push your limits. whatever doesn't kill you ... only makes you stronger.
seek the truth. knowledge is power. dare to be different.
speak your mind. endless passion and ambition.
sleep when you're dead. be extraordinary.
seize the day.
rr
About ryanrowe.com
posted by Ryan Rowe
This article is reposted from the website of the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent.
Kenya diary: Drought continues through rainy season
15 September 2009
Text and photos by Andreï Engstrand-Neacsu, IFRC in Kenya
Noor Guhad stands in the middle of the dry Oda earth dam, where water would have reached over his head three years ago. Now he has to dig deep to find water. (p-KEN0327, IFRC)
The breeze is so hot that I choke on the air that I inhale. I can hear the crackle of my footsteps on the gravel. Drops of sweat are running down my face and my spine. I advance with calculated effort.
I summon my energy to walk the couple of dozen metres to the car where the air conditioning system will dry my sweat until the next stop. I notice that the only green around is the pale pistachio-like of the acacias.
This should be the rainy season even here in arid and drought stricken northern Kenya. I have no doubts about how the 300,000 inhabitants of the Mandera triangle must feel: betrayed, let down, abandoned by a nature they fail to understand. But resilient they are. In spite the odds they find ways to cope.
From the compound of the Red Cross branch in Mandera I can see the rooftops of the houses in Bulahawa, the first town across the border into the Gedo province of Somalia. Few streets away we reach the shores of the Daua Riverthe natural border with Ethiopia.
From the neighbouring town of Suftu, people cross the knee-high waters with bundles on their heads. Rafts made of wooden planks attached to empty petrol drums are lined up in hope of more heavy duty traffic. But this will have to wait. One raft stranded on a sand bank in the middle of the river, bears witness to how low the waterlevel is.
Khalil Mohammed, who coordinates the work of the Red Cross in the region, tells me that there will only be more water in the river if it rains in the Ethiopian highlands.
In this environment the Mandera branch works to assist up to 40,000 people affected by the drought.
Drastic fall of water levels
After a three-hour journey on the potholed roads of Mandera we reach the Oda earth dam. Here the Kenya Red Cross has helped to dig a deep water collection point.
Noor Guhad, a cattle herder in his sixties, still remembers the days when the water reached the edges of the pond, at least four metres above our heads. Now, he was forced to dig a four metres deep hole in order to reach the water.
Noor Guhad explains that “many people have left the Oda earth dam because of the lack of water.” The dam was built by the Kenya Red Cross Society as part of their drought recovery response. (p-KEN0335, IFRC)
A bunch of yellow jerry cans is sheltered under the only tree I can see on the horizon. We learn that fewer cattle are coming to this water point. Many have started to move towards places where water is less difficult to reach.
Noor wonders if the Red Cross could help to dig a canal that would direct the waters of a seasonal river to his catchment area. Khalil promises to look into the matter. He tells me that this and many other simple but vital interventions would be possible, if the Horn of Africa drought emergency appeal would receive more support.
A drizzle accompanies us to Elwak where we will spend the night. Children and women are collecting water from the pools formed on the road in the trails dug by the tires. Here and there patches of grass are visible. Khalil thinks it is a ”good sign” as long as the rains intensify. “Otherwise the goats will eat this in less than a week”, he says.
This story was originally posted at http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/09/09091501/index.asp.
Tags: africa, kenyaSeptember 24th, 2009 at 21:45
posted by Ryan Rowe
Hey everyone,
I just got back from my trip to the Northern Hemisphere! I hadn’t realised when we left Nairobi four days ago that we would be crossing the Equator on our journey to northern Kenya! I should really brush up on my geography…
 |
| At the Equator in Nanyuki |
As we left Nairobi early on Sunday morning, our journey began on a single-lane (in each direction) highway. Even at that early hour, there were plenty of matatus (private minivans providing bus services) and pesky mosquito-like motorcycles competing with us for lane space. I was a bit worried that we would end up on a highway similar to the one I travelled on by bus between Rwanda and Uganda in August 2008. Thankfully though, Kenya has a very well-developed road infrastructure, perhaps the best in all of East Africa (a geographic region which consists of Rwanda, Burundia, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya). In fact, a long stretch of this particular highway is being upgraded and expanded under a contract with the Chinese (who are quite active in Africa - see my December 2008 post - Ethiopia inspires so many feelings).
 |
| Construction workers working on upgrading the Nanyuki - Isiolo highway |
 |
| The cows love the new Isiolo - Marsabit highway |
Our destination - the capital of Isiolo District - is considered the last major town on the way north to Ethiopia and the Lonely Planet’s ‘East Africa’ book considers it a vital pit stop for supplies such as fuel and food for the long trip north. The upgraded highway is now expected to open up this part of the country to further economic development and tourism (a number of national parks and reserves with game animals are located in this area, as well as Mount Kenya, Africa’s second tallest peak which can be seen in the distance from the highway). This should be especially helpful in diversifying sources of income for local communities who typically depend on their livestock (cattle, goats, chickens and camels) to make a living. Such communities have been very hard hit by the drought which has been affecting Kenya now for years.
 |
| Street in Isiolo Town |
It is in one such community that we spent most of our time - a little Turkana village named Ngaremara (pronounced ‘ingaray marah’), which is located about 30km north of Isiolo. The Turkana originated in Sudan and Uganda but as a nomadic people have roamed far and wide in this part of Africa. For some reason, the Turkana people of Ngaremara settled on this location generations ago and they have been here ever since. The roughly 3,000 inhabitants of Ngaremara live mainly in mud huts they’ve constructed themselves. Their homes are mainly clustered around the highway I mentioned above, which runs right through the harsh desert (don’t think Sahara think African savannahs with lions and elephants). They also build their own toilet systems - essentially a latrine or a hole dug deep into the ground.
 |
| Building a mud hut in Ngaremara |
 |
| A typical mud hut used by the people of Ngaremara |
 |
| Work-in-progress photo of a latrine |
Kenya has a very diverse rural landscape and it was eye-opening to see the varying effects of the drought as we drove through the countryside. At first glance, the lush, green highlands outside Nairobi seem unaffected. They are lined with farms, fields and / or greenhouses growing fruit, flowers and vegetables. Major international brands such as Del Monte have dozens of plantations here, growing bananas and pineapple for instance. There are fields of barley and wheat which seem to have been harvested recently. Local markets in small towns along the highway have plenty of fresh produce for sale and there are numerous stands of fir trees and eucalyptus along the roadside. But look a little closer and you would start to see the effects. Agricultural production is down and electricity outages are occurring in Nairobi due to water shortages at the country’s various hydroelectric power plants. In fact the government has even implemented power rationing on weekdays (power off between 6pm and 12am every night).
While the drought has caused hardships for the Kenyan people, the effects are perhaps worse felt in these arid lands north of Isiolo where various pastoralist tribes have dwelled for generations. As you cross the Equator at Nanyuki the altitude begins to decrease. Nairobi sits at an altitude of 1680m (5500ft) and has a cool night-time climate but Isiolo and surrounding areas are at an altitude of roughly 1100m which seems to make a huge difference.
Here vegetation has dried up and there is a severe drinking water shortage. As a result, livestock are dying of hunger and thirst. Carcasses of cattle lie on the side of the road. Even wild elephants emerge at night to hunt for food in the villages (an example of things they might eat are the nests of weaverbirds which offer a large clump of grass in one gulp). One local man had his water pump broken a few weeks ago by an elephant looking for a drink and another was gored through the stomach (he was drunk and encroached on the territory of a bull elephant). In the morning you’ll find their tracks and piles of elephant dung around the place. It’s really quite a sight.
 |
| Victim of the drought |
 |
| Carcass of a cow found in the desert |
 |
| Nest of a weaver bird |
 |
| Elephant tracks and damaged water pump |
Since the main economic activity of the Turkana is cattle / goat-herding this has worsened an already fragile economic situation. While other (less substantial) sources of income include the sale of cow dung as fertiliser or arts & crafts (jewellery and basket-weaving) perhaps the largest inflow of funds comes from remittances from family members who have migrated to Nairobi in search of opportunity. Education is also affected, with many children going to school on an empty stomach and community-run schools running on limited budgets. There’s no bus service of course and you will often see groups of uniformed children walking along the shoulder of the highway on their way to and from school. Government or community-owned schools are required to provide food to their students but in practice the funding is often not there. Some schools which are linked to Catholic missions seem to be relatively well-provided for. We visited one Catholic-run primary school and one community-run secondary school. In a future post I will try to share more on what I saw and learned during these visits.
 |
| Ngaremara Secondary School - Community-run |
To read more on the effects of drought on Kenya, here is a recent article from the New York Times:
Lush Land Dries Up, Withering Kenya’s Hopes
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN, New York Times
September 8, 2009
A devastating drought is sweeping across Kenya, imperiling agriculture and tourism as well as spawning ethnic conflict.
Ironically, the drought in Kenya has worsened the effect of the already harsh climate in this part of the country. The environment and landscape captures much of how I imagined Africa to look like as I grew up - hot and dry and extremely isolated from urban / more densely populated areas. The equatorial sun will burn if you’re not careful so bring your sunscreen. Underfoot the soil is loose and sandy and you need to watch out for snakes and scorpions. What topsoil isn’t held down by the roots of brush or acacia trees can easily be blown into the air by spontaneous and blindingly fierce dust twisters. It was the first time I’d ever witnessed a twister and it blew me away (no pun intended!) Some are so big they reach right up into the clouds and you can see them from miles away. Much of the vegetative cover is brown and thirsting for water. Now try to imagine it stretching for kilometres in every direction. Acacia trees provide stark relief with their extreme heights and long arching branches. Their broad reach creates great shade cover and as you hurtle down the freshly paved highway at over 100km/h (an uncommon feeling for most African motorists I suspect), you’ll see goats and cattle grazing in these shaded areas on the bits of green shrubbery or foliage they can find. Watch out for the occasional stray donkey or cow though (see above photo of finished highway)! And you’ll usually spot a lone man or boy who herds the livestock in search of water and food and women and children will sit underneath the trees as well minding tall white burlap bags filled with home-made charcoal for sale to passers-by. The smell of burning cow dung or smouldering charcoal fills the air. Mixed in to a cocktail of cleaner countryside air and the altitude I often felt sleepy by mid-day!
 |
| Dust twister |
 |
| Donkey in the middle of the highway |
Can you imagine all of this? Maybe it will help if you have a look at a selection of the photos I’ve taken so far…
 |
| Sunset over the desert, with acacia trees on the horizon |
 |
| FULL PHOTO ALBUM: Sights, sounds and smells of Kenya |
Africa is such a fascinating assault on the senses! Love it! Tags: africa, kenya, photos
September 20th, 2009 at 0:48
posted by Ryan Rowe
Hi everyone,
As some of you know, I finally made a decision on where to spend my Eid holidays (Eid being Eid-al-Fitr, the three-day public holiday which occurs at the end of the annual observance of one month of fasting in the Muslim world). Taking two days of leave from work, I was able to get nine days off with the weekends on either side and I decided to head to Kenya to visit my friend Anne-Marie Di Lullo. Initially, I had had some trouble deciding between Kenya and UK/Switzerland to visit family and friends. What tipped the scales was Anne-Marie’s invitation to join her on a trip to northern Kenya to follow up on a development project she has been working on.
The project, known as ‘Lights for Life‘, is a non-profit initiative which aims to deliver a lighting system powered by renewable energy to Kenyan communities which are not connected to the power grid. According to one NGO, only 2% of Western Kenya is connected to the grid. Most of the people who live in such communities tend to use kerosene lamps as a source of light. The problem with this is that the by-products of burning kerosene inside the home can have serious health consequences. The lighting system being promoted by Lights for Life consists of pod-like lights powered by rechargeable batteries. The lights are connected to a pedal-powered generator which is operated by humans (somewhat like a bicycle). 20 minutes of cycling will power the lights for up to 37 hours.
This week Anne-Marie and I (and others involved in the project) will be traveling to northern Kenya to survey 90 children in two local schools on how the lack of light in their homes affects them in school and in their daily life. The plan is to then provide the students with free lights and the school will be provided with the generator (all funded by the World Bank) so that the students can recharge from time to time. Its important to collect data prior to the launch of the program so that a before and after picture of the impact can be formed.
Separately we are also planning to meet with a local entrepreneur who is aiming to sell the technology to people in his village who have no access to electricity. The business model is simple. Using micro-credit, the entrepreneur is loaned the money to purchase the generator and dozens of the lights. The lights are sold to the villagers who pay a small fee to the entrepreneur to recharge them as and when needed. Using these proceeds he will repay the loan made to him. This is the for-profit part of the venture being spearheaded by the company which owns the patent to the technology.
I’m really excited about this project and I think it’s going to be an amazing learning experience in so many different ways. I will try to post photos in the days to come so you can see what the technology looks like! We leave tomorrow morning at 7am for Isiolo, in the Eastern Province of Kenya. It’s a four and a half hour drive. Funnily enough, Isiolo is a largely Muslim town, and will be celebrating the Eid holiday while we’re there. So it might actually feel a bit like home (Abu Dhabi). 
I have already been in Nairobi for about a day and a half. I had an eventful flight here with Ethiopian Airlines from Dubai via Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). There was a two-hour delay in the flight and they left my suitcase behind in Dubai! Although they did bump me to Business Class to compensate for the delay it was nothing special. The cabin crew were less than helpful in informing me about whether I would miss my next connection or not and there was no apology for the flight being delayed. Although I’ve flown with Ethiopian twice before and hadn’t had any problems I’ll think twice about using them again. Total cost for the flight - AED 2265 (approximately US$675).
Despite the issues with the flight and suitcase (which had my jeans and contact solution in it) and the resulting sleepless night, I’ve had a great time in Nairobi so far. Had a great tour of Nairobi nightlife by Anne-Marie - we bar-hopped last night until 8:00am visiting places such as Black Diamond, Gipsy Bar, Bacchus and Crooked Q. I haven’t had a late night like that in a while! I have no doubt that Anne-Marie won’t let anyone soon forget that I wore her jeans out to the clubs last night (they were a bit tight but did the job).
Here are some photos from last night’s fun
 |
| Exploring Nairobi Nightlife |
I’m scheduled to fly out of here next Saturday evening. After returning from Isiolo, I may go on a 2-night/3-day safari in the Masai Mara or take a two day trip to Kampala (the capital of Uganda) to visit friends Bhavya and Aman Kalsi and Yasir Alam. Still undecided…
Take care for now, and wishing Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends.
Ryan Rowe
Tags: africa, kenya, photosSeptember 12th, 2009 at 16:09
posted by Ryan Rowe
In a recent post I described my visit to a migrant worker camp located outside the city of Abu Dhabi.
Just to clarify, there are many names used for a place like this, ‘labour camp’, ‘labourer camp’, ‘ migrant worker accommodation’, etc, etc. The camp I visited is not really a ‘labourer’ camp (i.e. construction labourers) as the fellows who live here are actually office workers but for now I will use the terms interchangeably. (Btw, thanks to Eric Adler who pointed out after my last post that the term ‘labour camp‘ had been, until recently, reserved for referring to penal camps where labour is forced upon its inmates as a form of penalty. So this seems to be a bit of a misnomer (or not?). Anyway, leave it to the Abu Dhabi Government to label highway signs with the phrase.
In any case, I enjoyed my experience last time so much that I asked my host if I could visit him and his friends / brothers / roommates again. Although I found it a very humbling experience it was also fun and insightful and visiting the camp is kind of like entering a microcosm of India itself (or at least a certain part of that country). The building that I am visiting houses 320 workers (number verified since my last visit), many of whom are from from the state of Tamil Nadu in India, and about half of which follow the Muslim religion.
To provide some context, the capital of Tamil Nadu state is Chennai (formerly known by its English name Madras which you may have heard of) which is located in the south of India close to the states of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. The per capita income of the residents of Tamil Nadu is approximately US$480 a year. The residents of this building are mainly employed as office assistants and they can make anywhere between 1200 and 2000 dirhams a month (between US$324 and US$540 a month!). So a definite improvement.
But the cost of living is high in Abu Dhabi and it is clear that social issues are not being considered in the development of these places. Meals are not provided for. Health insurance is not provided for. Desalinated water is provided (but no one in the UAE really drinks it because of the high sodium content / poor taste, so these fellows buy their own bottled water like the rest of us). In addition to their basic salary, only their living quarters and transportation to / from their workplace is provided. There are no perks, not even an allowance for a trip home to see their families once in a while. What money do they have left over after providing for their expenses is sent home in the form of remittances to their families. Not to mention inflation in the prices of basic goods and currency fluctuations which have had a big impact on savings…
Tonight I will share an iftar meal with twelve of the residents in the confines of their 4.5m. x 3.5m. room. I will describe this in a future update, the focus of this post is to describe a bit of what the living / sleeping conditions of the camp are like.
By way of background, Iftar is the name for the evening meal Muslims use to break the daily fast they observe during the month of Ramadan. From dawn until dusk, Muslims are not permitted (under Islamic custom) to eat or drink. Traditionally, the first thing that a Muslim will consume at the start of Iftar will be a date. As a contribution to the meal, I have decided to bring apple juice and date-filled chocolate-covered cookies. Can’t wait to bite into those. [Check back soon in this space for an update on my iftar experience]
In my last post I left off as my host was about to show me around his building and his room (his ‘accommodation’). The decor of the building is very simple. The hallways are long and mostly unadorned, painted in an off-white colour. Here and there hangs a poster or a flyer, advertising goods for sale. There are a number of rooms, outside of which lie mats with shoes and sandals. The few men who happen to be in the hall look at me with funny smiles, obviously wondering why I might be there.
We stop at a door on the right side, on which there is a large sign announcing ‘Ramadan Kareem!‘, which translates loosely as ‘Happy Ramadan!’. My host opens the door and invites me in, so I slip off my flip-flops and peer inside. There are a few guys who look at me warily and feeling like an intruder I gingerly make my way in. They smile and greet me and immediately invite me to sit down, while offering me tea and biscuits.
To say the room is small is an understatement. It’s about 4.5m x 3.5m in area. Metal-framed bunk beds ring the room, providing sleeping space for up to 12 people (some rooms have up to 16). Those who are lucky enough to have a bottom bunk have extra storage space underneath but it wouldn’t surprise me to know that they share it with their roommates. On top of each of the bunks is a sheet of plywood, wrapped in duct tape on the ends to prevent splinters I assume. There are no mattresses. Each of the beds has a pillow and a blanket, and on most of them personal effects are piled high, competing for space with the person who sleeps there. Frankly, I find the atmosphere cozy, and it reminds me of the dorms I stayed in at summer camp as a child.
As I absorb the contents of the room, it dawns on me that probably all of the personal possessions of these men are actually located in the small area that is their personal sleeping / bed space (you can see photos by clicking the links below to Picasa).
Here is an ad posted by someone looking for a bed space in downtown Abu Dhabi (this would be for a space in a typical 2 or 3 bedroom apartment which is being shared by 10 or more people).
Looking for a place to live
Comment on this photo on facebook
There is a window in the room but it is covered with a plastic tarp out of which juts one of the air-conditioning units I mentioned previously. I also see lots of power bars connecting to various electrical appliances in the room. For starters, the a/c unit, a small refrigerator (in which the guys keep bottles of water, juices, milk and other things) and a kettle (for making tea/coffee). On some of the beds there are computers or televisions, each of which is hooked up to Internet or satellite tv (pirated connections) for a small fee which they split among each other. It helps them stay connected to their families, and they use skype regularly, even as I sit there in the room. There are wires everywhere. There is no fire extinguisher.
During the evening I take a bathroom break, and one of the fellows shows me to their lavatories. Bathrooms are nothing to boast about - a hole in the ground over which you squat and do your business. The floor is filthy. The men acknowledge that it is not very pleasant. They say that someone cleans the bathrooms once a day - I decide not to ask if they need to pay for the cleaning service or if the building management takes care of that.
Have a look at some of my first photos of the camp and leave your comments (you need a userid) on PICASA:
Migrant Worker Camps in Abu Dhabi
Despite all of this, I am getting the feeling that there are camps out there where the workers are much worse off than the fellows who live in this one. Here’s an anecdote worth sharing: a camp for construction labourers is currently being developed in a nearby area. The size of the lot for the development is 700 metres by 700 metres. Low-rise buildings to accommodate over 75,000 workers are contemplated in the plans, which also call for an electrified fence to encircle the lot…. This comes from a reliable source.
Keep checking back on this space… I will continue to write more about my experiences visiting these camps. There is so much still for me to learn about this topic, so much to write, and I want to share as much of it as I can.
Tags: middle east, photos, uaeSeptember 7th, 2009 at 0:35
posted by Ryan Rowe
Here are the photos from my recent trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in early September 2009:
 |
| Visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
September 2nd, 2009 at 19:09
posted by Ryan Rowe
An Arts & Crafts Bazaar is taking place in Abu Dhabi this week down at Le Meridien Abu Dhabi. I went and visited this evening and I just had to write and tell you about it since I’ve lived in Abu Dhabi for three years and I’ve never seen a little gem quite like this.
It’s set in an old restaurant which is decorated with brightly coloured paintings on the walls and arched supports extending up to the ceilings. It’s well-lit and the venue is small and cozy. As you walk in, you’ll see 15-20 exhibitors set up on various tables selling their arts & crafts ware. This includes an assortment of items such as hand-made jewelery jewelry (beads, silver and stone based), crochet works, old coins, souvenirs and magnets with UAE themes, women’s clothing, paintings and photographs. Although their prices seemed more than reasonable to me, they still seem willing to bargain.
The exhibitors are a collection of artists from near and far (some of them belong to a local group named ARTE) and if you’re looking for a quaint gift for someone dear or something for the home, this is a nice little place to stop. The bazaar will continue on every night this week until Saturday, beginning from 6pm until midnight.
On your way out, don’t forget to buy a raffle ticket or two from the table staffed by members of a local volunteer group. Prizes include air travel, hotel stays, meals, and massages, to name a few. Proceeds from the sale of tickets (a campaign known as ‘Road to Awareness) go to fund a UNICEF project in support of street youth in Cairo. The objective of the project is to provide social and medical support to up to 2,000 street children in the Greater Cairo area. These kids are at high risk of violence, sexual abuse, substance abuse and health problems. This is a fantastic project which will help re-integrate them into society.
Please do these kids a favour and forward this message around to your friends or the colleagues in your office to spread the word of the great little community event happening this week.
Thanks!
Ryan
August 17th, 2009 at 0:10
posted by Ryan Rowe
Yesterday I visited a migrant worker “camp” for the first time. Yes – the type of camp that has made the United Arab Emirates (and other Gulf countries) so infamous in recent years for the alleged rights violations of the men who live there. I won’t comment on these as I am not in a position to do so – not being an expert on human or labour rights. In this post I will try to describe my initial thoughts just prior to entering the camp. In posts to come over the coming days I will try to follow up to describe their living conditions, the services they have access to and the general atmosphere among the residents.
I leave my home in the early evening hours - the camp I am going to visit is located 30 minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi, in the dusty industrial city of Musaffah. After driving for 30 minutes along the the six-lane (in each direction) Abu Dhabi – Dubai highway, my taxi turns off onto the two lane (in each direction) Musaffah road. Within a few minutes we begin to pass row after row of dilapidated low-rise rectangular buildings with triangular roofs and strange square blocks protruding from the sides. At first, from the blur of a passing car, they look like industrial warehouses. But as the taxi slows down for an approaching roundabout I look closer and I can see school buses parked outside and recognize the protruding blocks as air-conditioning units. Now that we have slowed to a brief stop, I can see groups of men sitting around smoking cigarettes or strolling around shirtless with lungis wrapped around their waists. Heading around the roundabout, we drive onto a dirt road and pull up next to one of these buildings. In the common area where the men are lounging, there are satellite dishes mounted in the ground and clotheslines are strung up, flapping in the hot summer wind. The taxi driver announces that we have arrived. Before I’ve even realized it, I am among the labourer camps where thousands of men are housed for years whilst they support the multi-billion dollar developments that are giving the UAE its global claim to fame.
Welcome to Abu Dhabi, the richest city in the world. This is the closest thing it has to a slum.
The building I am visiting houses five hundred Indian men mostly from the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. As I get out of the shiny silver taxi, the men stare at me; my impression is they are wondering what a gora (Hindi for white man) is doing this part of town. I am not afraid though. I feel that it is not an indignant look, just a curious one. Later on I find out that I am the first gora ever to have visited this particular camp or accommodation complex. Indians are among the friendliest people I have ever met, which is part of why I wanted to visit this place so badly. It is a chance to be among the people who are building this place, people who may also be among the loneliest in the country.
As diverse as the UAE is, sadly, it is also an isolated place, where people seem to fall into social groups often based on their economic position and / or ethnicity. The transient nature of the community (over 80% of the population is expatriate) makes it difficult to connect with people living here. Much of the expatriate population hails from labour-exporting countries such as the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Arab World as well, for instance Syria, Egypt or Jordan. I like to compare it to the biblical story of the Tower of Babel except that in the UAE they are somehow able to get things built despite the cultural and linguistic differences.
My host is one of the residents of this building and he excitedly greets me with a smile and a warm handshake. “Hello sir, how are you sir?” he begins, and then goes on to admonish me for taking an ‘expensive’ silver taxi instead of a cheaper ‘gold and white’. Doing so means I may have paid up to 3-4 US$ more for my journey (approximately 25% higher than it would have been).
And so began my four-hour visit to this camp on a warm (~40 degrees Celsius) Saturday evening, during which I learned a bit about their lifestyle, their spending habits, their gripes, their culture, their needs, etc. That’s it for tonight – I’ll come back with more to write about in the coming days. Keep an eye on this space.
For the moment I don’t have any photos to share of the area outside of the buildings - I was a bit cautious in this respect as I didn’t want to offend my hosts.
Tags: abu dhabi, uaeJuly 18th, 2009 at 21:51
posted by Ryan Rowe
Some may say that reading is the best way to improve vocabulary and reading-comprehension skills in a given language. As a lover of languages and a proponent of self-help, I tend to agree with this statement. The problem is that I haven’t spent much time reading the last several years and as a result I think that my English-language skills are way behind where they should be. For example: some subject matter is challenging for me; I have difficulty articulating my thoughts on paper and aloud; I feel my vocabulary is not as broad or as deep as it should / could be, and perhaps most importantly, I feel unable to retain most of the information I read. Having completed graduate-level studies, I feel my skills are not at all up to scratch and frankly, it’s embarrassing.
Looking back, it seems things went wrong after finishing high school. From the age of about five or six until about 16 or 17, I would devour almost every book I could get my hands on. Actually I spent more time in the library than in social settings interacting with people (for reasons I won’t go into here!). Anyway, more often than not, these books tended to be action/adventure fiction for young adults and therefore relatively light reading material such as the Hardy Boys, Fear Street, or Stephen King. I never fully embraced more ‘refined’ literature such as biographies, poetry, or history works, although the topics certainly interested me. For example, I used to read the encyclopedia for fun.
Moving on through university , I quickly discovered that I had some distance to go to improve my reading and writing skills to the level of many of my peers. I often wondered why this might be the case! I could finish a 500-page novel in a matter of hours, my spelling and grammatical skills were very strong and improper punctuation was one of my major pet peeves. But still, I had to scrape through various papers assigned to me in business school and avoided classes such as philosophy or English literature, because I wanted to avoid the pain of having to write a twenty or thirty page essay (although I did enjoy writing on my website, in a more creative/freestyle. In the business world, I quickly found out that I had a tendency to be verbose. During my twenties I also became very involved with numerous social /extracurricular activities that left me little time to nurture my love for reading.
During graduate school, I could not avoid writing long papers on complicated topics such as international trade, development and economics. I spent huge amounts of time digesting the assigned reading material, frustrated by my doubts that I would even be capable of retaining the information. This bothered me greatly. Unfortunately, my busy social life continued to be busy, and I neglected to spend the time needed to correct the situation. I fooled myself into thinking of it as a personal flaw that I would be unable to change and would need to adapt accordingly. I now believe that this is a poor excuse and I just need to crack the whip on my own behind a little more forcefully.
Eighteen months ago I read the book ‘Shantaram’, (my notes on it are here) and it reminded me of how fulfilling I had always found reading. Food for the mind! I realised that I had become so caught up in my career and education that I had left behind one of the great loves of my life - it had even begun affecting my overall level of happiness - and I realised how much I missed it. I began to see clearly that I could tie reading in with my career and continuing education to generate synergies that would help me personally and professionally! Worth spending time on, for sure! Since then I have dedicated myself to spending more time reading both entertaining and more complicated titles, with the goal of increasing my skill level by subjecting myself to less familiar subject matter. But to do so implied I would have to become an active reader, and thereby address all of the weaknesses I mentioned above. So… how can one become an active reader?
During a self-diagnosis of my reading habits (which is still ongoing), I discovered that one of my fatal flaws is reading too quickly by skipping over descriptive paragraphs and background information. This can lead to missing vital information that contributes to the development of the storyline or central argument of the book. It sounds so obvious but this can occur easily if you are, like me, eager to skip ahead to the ‘good parts’. Having read plenty of action/adventure fiction as a child, I had become accustomed to this style of reading and had foolishly applied it all types of reading material. For example, ‘The Contest’ by Matthew O’Reilly is an example of pure entertainment. I recently breezed through it in six hours, mainly by skipping entire paragraphs that I scanned easily and could see were of little interest to me. A book is a compilation of words, and every single word contributes to the overall message - how can you hope to understand it or remember it if there are gaps everwhere? I see this as analogous to a house made of brick - if a single brick were left out here and there, it might not make the house fall down, but you’ll have to deal with the leaks later on!! :) My super-short attention span doesn’t help. But whatever doesn’t kill me, will only make me stronger, right?
As I mentioned it is also important to choose books that are of a higher degree of difficulty, so as to challenge yourself. Choose books that are out of your comfort zone and outside your field expertise. This will expose you to new vocabulary and enhance your reading-comphrension skills. But try to pick subject matter that is of personal interest. This will keep you awake, while building on your existing knowledge of a particular topic. Keep a dictionary at hand, to look up words that are unfamiliar or whose meaning you are unsure of. The advantage to this as well is that you can read the words in context, allowing you to gain immediately greater insight into the storyline and keep your attention focused. One of the books I have been reading is ‘The State of Africa’ by Martin Meredith, which I began in August 2008 and am only just finishing. It is a 700-page historical account of 50 years of the independence movement in Africa. Not an easy read - for me.
All of this just to say that being an active reader is a critical part of improving your skills at reading and becoming a more skilled user of a given language. Like anything else, you must continually ratchet up the level of difficulty and try new things so that your skills improve and become more adaptable.
Happy reading.
June 13th, 2009 at 13:04
posted by Ryan Rowe
Today I am traveling to Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia, for a short 36-hour trip related to work but with a bit of tourism thrown in of course.
Most of Saudi Arabia is only an hour’s flight from where I live in Abu Dhabi yet this is my first visit to the country. Since moving to the region a few years ago, my ‘Middle Eastern’ experiences have so far consisted mostly of day travel to a few of the Gulf nations (Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) and relatively little of the UAE itself, sad to say. A weekend trip to Istanbul and a week in Isra*l, Jordan and Palestine round out my regional travels. Frankly, I have tended to favour more far-flung or ‘exotic’ destinations in Asia, Africa or Europe.
But I can say this - few destinations in the Middle East hold as much allure or mystery for me as Saudi Arabia, which, being the birthplace of Islam, is a must-see for anyone wanting to learn more about the religion and the ‘Arab’ culture. There are also the stories in the international media of human rights issues and restrictions on freedoms that I am lucky enough to enjoy. Hopefully this will help provide me with a different perspective on life in the Middle East.
Riyadh, with its religious police (Mutawa) patrolling the streets, ensuring that the local population follows strict Islamic law, is considered to be much more conservative than Jeddah. Alcohol of course is totally prohibited here. So is interaction between single men and women who are not of the same family. Appropriate dress and prayer at prescribed times (five times daily) are other things that seem to be within the mandate of the Mutawwa’in. From what I have heard photography can also be sensitive, and I have been told to avoid meeting the eyes of local women. I find myself wondering if the t-shirt I am currently wearing is a bit too risque (on it are written the words ‘Concordia University’)!
From what I understand, single women may not travel here (even for business) and any visit visa (business or tourism) is only provided through a locally-based sponsoring organisation. So this place is not really a destination for wandering travelers or a last-minute weekend destination, and in my opinion, is way off the beaten path.
As I will only be here 36 hours, I have set myself a brief itinerary to try and give myself a taste of Riyadh. I have the late afternoon and evening to explore so I will begin with a trip to the Batha area of town, which is the downtown / city centre and site of the National Museum, a public library and the King Abdul Aziz Memorial Hall. I would also like to see Hara, which apparently is the epicentre of the local expatriate Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi community, which is the largest segment of the country’s foreign population.
Poverty in Saudi Arabia is a real problem and consequently, slums do exist here. Some examples are poorer communities in the southern and eastern part of the city, such as Al Aoud, Sebala, Shamissi, and Al Suwaidi. The last one is most well-known for the attack on a BBC correspondent several years ago. Al Suwaidi is apparently a breeding ground for Al Qaida activity in Saudi Arabia. So I’ll try to avoid that one! Apparently these poor communities are mainly populated by expatriate workers but there are many Saudi nationals who live in relative poverty, considering the huge oil wealth of the country. Iit may be a bit naive and unrealistic to attempt to visit these places during a 36-hour trip (and my first visit) and I think I’ll have to satisfy myself with learning the lay of the land before I venture into unknown and possibly unsafe locales.
However, this article sheds some light on the problem of poverty in Saudi Arabia:
At the end of the day, what I am looking for from my Saudi Arabian experience is a brief glimpse beneath the layer of extreme wealth in this part of the world… Appreciate that this is ambitious but if I can began to chip away at the mystery in my short 36 hours I will be pleased.
Tags: middle east, saudi arabiaJune 11th, 2009 at 0:00
posted by Ryan Rowe
Well, it’s been another spell since I last wrote on here. Sorry for the long absence.
I’ve been busy lately getting involved with providing relief aid/funding to assist with the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) of Pakistan. Currently in its fourth week, some 3 million people have been displaced by the military campaign against the Taliban.
Many of the Pakistani people in the UAE come from the NWFP and are thus directly affected by the fighting. Many are among the poorest people living in this country - i.e. the taxi drivers and construction labourers who are a very very large section of the population. One such taxi driver I met about 10 days ago hasn’t spoken to his family in weeks. He works 14-16 hour days making perhaps 1000 dirhams a month (US$275). Although he barely spoke English, the sadness on his face was clear, but his situation was bleak. As mobile phone communication is cut off and due to the mass displacement of people, people such as this man may not even be able to get money to their families, or even speak to them, much less travel home to find them and see if they’re ok.
Here are a couple of photos of cool Pakistani taxi drivers I’ve met around Abu Dhabi (photos were taken in November 2006):
As the fighting intensifies, this has the situation to escalate into a humanitarian disaster. People are being forced to flee their homes with just the clothes on their back - injured, homeless, and destitute - the most vulnerable being the elderly, women and children. Many people have no access to clean drinking water / adequate sanitary facilities, so conditions are ripe for the outbreak of disease. Polio, which was on the path to being eradicated, is now on the rise again.
Pakistan/IDPs/ Newly arrived displaced people at Jalala camp. Mardan district North West Frontier Province. © UNHCR/A.Rummery/7 May 2009.
If you’re reading this, I urge you to take the time to visit the website of any number of humanitarian organisations working on relief efforts in Pakistan and donate. We all need to do our part, please - here are a few organisations I recommend where you can make an online donation:
Pakistan Red Crescent Society
United Nations Refugee Agency
Medecins Sans Frontieres
The United Nations estimates that perhaps as much as US$600 million is needed to cope with the current crisis. The money raised will help establish refugee camps and provide food, drinking water, clothing, medicine, shelter, and other basic supplies, for example:
- US$100 can provide a survival kit, with essentials such as blankets, cooking utensils and a stove
- US$200 can provide shelter to a family in the form of an all-season tent
- US$500 can fund the construction of two fresh water wells to provide clean water for refugees
- US$1000 provides a therapeutic feeding kit to feed up to 100 children
If you are interested in informing yourself in more detail about the crisis, I recommend ReliefWeb (http://www.reliefweb.int), which is a portal for information on humanitarian efforts ongoing around the world.
If you have any comments on the above, please feel free to comment directly below or email me by using the contact information provided on this site.
Tags: asia, pakistanryanrowe.com - have you seized a day lately? is proudly powered by WordPress
ryanrowe.com - carpe diem - have you seized a day lately?
all content & photographs property of ryanrowe.com
(unless specified otherwise)
© copyright ryanrowe productions 2002-
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
# of dreamers
Who Links Here?
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).