Midnight Hour Musings in Jalandhar
Almost midnight here in Jalandhar. I’ve sent all my Afghans off to bed, I have Daniel, one of my teacher’s 5 yr old son, asleep in my bed, and I am on the couch of our hostel lobby here at CT Schools enjoying the peace and quiet, the whirr of the ceiling fan 
the only sound I hear.
It has been awhile since I have been able to find a quiet moment to clack away a few lines for my blog, and instead of work on work stuff or read something for someone else, I’m going to enjoy this moment and jot down a few notes from the past few weeks. It has been a crazy camp this time, very disorganized and bumpy but somehow we managed to get through it all intact, with the future generation of Afghanistan more open minded, aware of each other and ready to do fantastic things in their
country. I have spent a lot of time dealing with organizational and logistical things, which are usually taken care of by our hosts but this school is very disorganized and ill prepared for the band of 40 Afghan students and an international staff of 14 that has descended upon their school. It is amazing how service-oriented India can be so backwards and bumbling when it comes to organization. I find myself spending so much time explainging simple things or trying to Internet access on a daily basis that it is very draining. There is always the question as to why I need something like Internet everyday or Why do I need clocks in the dorm rooms (because I need kids to know what time it is so they are not late for breakfast or classes dumbass!). There is this insistence by the locals that as the director I shouldn’t do anything just sit and command. But I’m not that kind of boss plus I can get things done quicker and more effective than they can.
Despite all these issues, the camp is going well and the kids are really enjoying themselves as are the teachers. I don’t want
these outside elements to affect my camp in a negative way so I ensure that everyone is happy and we iron out our own problems together. So far, so good.
CT Schools is not the best choice for a camp and I don’t know why my colleague chose it. I do know one thing, I am having full decision over any future camp sites we choose. The staff here is overall nice but it is not a great place to hold a camp. First of all it is in a heavily polluted part of Jalandhar, with smoke and pollution from the highway a stone’s throw away, the train tracks are right next to the school soccer field so there is a steady flow of train traffic daily. Also there is an open sewage canal between the senior wing and the kindergarten wing, which is highly aromatic throughout the day. We call it the River Stinks
(not Styxx) because of its malodorous quality. I take Daniel to kindergarten every morning and our routine includes running across the bridge holding our noses. It is that disgusting. Right now if I take a breath in, I can pick up the smell of burning trash that permeates the air. My next camp will likely be somewhere in the mountains in a green place not anywhere near a city.
I’m looking forward to going home for a few weeks before heading off on my next adventure to Turkmenistan. I’ve taken a new consulting job developing and administering a college prep course for potential scholarship recipients to US universities and colleges. Apparently there isn’t a lot of qualified students from Turkmenistan and this course will help them improve their chances of getting scholarships to US colleges. I haven’t been to Turkmenistan in a while (since 2003) and it’ll be interesting to see how things have, or haven’t changed. That’s a 2-yr project so many of my future blog entries will be coming from another “stan”.
Meanwhile I will still be connected to Afghanistan and its future, dealing with more students in new camps in 2012. I love working with these kids and just the fact that I can inspire them and give them a boost in their self confidence, help them develop their own talents and skills and make them more optimistic about the future gves me great joy.
There is some sort of swarm of little bugs flying around me and none of the gekkos are running around the wall eating them. Maybe they’ve had their fill and are resting behind the giant painting on the wall. I’m not going to move it to find out. Knowing this place the painting may come crashing down on me. Anyways, let me post this and go to bed.
the only sound I hear. It has been awhile since I have been able to find a quiet moment to clack away a few lines for my blog, and instead of work on work stuff or read something for someone else, I’m going to enjoy this moment and jot down a few notes from the past few weeks. It has been a crazy camp this time, very disorganized and bumpy but somehow we managed to get through it all intact, with the future generation of Afghanistan more open minded, aware of each other and ready to do fantastic things in their
country. I have spent a lot of time dealing with organizational and logistical things, which are usually taken care of by our hosts but this school is very disorganized and ill prepared for the band of 40 Afghan students and an international staff of 14 that has descended upon their school. It is amazing how service-oriented India can be so backwards and bumbling when it comes to organization. I find myself spending so much time explainging simple things or trying to Internet access on a daily basis that it is very draining. There is always the question as to why I need something like Internet everyday or Why do I need clocks in the dorm rooms (because I need kids to know what time it is so they are not late for breakfast or classes dumbass!). There is this insistence by the locals that as the director I shouldn’t do anything just sit and command. But I’m not that kind of boss plus I can get things done quicker and more effective than they can.Despite all these issues, the camp is going well and the kids are really enjoying themselves as are the teachers. I don’t want
these outside elements to affect my camp in a negative way so I ensure that everyone is happy and we iron out our own problems together. So far, so good.CT Schools is not the best choice for a camp and I don’t know why my colleague chose it. I do know one thing, I am having full decision over any future camp sites we choose. The staff here is overall nice but it is not a great place to hold a camp. First of all it is in a heavily polluted part of Jalandhar, with smoke and pollution from the highway a stone’s throw away, the train tracks are right next to the school soccer field so there is a steady flow of train traffic daily. Also there is an open sewage canal between the senior wing and the kindergarten wing, which is highly aromatic throughout the day. We call it the River Stinks
(not Styxx) because of its malodorous quality. I take Daniel to kindergarten every morning and our routine includes running across the bridge holding our noses. It is that disgusting. Right now if I take a breath in, I can pick up the smell of burning trash that permeates the air. My next camp will likely be somewhere in the mountains in a green place not anywhere near a city.I’m looking forward to going home for a few weeks before heading off on my next adventure to Turkmenistan. I’ve taken a new consulting job developing and administering a college prep course for potential scholarship recipients to US universities and colleges. Apparently there isn’t a lot of qualified students from Turkmenistan and this course will help them improve their chances of getting scholarships to US colleges. I haven’t been to Turkmenistan in a while (since 2003) and it’ll be interesting to see how things have, or haven’t changed. That’s a 2-yr project so many of my future blog entries will be coming from another “stan”.
Meanwhile I will still be connected to Afghanistan and its future, dealing with more students in new camps in 2012. I love working with these kids and just the fact that I can inspire them and give them a boost in their self confidence, help them develop their own talents and skills and make them more optimistic about the future gves me great joy. There is some sort of swarm of little bugs flying around me and none of the gekkos are running around the wall eating them. Maybe they’ve had their fill and are resting behind the giant painting on the wall. I’m not going to move it to find out. Knowing this place the painting may come crashing down on me. Anyways, let me post this and go to bed.
posted by Tom T at 11:49 AM
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