women passengers in our jeep in Tajikistan side sit aside the other male passengers, talk and sing freely during the journey, an Afghan woman completely covered by blue veil, wears long loose trousers, and passes [...]

October 20, 2006 // 1 Comment

Khorog – The Capital of GBAO

Driver is a respected job in Tajikistan, especially in GBAO where most people still struggle of unemployment “Thanks to God, thanks to Aga Khan, for their kindness to us” – Mamadrayonova Khurseda The provincial capital of GBAO, Khorog, is a little town set in a valley surrounded by vertical cliffs of high mountains. It is cool and lazy, and despite of its proximity with Afghanistan, it is quite laid back. The appearance of military still can be felt intensively in the town, thanks to the neighbouring Afghanistan, which is just across the river and notorious for opium export and illegal border crossing. Young soldiers have to patrol every morning along the misty and freezing river. The 1300 km long border with Afghanistan gives much headache to Tajikistan, and its patron – Russia. Russian guards were playing a big role in ‘saving’ the war torn Tajikistan from further deterioration. But as the situation of the country had been stabilized for almost ten years now, the existence of Russian and CIS troops had been much reduced since the previous two years. If you walk along the main street of Khorog, except for the numerous militsia, police, and KGB agents, you will feel [...]

October 19, 2006 // 0 Comments

Khorog – The Journey to GBAO

One of the two brothers, fellow passengers on the journey to Khorog, GBAO, Tajikistan GBAO, the Gorno Badakhshanskaya Avtonomnaya Oblast (Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast) is my main reason to come to Tajikistan. It is dominated by the minority Ismaili Badakhshani Tajiks and Sunni Kyrgyz. It has majestic mountain architectures. But the main reason I want to go to this restricted area was its history. The province was supporting rebel side in the civil war of Tajikistan. The province suffered a lot from the blockade of the central government. Going to Tajikistan is already something strange for my Indonesian friends in Kabul. “Why going to Tajikistan? It is a poor country.” Going to GBAO is another thing to be objected by my Tajik friends in Dushanbe. “Why going to GBAO? It is so far and poor…” Even the Tajik diplomat in Kabul raised his eyebrows when my embassy staff insisted to get a Tajik visa together with GBAO permit. “Is he really a tourist???” For the ‘GBAO’ four letters to be added on my visa I had to pay a painful 100 dollar fee. It is a bureaucratic country, and my embassy told me to follow the rules, as for this [...]

October 18, 2006 // 0 Comments

Dushanbe – Lost Money (Again, Again, Again… Aaaargh…)

The beautiful Tajik money, Somoni, with picture of a Persian Sufi poet, Mir Said Ali Hamadani These last few days, I stayed in a hotel named Vakhsh Hotel. It is the cheapest choice I can find in the town, and it cost 10 $ per night in a room with four beds. Of course with such high price, I expected that the room was exclusively for me alone. I always locked the door and kept the key for myself. After staying a night in Bakhriddin’s dormitory, I went to my room in Vakhsh. I was surprised to see that there was a young man sleeping on one of the beds. I just put my small bag in the room, went shower, and then Internet to check the news from my embassy concerning my Kyrgyz visa application. I didn’t come back until evening, when I saw another man taking another bed. I just realized that this is a shared room, and I just left my luggage unattended for the whole day. I saw my small bag, and just at glance I knew someone had opened it. I suddenly realized what can be stolen: my money collection. And I was right. A [...]

October 10, 2006 // 1 Comment

Dushanbe – Tajikistan, First Impression

Just across the river border, even the grilled meat looks very different, despite of the same name, kabab. Oh, it also gets a Russian name here, sashlik. Before actually physically stepped on the country, I had heard, and seen Tajikistan when I was still in Afghanistan. It is the country idolized by many people in the Badakhshan province. It is the country of freedom, flourished by goods, electricity, and public services. It is the country where women can walk on the streets freely without fear of not covering properly. Now, I am in Tajikistan, seeing and experiencing what man of the northern rural Afghans dreaming about. But for me, Tajikistan is not about dream. According to a reference, the average salary of the people in the country was only 61.81 Somoni (US$ 19.93/month, 2005) and average pension was as low as 16.92 Somoni (US$ 5.23/month, 2005). Life cost is not cheap at all, at least in Dushanbe, compared to the low income statistics. Long distance transport was incredibly expensive, comparable to Afghanistan, as oil costs almost 1 US$ per litre. 93% of Tajikistan’s land is mountains, making it only 7% inhabited and potential for agriculture. It has distinctive four seasons [...]

October 8, 2006 // 0 Comments

Dushanbe – Greetings from Tajik Capital

Stamps of independent Tajikistan still use Russian Cyrillic alphabet along with Latin. They portrays local heros and culture, also other colorful cartoonish and big stamps with unrelated topics for collectors, like: outer space, Euro football competition, Elvis Presley, Bruce Lee and panda Finally, I arrived in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. The Tajik border is located across the river from the Afghan port of Shir Khan Bandar. It’s an expensive fare of 10 dollars per person to cross the river by boat. The Tajik immigration is located somewhere further, and it was another 1 dollar to reach the immigration office by bus. And they still charged 5 dollars for luggage checking (customs). I befriended the old customs officer. We talked in Farsi and he was so happy looking at Indonesian photos. Actually he already signaled me to leave soon after the custom check, that way I could avoid the 5 dollar fee. But I really didnt know about the 5 dollar game, and I insisted to get a registration slip from him, as I presumed in Central Asia if you leave the country without the slip, you will have problem. He told me that for Tajikistan, registration slip would only [...]

October 7, 2006 // 0 Comments

Shir Khan Bandar – Last Day in Afghanistan

Let’s cross the Amu River and see the real world of Tajikistan And it’s time for me to say good bye to the Afghan land. Every Thursday during the Ramazan, the Muslim’s fasting month, the Indonesian embassy in Kabul hold ‘buka puasa bersama’ probram, or breaking the fast together. This was always a good opportunity for the Indonesian community in Kabul to gather and have chit chat about life in Afghanistan. I met some UN workers like Aini, Nita (going to Sudan), and Mr Saptono, who had worked in Papua as well for 8 years. I also met a ‘newcomer’ volunteer architect, Widhya, whose boss, Rowry Stewart, traversed the Central Route of Afghanistan on foot in winter 2001 and wrote a book. I also couldn’t forget the nice moments with Mr Ambassador, all of the diplomats, and staff in the embassy, and of course, the excellent food. It was a very beautiful memory with all you guys in Kabul. It was a coincidence that Tolo TV was broadcasting a program, ‘itfar in other countries’, and yesterday they broadcasted about breaking fast in Indonesia. I didn’t watch by myself but Chayos and Mr Hamdani said the program was ugly. “Why did [...]

October 6, 2006 // 2 Comments

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