In all the houses and streets there is peace and quiet. Out of fifty thousand townsfolk there's not one ready to scream or protest aloud. We see people shopping for food in the market, eating by day, sleeping by night, talking their nonsense, marrying their wives, growing old, complacently dragging off their dead to the cemetery. But we have no eyes or ears for those who suffer. Life's real tragedies are enacted off stage. All is peace and quiet, the only protest comes from mute statistics: so many people driven mad, so many gallons of vodka drunk, so many children starved to death.
Oh yes, the need for such a system is obvious. Quite obviously, too, the happy man only feels happy because the unhappy man bears his burden in silence. And without that silence happiness would be impossible. It's collective hypnosis, this is. At the door of every contented, happy man there should be someone standing with a little hammer, someone to keep dinning into his head that unhappy people do exist- and that, happy though he may be, life will round on him sooner or later. Disaster will strike in the shape of sickness, poverty or bereavement. And no one will see him or hear him - just as he now has neither eyes nor ears for others. but there is no one with a hammer, and so the happy man lives happily away, while life's petty tribulations stir him gently, as the breeze stirs an aspen. And everything in the garden is lovely.
[...]
'Never give up, my dear Alyokhin,' he pleaded. 'Never let them drug you. While you're still young, strong and in good heart, never tire of doing good. There's no such thing- there need be no such thing- as happiness. And if life has any meaning and purpose, that meaning and purpose certainly aren't in our happiness, but in something higher and more rational. Do good.'
Anton Chekhov: 'Gooseberries'
Tuesday, 2 September 2008
Secret Millionaire
I've been watching this great programme on Channel 4 the last few weeks called 'Secret Millionaire'- the premise is that each week a millionaire goes to do voluntary work in some deprived area of Britain but is undercover. At the end of the 10 days the millionaire gives away money to the projects they have worked with. In a way, it's a gimmick, the amount of people they reach is small and the millionaires seem to get a lot of thanks for the 10,000s of pounds they give, even though it's a drop in the ocean of their fortunes. But I think it's got a really deep message. It highlights the incredible work so many voluntary organisations do and the secret suffering of many people living next door to us. Our neighbours. It gives the millionaires to be treated as 'normal', not seen for their money but for who they are. In each case, they have been transformed by the experience and not only give their money away but go away with plans to use their businesses for the good of society. Wallets and hearts with changed priorities.
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
mini-earthquake
Shymkent in an earthquake region and last night we had a very mini-earthquake. Since generally they only have little tremors it wasn't scary, just quite interesting to be shaking without willing it yourself to do so. But Central Asia in general does risk having a more serious earthquake- in 1966 300,000 people were left homeless in Tashkent (2 hours drive south of here) due to an earthquake 7.5 on the Richter scale.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Inspiring people
One thing I loved about living here in Kazakhstan was the opportunity to go and visit organisations which were doing something positive about social and economic problems in their country. Spending a year studying and thinking about poverty has, at times, left me somewhat hopeless. If a country has no natural resources, nothing to trade and no investment, what hope for development? Now those questions still remain and when I look at a country like Tajikistan, where growth rates are declining and this winter saw people dying of cold and hunger, I wonder how the suffering of these people will be eased...(take a quick look at this link- a short slideshow about Tajikistan's winter crisis 2007/08: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/08/asia_pac_tajikistan0s_winter_struggle/html/7.stm)
But this week I have been in another town in Southern Kazakhstan, visiting some friends and the work they do here. They introduced me to some really inspiring people who are passionate about relieving the suffering of others. I found myself sitting around a table with local people who give me hope: one man works with the homeless bringing practical help and more, another hangs out with young drug addicts showing them the care they often lack, a lady tries to brighten the lives of disabled children with parties and trips, another wants to make sure people receive the social security benefits that they are due. The discussion was lively from the start, the passion clear. 'Sometimes I go to a house of a disabled person and they tell me they want to end it all,' one lady said, 'so I go to the shop and buy some cake and we sit and cry together for a bit and then we drink tea and eat the cake. Sometimes it's enough to just know someone cares.' Another man with dirt stained hands told us, 'I was one of those drug addicts and people wouldn't talk to me but these people did and now my whole life has changed'. Later a man from the Disabled Association of the city told me 'I invited able-bodied people to a camp with my disabled children so they could see that we are not like their stereotypes and by the end of the camp they certainly saw us differently rather than seeing us as different.'
In the West, there is a lot of cynicism. In academia, the critical eye is highly prized. After a year of Western academic study of the complexity of development it all seemed very complicated. Colonialism, neo-colonialism, World Bank hegemony, NGO co-option by the State, everything riddled with data problems...Now it's not that these things don't matter or that I suddenly think that academia is useless. But sitting with these inspiring people who don't receive massive grants from the UN, who often live on very little themselves, who were speaking with such passion about those in difficult situations and taking action, they have something very simple in common:
Love for their neighbour.
But this week I have been in another town in Southern Kazakhstan, visiting some friends and the work they do here. They introduced me to some really inspiring people who are passionate about relieving the suffering of others. I found myself sitting around a table with local people who give me hope: one man works with the homeless bringing practical help and more, another hangs out with young drug addicts showing them the care they often lack, a lady tries to brighten the lives of disabled children with parties and trips, another wants to make sure people receive the social security benefits that they are due. The discussion was lively from the start, the passion clear. 'Sometimes I go to a house of a disabled person and they tell me they want to end it all,' one lady said, 'so I go to the shop and buy some cake and we sit and cry together for a bit and then we drink tea and eat the cake. Sometimes it's enough to just know someone cares.' Another man with dirt stained hands told us, 'I was one of those drug addicts and people wouldn't talk to me but these people did and now my whole life has changed'. Later a man from the Disabled Association of the city told me 'I invited able-bodied people to a camp with my disabled children so they could see that we are not like their stereotypes and by the end of the camp they certainly saw us differently rather than seeing us as different.'
In the West, there is a lot of cynicism. In academia, the critical eye is highly prized. After a year of Western academic study of the complexity of development it all seemed very complicated. Colonialism, neo-colonialism, World Bank hegemony, NGO co-option by the State, everything riddled with data problems...Now it's not that these things don't matter or that I suddenly think that academia is useless. But sitting with these inspiring people who don't receive massive grants from the UN, who often live on very little themselves, who were speaking with such passion about those in difficult situations and taking action, they have something very simple in common:
Love for their neighbour.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Today I made lunch for the team here, I went and bought the flatbread (Lipioshki), the eggs, sausage and cheese, the fresh tomatoes and non uniform bumpy (and sometimes curved) cucumbers. There was nothing extraordinary in that aside, from the fact it felt so normal! The shop assistants were the same, the year I had been away a mere blip compared with their long years of service. The perilous crossing still a game of ‘dodge the car’.
In Almaty, the mountains were as beautiful as ever, snow capped and authoritative as if commanding their city from on high. The public transport is still cheap at 12pence a trip on the bus. The summer fruit and veg is still as tasty, teeming with flavour having never seen a sellophane wrapper.
But some things have changed it’s true. There is a bit new shopping centre with an ice rink. The mayor’s office have began beautifying the city with flowerbeds. To my surprise the city authorities had also installed a few pedestrian traffic lights. But when I tried to cross on the ‘green man‘, I almost got run over by an impatient driver who sped up from 20 metres away into my path. Change may not happen overnight!
It seems strange to me that I have been away.
In Almaty, the mountains were as beautiful as ever, snow capped and authoritative as if commanding their city from on high. The public transport is still cheap at 12pence a trip on the bus. The summer fruit and veg is still as tasty, teeming with flavour having never seen a sellophane wrapper.
But some things have changed it’s true. There is a bit new shopping centre with an ice rink. The mayor’s office have began beautifying the city with flowerbeds. To my surprise the city authorities had also installed a few pedestrian traffic lights. But when I tried to cross on the ‘green man‘, I almost got run over by an impatient driver who sped up from 20 metres away into my path. Change may not happen overnight!
It seems strange to me that I have been away.
Saturday, 7 June 2008
Off to a wonder land...
Am off to Kazakhstan on Monday for 3 weeks so if you want to follow my trip then I'll be updating my blog a little more often than usual...
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Unexpected gifts and smiles
'Serendipity is the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely'...
On the tube the other day, I was feeling down. Exam revision was clogging up my brain and I was exhausted. At the second stop, two Chinese ladies, a small child and a pushchair got on and I moved to let them sit down. The next thing I knew an apple was thrust in my direction- with a thankful smile. I was so surprised by this act of kindness on a London tube! The other passengers around watched to see how I would react- would I dare to eat the unsanitised, unknown, unexpected fruit?
On the walk home from the tube, I passed the launderette where a little Indian lady always sits and waves at me when I pass by the window. I don't know who she is, she doesn't know me either but we have got into the habit of smiling and waving whenever we see each other. I don't even know if she speaks English but I know she has an open heart towards people.
Both these encounters made me think about how anonymity often gives us the excuse to walk around the city as if we didn't share it with anyone else. The pardox of millions of people living in such close quarters that they need to carve out their own space within the mass. The thing we all have in common is that we weave our own paths. But in the apple and the wave, I saw a glimpse of people who bring joy to others by making them feel they are noticed, not just part of the endless flow of faces. Their kindnesses, however small they might have been, changed my mood and in doing so gave me hope.
On the tube the other day, I was feeling down. Exam revision was clogging up my brain and I was exhausted. At the second stop, two Chinese ladies, a small child and a pushchair got on and I moved to let them sit down. The next thing I knew an apple was thrust in my direction- with a thankful smile. I was so surprised by this act of kindness on a London tube! The other passengers around watched to see how I would react- would I dare to eat the unsanitised, unknown, unexpected fruit?
On the walk home from the tube, I passed the launderette where a little Indian lady always sits and waves at me when I pass by the window. I don't know who she is, she doesn't know me either but we have got into the habit of smiling and waving whenever we see each other. I don't even know if she speaks English but I know she has an open heart towards people.
Both these encounters made me think about how anonymity often gives us the excuse to walk around the city as if we didn't share it with anyone else. The pardox of millions of people living in such close quarters that they need to carve out their own space within the mass. The thing we all have in common is that we weave our own paths. But in the apple and the wave, I saw a glimpse of people who bring joy to others by making them feel they are noticed, not just part of the endless flow of faces. Their kindnesses, however small they might have been, changed my mood and in doing so gave me hope.
Friday, 28 March 2008
Light show
Last night we went into Hong Kong to see the lights of the incredible skyline. At 8pm there is a 'son et lumiere' with flashing lights dancing to 'techno-chinese funk' over the harbour. Man-made beauty at its best.
Saturday, 22 March 2008
A rainy Saturday, the in-between time
I realise I have already been here a week and haven't added anything to my blog, so here we go...
This week was a short working week so there isn't so much to report on that front. I spent some of my time researching Bottom of the Pyramid business approaches to development (see http://www.bop-protocol.org/) Basically it's a movement, mostly within the multinational business community, to find ways of using business to help alleviate poverty. Cynics say it's about bringing poor people into new exploitation by big business. Enthusiasts see it as the strategy which can suceed where governments and philanthropy have failed. It's win-win because business will gain profits and those at the 'bottom of the pyramid', on less than $1-2 a day, will be able to have access to products which they can afford and which improve their lives. So far it seems to me that while it's not a 'silver bullet', it might just be another way of trying to improve the lives of millions of people who live in conditions so removed from our own comfotable existence. So the reading goes on...
I also got to help out with the school kids here. The team has people from all over the world, different ages and different talents. Over the last few years, several families have joined and so there is now a school for them! I got to help with some Easter related activities with them on Thursday which was great fun.
We have a long weekend for Easter which is wonderful. Time to rest and to be with friends and family. I hope that you have time this weekend to think about life a year on from last Easter time- what has changed, what has stayed the same...Much of my life seems to have changed since last Easter in Kazakhstan. But for all that change, most of the important people in my life remain the same. For that I am very grateful.
This week was a short working week so there isn't so much to report on that front. I spent some of my time researching Bottom of the Pyramid business approaches to development (see http://www.bop-protocol.org/) Basically it's a movement, mostly within the multinational business community, to find ways of using business to help alleviate poverty. Cynics say it's about bringing poor people into new exploitation by big business. Enthusiasts see it as the strategy which can suceed where governments and philanthropy have failed. It's win-win because business will gain profits and those at the 'bottom of the pyramid', on less than $1-2 a day, will be able to have access to products which they can afford and which improve their lives. So far it seems to me that while it's not a 'silver bullet', it might just be another way of trying to improve the lives of millions of people who live in conditions so removed from our own comfotable existence. So the reading goes on...
I also got to help out with the school kids here. The team has people from all over the world, different ages and different talents. Over the last few years, several families have joined and so there is now a school for them! I got to help with some Easter related activities with them on Thursday which was great fun.
We have a long weekend for Easter which is wonderful. Time to rest and to be with friends and family. I hope that you have time this weekend to think about life a year on from last Easter time- what has changed, what has stayed the same...Much of my life seems to have changed since last Easter in Kazakhstan. But for all that change, most of the important people in my life remain the same. For that I am very grateful.
Friday, 14 March 2008
Off to Hong Kong
As some of you may know, I am off to Hong Kong tomorrow.I'll be visiting my parents and lots of friends who currently work at a charity called 'Crossroads'. Check out www.crossroads.org.hk
to see what they do. If you want to see what I'm up to then watch this space over the next 3 weeks...Alice in a new land...
to see what they do. If you want to see what I'm up to then watch this space over the next 3 weeks...Alice in a new land...
Friday, 29 February 2008
you get an extra day- use it well
Starting on the 29th February seemed appropriate because opportunities like this don't come up very often!
if you're sitting comfortably....
then I'll begin. My name is a constant in my life- it has followed me across continents, across languages, across the years. 'Alice' I say. 'Like Alice in Wonderland?' comes the seemingly inevitable reply. Everywhere people have heard of this Lewis Caroll story and I used to get quite annoyed at this stock response. I guess if your name is Mickey or Minnie, you might get the same treatment...
But last year, I had a thought which changed the way I see this alliance between my name and the girl who falls down a rabbit hole. Wonder. She walks around in this sometimes scary, often strange, always fascinating world which she has fallen into and her eyes can't take it all in. But she observes and reflects on what surrounds her and tries to pick her way through it.
Carroll describes her like this: "Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic smile, but I know no earthy love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn; then courteous - courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King’s daughter, and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious – wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names – empty words signifying nothing!"
Now it would be strange to describe myself as being just like this fictional seven year old and considering Caroll's complimentary description- arrogant and untrue as well! Yet curiosity about the world is something I have always had and in this blog I hope to have a space to put down some of the observations I see on 'paper', to share a little of the wonder with you. Sin and sorrow do have meaning in our world but when you are the daughter of a King, you can keep that childlike trust and love and 'eager enjoyment of life' even when earthly childhood is over.
But last year, I had a thought which changed the way I see this alliance between my name and the girl who falls down a rabbit hole. Wonder. She walks around in this sometimes scary, often strange, always fascinating world which she has fallen into and her eyes can't take it all in. But she observes and reflects on what surrounds her and tries to pick her way through it.
Carroll describes her like this: "Loving, first, loving and gentle: loving as a dog (forgive the prosaic smile, but I know no earthy love so pure and perfect), and gentle as a fawn; then courteous - courteous to all, high or low, grand or grotesque, King or Caterpillar, even as though she were herself a King’s daughter, and her clothing of wrought gold: then trustful, ready to accept the wildest impossibilities with all that utter trust that only dreamers know; and lastly, curious – wildly curious, and with the eager enjoyment of Life that comes only in the happy hours of childhood, when all is new and fair, and when Sin and Sorrow are but names – empty words signifying nothing!"
Now it would be strange to describe myself as being just like this fictional seven year old and considering Caroll's complimentary description- arrogant and untrue as well! Yet curiosity about the world is something I have always had and in this blog I hope to have a space to put down some of the observations I see on 'paper', to share a little of the wonder with you. Sin and sorrow do have meaning in our world but when you are the daughter of a King, you can keep that childlike trust and love and 'eager enjoyment of life' even when earthly childhood is over.
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