Adventures in interviewing

After a long wait for the driver to fill up the pre-arranged car with gas (why these things are not done ahead of time is anyone's guess), we had a late start to drive out to the field. We were two translators and two note-takers (me & Amy) in search of the final interviews for Amy's study. I was entrusted with interviewing one of the young mothers who had been a participant and beneficiary in the program. My translator, Manizha and I were led to the chosen woman's home where we were greeted warmly (even though are arrival was essentially last-minute and unannounced) and ushered into their sitting area which was fortunately warm and toast against the drizzly, chilly day. The woman (pictured) is 23, and under the purple cloth, is a baby sleeping in one of their very ornate cradles. I saw similar cradles in Kosovo - and they seem like such a great idea for sleeping infants.

Nineteen people lived in this household which to my eyes structurally consisted of two rooms - so how that works, I have no idea. While the pulled out the stops to provide food and tea for their guests, it was not lost on Manizha and I that what we ate would take away from the little they had. Still, they insisted that we eat, and eat more. Our interview did not go well because the woman was not only shy, but her mother-in-law would not leave the room and frequently interrupted with her own answers. Because young women are at the bottom of the power hierarchy in this culture, there was no way we would get an in-depth answer from this woman about her experience at trainings and her perceptions about how her role and relationships in her family had changed.

We made a second attempt by taking the woman with us back to the village volunteer's house but when we arrived, there were five other women there so again, the young woman was not going to give open answers. Finally they brought another woman in who was slightly older and said she felt comfortable enough - though her body language said otherwise to me. In the end we completed the interview - while Amy and her translator had much more successful interviews with male community and religious leaders.

This evening Amy and I went for a quick and muddy walk up to a hill above the city. At the risk of sounding redundant, it is beautiful here, especially with the changing leaves - though I've been told Spring is the best time when all the hills are a brilliant green.

Rain, Mud and More Mud

After another lovely, leisurely morning spent drinking tea, and eating homemade bread and Tajik honey, our day begin. Janice and I drove out into the surrounding countryside to visit a health worker training being held in one of the villages. It had rained all night, and continued to do so all day. Thus, most of the roads were either muddy, rutted messes or littered with mini-ponds. Our drive was probably twice as long since the driver drove zig-zag down the road to avoid the deepest holes.

At first we thought we were going to have to walk up a long hill but a miscommunication had us going the wrong direction and luckily our destination was nearer than we thought. However, the car was having engine trouble and had to slide back down the hill while we mucked through the mud.

We observed the training for a while - a local doctor had written the curriculum and was training a member from each of several villages about the prevention, signs and treatments for upper respiratory diseases. These communities are far from health care and cut off by winter for several months of the year, so it's important for them know the danger signs of various illness and how to start treating at home before it's too late.

Our car still wasn't working well so we stood in the rain for a while until it was ready to go. On the way home we stopped and searched the river bed for special rocks - something Janice needed to do for an upcoming home leave trip. A long but good, albeit damp day with stunning scenery but it was good to get home where we joined Amy again and caught up on the day.

Lazy Saturday

With the exception of the stomach ache both Amy and I acquired, probably from the village food, Saturday was spent relaxing, doing a bit of work, catching up with life through the internet, and enjoying each other's company. Janice whipped up her famous "wow" pancakes which contain everything except sugar - so we added sauteed apples, honey and maple syrup - and had a very leisurely, and filling brunch.

I caught up on work and email, Amy and one of the staff worked on transcribing interviews from recorded Tajik to written English, and Janice hosted a Tajik trekking friend who brought her, what she described as the "biggest chicken sandwich in the world". It was essentially a whole cooked chicken wrapped in a large flat bread. It was just begging for a photo op, so we obliged (see above).

This evening we were hosted for dinner by some friends of Janice. The husband is in Russia working so we had dinner with the wife, and her adorable three children and their cousins. Amy had brought them the card game Memory and they immediately brought it out for a few rounds. The meal involved tearing up bread into tiny pieces in a large wooden bowl, pouring yogurt over it, sprinkling sliced onions, then pouring boiling oil over all that which sort of thickens the yogurt/bread mixture, and topping it all with herbs and some chopped vegetables. You eat this with your hand or some bread. It's a little greasy (go figure) but rather good.

We were very considerate guests and didn't leave before we had sufficiently riled up the children with picture taking, tickling and playing various paddy-cake, hand-slapping games.

Friday in Garm

I feel so much better today. Maybe it's something in the air, or the water, or the food, or the company, but this trip has taken a decided turn for the better. After a great night's sleep that was only interrupted by waking up to to the electricity (and ceiling light) coming on at 5am, we had a lovely quick breakfast of kasha - aka very thin cream of wheat - with trader joe's maple syrup.

The office is located next door to Janice's house which is convenient for commuting and using the wireless internet at all times of day. After a quick introduction to the office, we loaded up and headed along muddy, red roads to a village called Askalon. The scenery was beautiful. Amy has spent the last month traveling throughout the region with her trusty group of interviewers and drivers to find out how a particular program indirectly benefited women in these remote and very traditional villages. The themes she is seeing is that because the young married women attended these programs on pregnancy, health and breastfeeding, and also received food distributions, they were often able to gain more respect and more openness in their households. Traditionally young brides are seen as very insignificant, controlled by every member of the house, and not allowed to leave the family compound for the first 5-6 years. Their husband and mother-in-law make all the decisions. (photo: Amy in the room where we held the interviews.)

In the home where we were hosted for the interviews, had had a wedding the week before and the hostess brought out plate after plate of sweets, fruit, nuts, breads, and tea and after the interview, they served us lunch. And after all that it made sense to use the "facilities". We had the best loo with a view. A straw lean-to with a view of the river valley and mountains.

This evening Amy, Janice and I made a brief appearance at one of the office staff's going away party. It was an all male gathering, which is extremely typical as women do not meet in public together. And as is also typical, with every toast there is a large swig of vodka of which we were very much encouraged to partake. They do seem to love their vodka. We left early and had a cozy meal back at Janice's house.

Shaken, not stirred with a Pepto garnish: The trip to Garm

Thursday morning, it was early to the plane for the quick, queasy and frightening flight back to Dushanbe. Unfortunately, my two-day stomach ache culminated in a small relapse of my earlier illness. Brandy hosted me for a quick and much welcomed French toast brunch before shuttling me into a waiting car to drive the jarring five hours to Garm. The scenery was beautiful but the roads where hell, often with a cliff to one side, and the ride was made all the worse due to the reason behind why I diligently popped pepto tablets every hour with great success.

I am now in Garm – a mountainous and wet village, and hosted by the program director in her cozy residence. With me is my new twin for the next week Amy. Amy is conducting case studies to evaluate impact of one of the programs. When I learn more, I will give more detail.

Although a home, we are in the guest side which includes a bathroom accessed by going outside. Hopefully my stomach will get better soon because with the electricity only on between 5-9p, it's flashlights and candles at night and that always makes for a fun bathroom journey.

Election Day – for this side of the world

Yesterday morning I awoke at 3am. Call it making up for too much sleep, being alone in the guesthouse for the first time (Sue and Brandy returned to Dushanbe) or thickly veiled excitement over whether Barrack Obama would be elected out new president. In the wee hours of November 5th, it was BBC and me cheering him on.

Later, it was the only other American in the vicinity and me, glued to our lap tops, as Obama’s victory was declared. Skype and facebook messages from around the world showed every American ex-pat or not was celebrating madly in their corner of the globe. And while I couldn’t be there, with the help of BBC and Al Jezeera, I relieved the footage over and over again that night in the guesthouse.

Working weekend

This weekend was spent in true field-trip style - working. Saturday was an all-day meeting with staff which on the plus side meant heat and internet access, and on the down side meant no lunch and long hours.

Sunday Sue and I worked all day on her starting to piece together the evaluation narrative and me piece together tables needed for the umpteen annexes. The sun finally came out today and so I took a morning break to get out and see a bit of the neighborhood. I walked down to square with the closed opera building and stumbled upon the district museum (pictured to the left) and a dilapitated park. The scenary here is something else. I can't decide whether it is beautiful or eerily stark. A river runs through town and right behind the city rises the driest, steepest mountains I've ever seen. From afar, it looks like there isn't a living thing growing on them.

And now, my favorite topic, food. The food here is probably the least enjoyable I've ever had. It is heavy on the meat, and fattiest meat possible. We have eaten out a few times and I think I've had my quota for meat, fat and oil. The bread is not bad (usually in these rounds to the right) and you can purchase a lot of nuts and dried fruit which is always good. It is probably safe to assume that a home cooked meal here would be much better than the restaurants.

So, the topic of food is not complete without the accompanying food-borne illness. Late Sunday night I was awakened and kept awake all night by some creatures within who wanted out, now. And all night with two layers of clothes and two comforters, I shivered. So not only did I still manage to get what Sue had had, I got it worse. All day Monday, I slept and everytime I stood up, was too dizzy to get very far. Dehydrated, headachy and also hungry, Sue and our country director Brandy arrived that evening with crackers and ibuprophen. And I slept some more.