by Maurice Tukamuhebwa

05 May 2008

Kabul, Afghanistan: After working in information technology (IT) for more than 15 years, I concluded it was time to give back to humanity through volunteerism. However, when I was told that I was supposed to work in Kabul Afghanistan, my resolve waned…

Afghanistan! My concern was insecurity. But after serious and comprehensive consultations, I relented and, come March 2008, I was on the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) plane to Kabul. A few months later, I don't regret that decision.

My first shock was the weather. Although I had experienced winter in southern Africa, what I came face to face with in Kabul was something else. Immediately as I disembarked the plane, I knew I was in for trouble. It was chillingly cold. I felt my body grow numb and my ears felt like they were about to fall off my head any time.

As we strolled towards the terminal, I realized that most of the passengers, me inclusive, were exhaling misty puffs. This was winter like I had never seen before, yet, my friends told me later, it was receding. "January and February had been colder," they intimated.

This drawback was, however, neutralized by the warmth and affection I felt, coming from the smiling faces of the personnel around the terminal. Despite the coldness and underneath their heavy overcoats, jerseys and thick cardigans, lay humble and affectionate hearts. I fell in love with the Afghans immediately and knew that, despite the coldness, I had a reliable friend in the Afghan people - and to date there is nothing truer.

I serve as a UNV Cisco Academy Project Coordinator and my brief includes overseeing all the academies in the country in terms of management and administrative support, gender initiative development, IT workforce development and programme sustainability. The Cisco project began in 2002 with the main mandate of exposing and imparting IT knowledge and skills to the Afghan people and especially women. To date, more than 300 females have benefited from the program and many more made aware of the advantages of becoming skilled in technical areas like IT.

In collaboration with the line Ministries of Women's Affairs and Communication and Information Technology, and with financial and technical support from UNDP and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the programme has established eight Cisco Academies throughout the country with an enrolment capacity of more than 1,000 students.

As a UNV volunteer, my contribution cannot be over-emphasized enough. It is good to see seeing women embracing IT knowledge and skills and competing favourably with their male counterparts, especially in a society like Afghanistan where females have lagged behind in all spheres of development.

Kabul is a 'modern city' devoid of modern facilities, partly because of the war and also due to the location and nature of the city's occupants. Located in a huge valley and perched on hills, the city takes care of more than 3 million people.

Streets are straight and most of them are dual-carriage. Driving is on the right side of the road and the vehicle-of-choice is the reliable Toyota. Ninety-nine per cent of all the vehicles are of the Toyota brand and the rest are of other Japanese models. Drivers are very skilled in getting their way around traffic jams and passengers are patient and disciplined and do not fight for vehicles, like in most of the Southern countries I know.

Old buildings are being renovated and new ones springing up in almost all corners of the city. As expected there are beautiful and elegant mosques everywhere. There are modern buildings serving as shopping malls and banks and government offices. Kabul must have been a very beautiful city in its old times. The biggest challenge, however, remains the many beggars, mostly children and women, on its streets.

Travelling outside Kabul on a mission to Mazar-e-Sharif, I came to believe that Afghanistan has the most diverse and amazing landscape in the whole world. From the rocky-bare hills of Kabul, the scenery changes to high snow-capped mountains towards the northern part of the country.

The climax is the Salang Hills where the road meanders and eventually ends in a 6 km-long tunnel. When we passed this place in March, the hills were all covered in ice, and what beautiful scenery they made! It was my very first encounter with ice or snow of this magnitude and I can't explain the feeling I got – mirthful! Up north, 200 km away from Kabul and an equal amount from Mazar-e-Sharif, there are gentler and shorter hills (which may be confused with sand dunes because of their shapes), that eventually give rise to endless stretches of plains that are used for cultivating wheat and grazing animals.

Mazar-e-Sharif – the regional city of the north - is cooler and more beautiful than Kabul. With straight and tree-lined streets, street lights and beautiful modern architectural buildings, Mazar is also the home of one of the greatest architectural buildings - the Blue Mosque. This massive structure is a great tourist attraction because it is believed that one of Mohammed's grandson is buried there. The faithful throng the mosque not only to admire its beauty and grandeur but also to get spiritual and physical healing.

Apart from security, one of my other fears about coming to Kabul was the food. But Afghan food is nutritious. With bread as the main food component at every meal, Afghans also have one of the most advanced and diverse ways of making rice into various eats. Rice can be eaten bare (white) or fried alone or mixed with mutton/chicken and or with spices and oil and onions and many other things. Whatever form it takes, rice meals are always tasty and delicious.

Mutton, chicken and a variety of greens and vegetables are all available and in plenty. And in every office and at every function, tea is the welcome greeting. Served with nuts and sweets, Afghan tea, both black and green, is taken without sugar.

In conclusion, I must say that Afghanistan has received rather bad coverage in the world media. Whenever I told people that I was going for a brief stay in Kabul, their replies were of disappointment and fear. That bad publicity has made the country lose out on many opportunities.

Afghanistan, especially the areas of Kabul and up north, is as safe as any other place out of conflict can be. I want to encourage those who would want to be UNV volunteers and serve in this part of the world that the place is as good as any other, the people are hospitable and respectable and you can go about your duties like you would anywhere else.

I congratulate the UNV volunteers in Afghanistan and other hardship areas and encourage them to continue the good fight! There is always work waiting to be done somewhere, like in this place and others and someone has to do it! Through our free will and commitment, let us continue to engage communities in order to bring about solidarity and development.

Maurice Tukamuhebwa, a Ugandan, has IT experience from over 15 years as a teacher, trainer, lecturer and IT manager. Before joining the UNV programme, he worked as an IT Consultant with the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in southern Sudan.