India 1981:Riding the Train with the Leper!

We stood there waiting for the next train to get to the station. The train station was not any ordinary station, it was Dardar Station in Mumbai, one of the busiest stations one will ever see. The masses of humanity going and coming, and like a mechanized assembly line in a factory, trains would come in, and get filled up with travelers. The train bursting at the seams would then proceed out of the station, towards its destination.



If you like people and hanging out with them in tight spaces, then India and specially Dardar Station is the place for you!

My mother, sister, brothers and I, were part of the millions that were trying to get on the train. The long awaited train finally arrived, we were trying to go from Mumbai to Pune. As soon as the train stopped on the platform, people poured in the train, it was like opening the dam, and the water rushing out! We literally poured into the train. The compartments were now packed to the brim, men, women, young and old, squashed together in a can. We did not care much about how close we had gotten to so many strangers, we were just happy that we were in! As everyone was starting to find their places and settle down, the train conductor with his khaki uniform and his ticket puncher walked in and started to shout something at the top of his lungs! Indian train conductors like their bus conductor counterparts were amazing, there could be millions of people on a train or on a bus and they knew who had and who had not paid for their tickets! I don't care where you hid and how you looked, they would catch you and get the fare from you.



Our conductor shouted, "Women Only Compartment, All men get out!!". He started to push the men out of the compartment. My older brother told my mom we have to leave, so me and my older brother left the compartment and we were back on the platform. Now we were trying to get on again, on another compartment, but they were all packed, every inch and no one could get on and those inside would not give an inch. We looked on the top of the train, there were people. Even the open gap areas between the compartments were pack with people. We kept walking nervously looking for a space to jump on. And finally there it was, we saw an open space between the compartments, just enough for two people! There was one man sitting there, so we ran hoping nobody would take it...As we jumped on, we realized why that space was available. The man that we saw siting was a leper, his fingers were gone, his face was disfigured, the tip of his nose was missing and he sat there just looking straight at us, perhaps shocked that we had decided to spend the next four hours with a leper! And we looked at him shocked that we were going to spend the next four hours next to a leper! We had seen lepers in Pune, who would sit down, lined up in the street begging, but I never thought one day one of them would be our travel-mate! But here we were, me a 13 year old boy and my brother 16 year old with our new best friend. We spend the first minute exchanging stares, and eventually we said hi, thinking that as the youngsters we should greet our elder!

The train started pulling away from Dardar and we were on our way to Pune. The train we took had a couple of stops along the way. Each stop was colorful and each station has its own character, most had the guys selling drinks and snacks, chai, nescafe, bhel puri, bananas, and everything else in between. Usually the seller would shout out their product, and one of my favorite was the banana seller who used to shout, "Ek Rupee Ka Chaar" that meant for One Rupee you get four [bananas]. On hearing the banana seller, I started to imitate him, "Ek Rupee Ka Chaar" and then I continued "Do Rupee Ka Aat"!, which meant for two Rupees you get eight and on and on...suddenly the leper with his disfigured face started to laugh loudly and seeing the leper laughing, my brother started laughing too (my brother's sense of humor was not as keen as the leper's!).

And at that moment, I learned that inspiration, laughter and comradery amongst humans can be created in the strangest of places with the strangest of people! And how lucky I was to have had the experience of sitting next to a man shunned by thousands of people on the train, who considered him worst than an untouchable. Ultimately, because of our own circumstance my brother and I were forced to sit next to him and now here we were laughing together! We found out his name was Arun.

By the time our train got to the station, Arun, my brother and I had spend a memorable ride back to Pune, a ride that included humor and a lesson in humility and humanity. As we said good bye and parted ways, I turned to my brother and said, "was that joke funny?", and he said," no, I think Arun just laughed to make you happy!"

Today as I recall this moment in my life and my encounter with Arun, I am reminded of these wonderful words of Rumi,

"If you could see the ugliest leper with the eyes of Love,
His beauty could out-dazzle in your eyes the starlit sea.
If one drop of the Wine of Vision could rinse your eyes,
Wherever you looked, you would weep with wonder".

A Persian and an Arab: Friendship on the Plains of Khuzestan

Our car came to a stop and my dad announced our arrival to the house of Khalaf Shabani. I jumped out as quickly as I could, as the youngest child I was always stuck in the middle of three other siblings and any car ride longer than an hour was a torture. Khalaf Shabani was an Arab, who lived in the predominately Arab village of Khalafabad. He was a respected member of his community since he was both the elder and the doctor of the community. Khalaf Shabani, always had a double-barrel gun around his shoulder with bullets hanging next to it. I remember how people in Khalafabad would look at us as our car pulled into the village, we looked and dressed differently and usually they would not see anyone from outside coming to visit their village. Khalafabad did not have much to see, it was very much rural, with mud compound houses, where human and animals lived in closed proximity. I remembered going over to see the water buffaloes that Khalaf Shabani kept. As kids we played with Khalaf Shabani kids who were many, since he had more than one wife. We ended up sitting around and eating a simple meal together and then leaving.

I never understood why my father would drive over 100 kilometer on a Friday to visit a rundown village in the middle of nowhere, and spend time with a person who he seemly had nothing in common with. But whenever we went there, Khalaf Shabani and my dad would embrace like two brothers, then sit down and drink tea and talk about the things that had happened since the last time they met. Khalaf Shabani would talk more since his life seemed more interesting, in his Arab-Farsi accent, he would tell my dad about the cow giving birth or taking care of a patient on the other side of the village. My dad would tell him about the happenings in Ahvaz or about the workers he supervised at the National Iranian Oil Company who were always doing something crazy.

Today as the region struggles to find peace and curb intolerance, I look back at those days when my dad, a Persian and Khalaf Shabani, an Arab lived in peace with each other and interacted in a way that their differences seemed insignificant though they came from two different worlds. As a child those experiences shaped who I am as a grown up, perhaps brainwashed to think that it is a man's goodness that is important not the name of his religion, his language, his ethnicity or his economic status!

Both men are deceased now but theirs was a friendship that transcended culture, class, language, ethnicity and neighborhood. I am amazed by the bravery of both men to break down the walls that society had created to keep them apart and yet they boldly brought it down and chose to walk that extra mile to ensure that their children would not live apart.

I only hope today more will walk that extra mile that a Persian and an Arab did four decades ago.

Dari, Italian and the Project Lost in Translation!

As part of my responsibilities as the USAID field program officer in Afghanistan, I served as the development advisor to the Coalition Forces that operated in Shindand District. One of my favorite experiences was working with the Civil-Affairs Teams (CAT) of the Italian military. If you were with the Italians on a mission, they were friendly, hospitable and saw you as part of their team, whatever your nationality or background. They valued your input and consulted you on anything related to community relations and development programs. And at the end of the day when we would come back to the base, they invited you for pizza and coffee, "Behzad, you come tonight we eat the pizza and drink the cappuccino" said with the best Italian-English accent!

I met my first Italian CAT leader, Captain Francisco, on the Italian side of Shindand Airbase. We sat down, and he asked if USAID could assist his team with one of the villages that fell in his area of responsibility. I asked the name and he said "Shoorab". I told him that I was familiar with Shoorab. Shoorab was located about 20 minutes to the west of the base, and I had met their main elder, Haji Safdar Khan, and visited the village.

The Captain went on to add that the people of Shoorab needed clean drinking water! And that the Italians had dug three wells in three different parts of the village and so far they had not been successful. I asked why is that? He replied because everywhere they dig the water is salty! I was surprised by what he told me! So I asked him, "you dug three wells in a village called Shoorab and each time the water was salty?" he said "Yes!" I then asked "do you know what Shoorab means?" He replied, "No"! I said, Shoorab means "Salty Water!!". Sometimes the most obvious things in life seems hidden!! As we continued the conversation, I advised the Captain, that first he needed to get was a new interpreter! and after that he needed to stop wasting money digging wells in a place where the problem was so obvious that they named the village after that problem!!!



Once we figured out what was clearly lost in translation, we decided to revisit Shoorab. They told us that their village clean water source was a few kilometers away and they just needed to get it to the village. Using USAID funding and American (New Mexico State University) and Afghan expertise, and local input, a four kilometer pipe scheme was build. The pipe connected to the clean water source and brought the water directly into the village.

Today, hundreds in the village of Shoorab enjoy the flowing clean drinking water.

Shoorab is an example of the lack of communication that can make a seemingly easy project into a complicated one. A simple word that can't be translated can lead to waste of resources, and many unhealthy communities.

As time went on our working relationship with the Italians continued to be well coordinated and productive. As always it ended well as we sat down at the end of the day, talked, laughed, ate our pizza and drank the cappuccino! 

Global Warming is Over, ISIS is Defeated! And Some More Good News!

Of course we hope that was the headline splashed all over our newspapers but alas that is not the case. As I have gotten older, two things have gotten worst one has been the weather and the other has been the violent potency of terrorist groups.

Remember when everyone was talking about the destruction of the ozone layer and protesting the destruction of the rain forest. There were conferences, concerts and creation of groups and organizations to create awareness of this phenomena and suggest ways to handle the ever-changing weather patterns.  Then those who wanted to destroy the environment and those who wanted to protect it got into a fight and started to pour money and resources into marketing their point of view and make nice brochures. And then religion got involved and how God controls everything and if He/She wants to increase the temperature and make it a beat balmy in January that is not for you to question, just move over and let me build my mansion in a place where there use to be a forest and a bunch of animals roaming around! At the same time those who happened to be the biggest advocates for protecting the environment also created nice, glossy brochures  but lived in huge mansions that could hold ten extended families from the developing world! In the meantime more water systems were polluted and the modern woman instead of walking five kilometers to fetch water from the river, had to drive 5 kilometers with her SUV to her local grocery store and pack her car with ten bottles of water which she could not get from the tap that was in her kitchen because she polluted her waterways, by the chemicals that the company she worked for send up in the air which in turn came down as acid rain into the river . After all those years, thousands of expert analysis and billions of dollars we have turned the regular storm into a super storm...I just say well done!

And about terrorism, this is what I remember, first everyone talked about fighting terrorist groups, but then no one could agree who a terrorist was. So countries got together at the UN and other nice places and buildings and argued and fought about who is a terrorist and how to deal with them.
While countries stood divided on dealing with this phenomena, and pointing fingers at each other, the terrorists, like the weather evolved from a regular seasonal storm to an unpredictable super storm, causing massive destruction in their path. The terrorists of the past did kill innocent people and caused damage but no could imagine that after decades of trying to curb their activities terrorist groups would evolve into such a sophisticated, ideological, brutal killing machine.

Whether dealing with the weather or terrorist groups, they don't know borders! The super storm does not operate only in one country and stop at the border of Country A and say I will wait for my visa to come before I proceed to destroy Country B! Same thing can be said of the fluency by which terrorists and their extremist ideology crisscross  the globe. Today there are thousands of non-Syrians, non-Iraqi and non-Afghans fighting in these countries from as far as America and Europe. The new terrorist, like their super storm counterpart act decisively, destructively and ensure maximum damage. While the international community wants to think that its thinking globally, the fact is that its still stuck in the realities of the world controlled solely by national interest. The bitter truth is that the terrorists are much more global in thinking that us the normal people living under the "national interest" governments! Though the extremists want to bring back their fictional 7th century heaven, they are in fact using modern 2015 tactics to obtain it.

We must broaden our visions and encourage and pressure our governments to increase global cooperation and provide real resources to battle with the issues of the time. Citizens around the world must be encouraged to engage each other and be able to communicate freely and share solutions to the problems of daily lives. A new determination to create networks amongst the governments and peoples of the world is the only way to tackle obstacles that ails our planet today be it global warming or terrorism.

I have some more good news for you but I will save it for next time!!!

From Asia to the Americas: How Cricket Helped me to Break Down Cultural Barriers!

I was first exposed to the game of cricket in 1979 when I arrived in India as a young kid. There is no better country to get your first exposure to cricket than India. Passion runs high for cricket and its passion will consume you. Cricket was everywhere, on the playgrounds, under the banyan tree, in the class room and in our dormitory. We found a piece of wood and any type of a round object resembling a cricket ball and there was a game to be played.

When India was playing, and you were walking in the market, everyone's radio was blaring as commentary was given in both English and Hindi.   Since I lived in India, I was naturally cheering for the Indian team who at the time had the legendary batsman Sunil Gavaskar and the great all-rounder Kapil Dev. Cricket was still a radio/newspaper sport in India, unlike today very few games were broadcast on TV, specially those played overseas. It was a thrill to listen to radio commentary broadcasting on the All-Indian Radio. There was the Indian tour of Australia in 1980-1981 and of course one of my most unforgettable experience was listening to Tony Cozier when India toured the West Indies in 1983, me and my friend Faez would stay up late in the night and listen to the broadcast.  And the unforgettable 1983 cricket World Cup and India's upset win over the West Indies in the finals. It was a great era for cricket with incredible players such as Ian Botham, Imran Khan, Lillie, Chappel, Haddlee and of course the whole of the West Indian team which at the time were the Masters of the Game, Lloyd, Richards, Holding and Marshall.

Coming to the US put a stop to that as cricket was replaced by the American sports of basketball, baseball and American football. I use to only think of cricket and listen to the BBC cricket commentary whenever possible. But years later as my life twist and turned I ended up going to areas that were cricket playing nations. The first one of which was in the Caribbean, where I spend a year on the island of St. Kitts and Nevis and Guyana.

One day as I sat in front of my house in Challengers, St.Kitts I saw a few guys down below by the basketball courts who were playing cricket. I ran down and asked if I could join them, they agreed and when I faced the first ball after all those years, to my great relief I did not lose my wicket and embarrass myself and in fact I drove the ball nicely pass the bowler, which made everyone realize that this American/foreigner/whatever knew cricket!!! Talk about breaking the ice...and on to Guyana, where they would come and get me if I missed a day of street cricket.

When I got to Afghanistan living in Shindand Airbase there were lots of workers from eastern Afghanistan and since most had at sometime in their lives  lived in Pakistan, they had been exposed to cricket and played every evening. Coming from the United States and speaking Farsi and they being mainly Pashtu speakers there was a barrier, which unfortunately was based on their own assumption of who I was. So one evening seeing them playing cricket I approached them and asked if I could play, they asked, "you play cricket?" I said yes and asked again "really you play?" still not convinced!!! Reluctantly they let me join their game. So after a few overs the captain came to me and asked "do you bowl? I said I can try!!! and as fate (and luck and poor batting!!) would have it I took two wickets and from then on, I was invited for tea, lunch and became the recipient of the great Afghan hospitality...

Though most who don't know cricket call it slow, confusing, and overall a boring game! I feel lucky to belong to a large global population that plays and follows this wonderful game.
I don't know where I will end up next but be sure that I will try to hit the ball over the boundary line for a six!!!

America's struggle for Racial Equality and Justice!

Nothing embodies the greatness of the American society than the following sentence from its Declaration of Independence, written in 1776 "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". The pursuit of this ideal within the American society, has been a long and often bloody path. The people who first got to America and constituted the first settlers within the United States, were the European Americans who fleeing religious persecution found protection and freedom in this now called the New World. The other people who were also the first arrivals to America were the Africans who as time went on were brought in by millions as slaves. As the native population of the New World was being eradicated and displaced, America as a nation was being born and taken shape by these new population.  They created a nation, one having all the privileges of citizenship and the other being second class citizens. For a couple of hundred years, the Africans in America were legally not considered as full human-being. As it has happened many times in this young nation, individuals and small organizations have risen to rally society towards fulfilling its promise to all its citizens, as declared in 1776. Both in the 1860s and a century later these efforts turned into massive societal and political movements. One was the American Civil War which brought US Northern States against Southern States over the issue of slavery. A war which eventually brought an end to slavery. In the 1960s another massive movement started that led to unrest. The unrest and protests brought about laws that protected the Civil Rights of  all citizens, regardless of their race and color.

Though one should not ignore the progress in racial equality, the high point of which was the 2008 election of the first American president of Africa descent, the fact is, the United States continues to struggle with this issue. What we all witnessed in Ferguson, Tulsa, Charlotte and  other police shootings in the US is a reminder that though the law protects all citizens, there are those Americans whose racists attitudes retards their true understanding of what the Declaration of Independence means when it says, "that all men are created equal and endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights". That this declaration applies to all citizens. These Americans are politicians, policemen, judges, doctors, professors,  neighbors, teachers, work colleagues who are afraid of the "other" which in the case (and for most of the time) of Ferguson is the young African-American male. The question is how will individuals, agencies and organizations within United States government and non-governmental entities work to make sure that those who are suppose to uphold the law and provide protection to all citizens can look at that individual simply as another citizen and not assume the worst based on stereotyping.

Looking at the statistics for young African-American male, "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" continues to elude them. Efforts must also be put in place to identify parts of the country that need help the most and come up with a concentrated effort with private-public partnership, civil-society organization, and all stakeholders to ensure America's promise is fulfilled for every member of its society. The fact that the world's biggest economy and a country blessed with unlimited resources can't come up with a viable solution to provide protection and develop opportunities for one segment of its population is inexcusable.

     

Playing Football on the Edge of the Sahel!

Adongo was next to be measured for his height as he walked over to the dried up millet stalk. "Sorry too tall, you can't play" said Mr. Wise, the Namoo Junior Secondary School (JSS), sports master. Adongo protested briefly and eventually walked away disappointed. The measuring of height was part of the selection process of allowing young boys to participate in a village wide under-12 football tournament called "Unity is Power". The reason for using a dried up millet stalk, was that, most of the kids did not have birth certificates, and did not know their age, so the best we could do is find someone who looked 12 years old, measure him and then bring a stalk, break it to match his height, if you were below or same height you played otherwise like Adongo you were out!! This football tournament held in year 2000, was one of its first kind held in that part of Ghana. The purpose was to teach the young men, leadership, responsibility, organizational skills, unity and collaboration, respect and most importantly give the pre-youth and the youth an avenue to express themselves.

Most of the players came from the Namoo primary school. We gave the Namoo older middle school students, the responsibility to form the teams, name them, make their own uniform and be the managers of the teams. Each team found a creative way to make their own uniforms and write their names on it.

The week-long tournament brought out the best in this often divided village, the young and the old, men and women each participated in this activity whether as players, managers, referees, financier of teams, or just spectators.

That tournament became the stepping stone in the development of the game in Namoo, and though just a rural community, it was able to compete in the higher level tournaments in the Upper East Region (the most northern region in Ghana).

But the real story was the participation of the pre-youth and youth in an activity that build life-skills and allowed them to express themselves. This group is often forgotten and it is this population that are the first recruits and victims of vices and extremist voices.

Today millions and millions of youth around the globe are at risk. Risk of the usual issues of gangs, drugs, violence and the like and now more than ever, recruitment in insurgency and extremist groups. This challenge is not restricted to a particular economic group or a nation or society but everyone is being effected by it. The youth in Nigeria who is recruited by Boko Haram to carry out a terrorist attack on a school to the young American girl who is manipulated to join in the blood-letting of Syria and Iraq , from all four corners of this planet the youth are under constant pressure and are being pulled towards the darker side of life, innocence taken by recruiters of death.

Nations around the world must prioritize the youth population not just with a slogan that the "youth are our future", that slogan is too old and frankly the future is too late!!! Unprecedented focus must be put on this vulnerable population and resources dedicated to them for their development. The unfortunate truth is that, the extremists, have done effective programming to win the youth on their side. We see that in Syria, Iraq and Nigeria, where its the youth who are carrying out the goals of their leaders and the mission of their organization. Sadly  the governments and nations around the world have a long way to catch up.

Fourteen years after that football tournament in Namoo, I ran into Adongo in Accra! He still remembered that day when he was not allowed to participate in our football tournament!!! Fortunately, he had forgiven me but most importantly he had grown to be a mature young man who works hard and looks after his family.

Millions like the young Adongo fourteen years ago in Namoo stand at the cross road of a choice. Which way will they go...That will depend on our guidance and the resources which we will or won't allocate for their future.










   

How the Events of 27th April 1978 Changed Afghanistan!

Many of us might not know what happened on that day in Kabul. The day that the Afghanistan Communist Party took over the Afghan presidential palace through a military coup and killed the then President of Afghanistan, Sardar Dawood Khan. Nothing major, just another event in the often bloody history of Afghanistan, except that it was at the height of the Cold War and a communist takeover of any country would get the attention of the other superpower, the United States.

The situation got even more dicey when the Soviet Army rolled into Afghanistan, triggered by the inter-fighting between various factions of the Afghanistan Communist party.  In response the United States turned to Pakistan, its major ally in the region, to put into place a program to get rid of the Communist government by using the Afghans to fight the Russians. The goals of the United States were based on the Cold War realities which was to fight Communism anywhere it appeared. The goals of the Pakistanis were to push its national interest by weakening a rival, Afghanistan, and this was a perfect opportunity. Pakistan and Afghanistan have major border dispute over the Durrand Line. Both, United States and Pakistan sat down and agreed that using religion to rally the Afghans was the easiest way to get to accomplish their objectives. There were some amongst the Afghans who suggested perhaps using nationalism to fight the Russians. The Afghan nationalists believed that in the long run it would create a strong Afghan identity amongst the various ethnic groups. The nationalist approach was buried before it made any headway. Pakistan saw this opportunity as a chance to divide and destroy its neighbor, anything to unify the various tribes of Afghanistan, would not be tolerated by Islamabad. Pakistan was used as the launching pad for the new Islamic warriors to go into Afghanistan to fight the Russians and its puppet Communist government. 

It also ran the madrassas (the religious schools), which were void of any Islamic curriculum except jihad and the art of killing the infidels. Pakistan became the jihad-making factory. The policy had immediate success for both the US and Pakistan. The Red Army was humiliated and the communist government held on for its dear life. When the Red Army left, the Afghan jihadi fighter now known to the world as Mujahideens turned against each other and killed Afghans and destroyed Afghanistan. The US at this point had left the scene, they had accomplished their objective and did not need to be around to deal with the cleanup. Pakistan on the other hand continued to push on through, the madrassas continued to produce the product, but now the name had change from Mujahedeen to Taliban. Just to be sure not to have any remnant of nationalism left in Afghanistan, the first thing the Taliban did was to kill in the most vial manner, President Najibullah. For all his sins Najibullah still invoked the Afghan love for his/her country. 

What no one at the time understood was that Pakistan's and other nations' dangerous, short-sighted policy towards Afghanistan would eventually engulf the world with radical ideology which no one country can counter and no one human is immune from its effects. 

         

Countering Violent Extremists beyond Barbed Wire Walls

Jabbar was an Afghan, who had spend most of his life dealing in survival. Surviving the Soviet occupation and Communism, the Afghanistan civil war and the Mujahedin Government, the Taliban and the ISI and now Democracy and the International Community. He would run back and forth between Afghanistan and Iran, either for his life or to make a living, or both. Jabbar's face was a testimony to the difficult days he had to endure but he still strived and hoped for a better day for himself, his family and his nation.

One day during a conversation with him, he told me, "do you know the difference between you [Coalition Forces/International Community] and the Taliban?"...You (pointing to the air force base in front of us) live behind these walls while the Taliban live amongst us in our villages!" Jabbar continued on and said that you come out once in a while to our villages with your military vehicles and guns, spending a few minutes with some of the elders, asking questions, drinking tea and leaving. The Taliban on the other hand are always around, nobody wants them around but they are there! They don't do anything for our people but we have to deal with them because who else are we going to deal with. Our government is not around, and you don't come to our place unless you need something!! Jabbar was right! His village and hundreds of others in that area were exposed to the Taliban and ripe for the taking. The Taliban exercised power where there was a vacuum, a void that was caused by the lack of real presence of the local government and security forces and the international community and its force. If any of those four parts established strong relationship with the local Afghans population, its would have reduced the Taliban influence.

The rise of extremist groups around the world stretching from Afghanistan, to the Middle East and all the way to Africa requires a new way and a more committed way of conducting business.

A few important points about extremists groups;

You can't just kill your way to victory against them.

Violent and extremist entities are international phenomena because you have individuals and governments around the world contributing to the growth of extremist organizations or fighting to curb them. Contribution is done through financing them, arming them, or volunteering to join them. Curbing is done either with military operations or creating organizations or programming that is an alternative to the extremists way.

Violent extremist groups are the enemy of all those that don't agree with their belief system, that means 99.99% of the population!

There are number of things that needs to be done to ensure the reduction of their influence around the world.

The number one focus must be creating a long term relationship with communities threaten by this phenomena by making activities "people-centric" and by ensuring that international donors giving support and assistance, move their policies from the narrow, short-term national interest, to a broader interest that will cement a long term solution on the ground. Creating strong relationship and partnership with all levels of threatened societies will ensure that the population believe they have partners in their struggle to push back the extremist. This relationship must be strong from the central government all the way to the town and village level. 

The international diplomatic corps and development agencies must move away from the security-centric and bunker mentality that has them sitting in offices and compounds. This in turn has given free rein to the extremists to roam in communities and in most cases be the only voice that people are either hearing or force to adhere too.

When there is strong relationship and engagement amongst the donor, stakeholder and beneficiaries, access to these communities will become much easier and the threaten population will have a strong partner they can rely on. And it is this partnership which will create the kind of presence needed to curb the influence and push the extremists ideology out of the communities and give the type of alternative that people are looking for.

In the past couple of years, we have seen consequence of inaction in countering violent extremists. They are more dangerous, more fanatical, better organized and better funded. There are millions like Jabbar who have to deal with them on daily basis despite not wanting them around but do so out of the need to survive, and like Jabbar are looking for an alternative.

I don't know where Jabbar is but if I ever see him again I will let him know we are changing our ways and plan to do it right this time...upon hearing what I told him he will most likely roll his eyes, smile and look towards the tall barbed wire walls!!

Afghan Fish Needs Water Too!!

During my time in Afghanistan I worked with various  actors to stop Taliban's and insurgence's violence and curb their ideology and influence. The players in Shindand included the US, Italian and Afghan military and security forces plus the Afghan local government and the Afghan people.

When I got to Shindand in 2009, I met with some of the citizens of the district, who showed me the first set of development projects that the Coalition Forces had implemented for them. The purpose of these projects was to improve the  lives of the Afghans. Unfortunately, most  of them were either destroyed, incomplete or empty! The projects included a clinic, a women center, a raisin  farm and a village-level raisin packaging plant. But the most curious project I saw was a fishery farm in the village of Changan. The purpose of this fishery was to provide food security, healthy nutrition and employment to the local population.

Changan is a village located in the Zawol area of Shindand District and close to the Shindand Air Force base. Its inhabitants are generally mistrusted by other villages because they have build a reputation for either fighting, arguing, stealing, smuggling or kidnapping! During the Taliban regime, the Changan people because of their less refined ways were recruited to be part of the local Taliban government in Shindand Town. Though the reality was that Changanis like any other people in Shindand had to do what they needed to do to survive and they were not as bad as they were portrayed.

In Afghanistan if you needed to get attention and eventually resources you had to be in a place where there was insecurity and things would get blown up! After that in order to stabilize your area the Coalition Forces would rush in and bring resources to you. And if you were nice and quiet you would be left alone and would live in peace and poverty!

The intentions of the Coalition Forces was good! Most units would spend six to nine months in Shindand. During this time they had to perform and show something on the ground, either in terms of security, training of their Afghan counterparts or development projects for the local population. An important part of their mission amongst the local population was winning "Hearts and Minds". Their best approach was to do development and humanitarian projects in villages and be seen as partners in fighting the insurgence and strengthening the Afghan government.

The truth is that doing work that has any effect whether long term or short term in Afghanistan required real local knowledge on the ground, understanding the functioning of local government and cultural institutions, tribal dynamics and all the patience you could muster! Most importantly, it also required that the Coalition Forces work well amongst themselves. Putting together a Civ-Mil Team that communicated regularly, shared information about the district, utilized each other's resources and build on each other's strength. Once that was done then create links with the local actors outside the base and make them your partners. Because of this lack of coordination, cooperation and relationship amongst the Coalition Forces and between the Coalition Forces and the local communities and institutions projects were ineffective and at times bizarre!

So back to Changan...One day I was met with two people who came to the base and asked to talk to me. They were Nabi Jan and Zarif. Nabi Jan had fought the Soviets when he was just a kid, and later on had been recruited by the Taliban to be part of the local government. He eventually ran away and left Afghanistan as he could not support or stomach the Taliban policies. Zarif was a teacher who had quit his job and was working for the Coalition Forces at the Shindand Airbase. He wanted an Afghanistan where people could lead normal lives, with good schools for both girls and boys and most of all peace and security.

They said the reason for their visit was to inquire about a fishery that the Americans had build for them that was not functioning. I asked which Americans? They did not know! Though they did know who the contractor for the project was. It was an Afghan who lived in Herat City. Basically, the American military unit had asked for bids on the project, they had identified the company, given the company the money and told them to build the fishery. If they (the military unit) had the time they would go to the village and check on the project otherwise they would simply ask the contractor to take some photos and send it as proof of completion of work!! Having asked around I heard the military unit had already left!

I asked Nabi jan and Zarif to take me to the site of the project and find out and see what the issues were with the project.

A few days later I went to the village of Changan and saw the project first hand. There was a dried up pool, with few broken pipes around it. And I looked around and as my eyes could see, I could not find any water source...So I turned to Zarif and said where is the water? and he said "it is there" pointing to a dried up gutter! I said, "but there is no water" and Zarif said, "yes there is no water because this part of the village gets water once a week. Here the water is divided once a week amongst the different parts of the village, which is used mainly for our farms." So where is the water for the fish pool? I inquired and Nabi Jan replied, "the water that we use for our agriculture (the once-a-week water!!) will come through these pipes(pointing to the broken pipes) and go to the fish pool" Basically the fish would have to live on one day's worth of water per week!!

Six days air, one day water for the Afghan fish! Apparently, no one told the outside world, "Afghan Fish Needs Water Too!!"

The International Community, Iraq and the Iraqi Identity

In 2005, I served as one of the presiding officers for Iraqi's first democratically held elections. The elections were conducted for those Iraqis living overseas. Our voting area was located in the state of Maryland and covered northeast United States. One of the first thing that struck me about all the Iraqis that passed by our voting booth was their diversity. There was so many different groups and sub-groups, Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen, Assyrians, Shia, Sunni, secular, religious, men and women, old and the young.

The unfortunate part of this diversity was that instead of working on ways to strengthen it, the international community that was there to help Iraq to liberate itself, consciously or unconsciously did everything to weaken and undermine it.  Even the most united unit can start to breakaway if one group within that unit is told they are better than the other parts. And just like the "blue-eyed" vs "brown eyed" people experiment of 1968 which took place in a small American classroom, Iraqis were told that you are Shia, you are Sunni and you are Kurd . The justification for this policy was to give the previously oppressed groups under Saddam Hussein the chance to have a voice in the new Iraq. The problem was that somewhere during this obsessive like focus on emphasizing Shia, Sunni and Kurdish identity, the Iraqi national identity eroded and was lost. It led to divided families, divided neighborhoods, divided cities, divided provinces and eventually divided nation. Then in the midst of its struggle to function as a nation, the Iraqi government itself after the exit of the Americans from Iraq, continued the sectarian politics, further tearing Iraq apart, the culmination of which is ISIS and what we witness today.

Politicians and "experts" on Iraq, try to justify that this division in Iraq was inevitable that Iraq would become divided between different sects anyways, saying that Iraq was an artificial state from day one. Based on that logic, every nation on this planet was created artificially!! The international community had enough experts to try to help Iraqis to strengthen a national identity or at least not emphasis the differences that divides them, if that had been done Iraq would have been in a much better place.

Iraq is an ancient land that has seen the best and the worst. Like every other human being, the Iraqis deserve a life of hope, growth and progress and most important of all peace and security. Hopefully this time it will happen: Enshallah!

America 1984: Becoming a Puerto Rican!

The greatest thing about America is its diversity. It can boast off its great material wealth and great technological achievements but to me America is America because it can bring together thousands of ethnic groups, races and religions from around the world to live and work together, either at their offices, or on a baseball field, or in an apartment building. It is not a perfect place but a place where many come escaping persecution, war, economic deprivation, lack of education opportunities and just a chance for a better life. It is the flow of new immigrants that keeps the blood of America fresh and vibrant.

It was religious persecution that drove my family from Iran, to India and finally to the United States. Our plane landed in New York in the middle of the winter of 1984. I will never forget the first harsh, cold wind that hit my face as I along with my family left the airport walking towards the parking lot. 

We settled in Holyoke, in the state of Massachusetts, a town located in western part of the state, about 90 miles from Boston. Holyoke was economically depressed and racially divided. The population was divided between old Irish-Polish-French American immigrants (who referred to themselves as "whites")  and the recent immigrants, the Puerto Ricans, who were just Puerto Ricans and were different from the "whites" because they spoke Spanish and most had black hair and brown skin! For most part, the "whites" lived in  houses and Puerto Ricans were in apartments in the downtown area.

I have the kind of look that can qualify me for many cultures, you name it and I look like them! Indian, Turkish, Mexican, Italians, Lebanese, Pakistani, and in Holyoke's case, Puerto Rican!

After settling in Holyoke, I started going to school. I enrolled in John J. Lynch School and started in 8th grade.  Soon after attending school, I realized that I was caught in no man's land! The school was divided between the two ethnic groups, whites would hangout with each other and Puerto Ricans would hangout with each other. I soon realized the whites did not want to interact with me because I wasn't white and the Puerto Ricans were not interacting with me because I did not speak Spanish though most of them assumed I was a Puerto Rican who did not want to speak Spanish!!!!

As Charles Dickens said in his Tale of Two Cities, "It was the Best of times, it was the Worst of times" and indeed it was for me in Holyoke in 1984.

One day, the strangest thing happened...

I came to school feeling sick, and hanged on till noon time, not getting better I decided I should just go home. So I went to the principle's office. Those familiar with the American school buildings know that the principle's office is pretty big and usually has two or three secretaries working there. It resembles the 1950s America. The office at John J Lynch was a prototype of the 1950s look.

So I entered and stood behind the counter, one of the women who looked like she was from the 1950s came towards me and said, "can I help you?", I replied, "yes, my name is Behzad Roohi, I am in Miss Doyle's home-room and I am not feeling well, I want to leave early today". As I started to talk to her I noticed she started to turn extremely red and pink, and looked very angry...and then suddenly she stopped me and screamed, saying, "Why do you Puerto Ricans speak Spanish, you think everybody understands Spanish?" and before I knew what the hell she was talking about, she had gone to grab some poor student by the name of Julio and asked him to translate what I was telling her into English!!! So Julio came to me and started to speak in Spanish and now I turn to Julio and tell him I don't speak Spanish!!! The issue was finally solved when I spoke in English to Julio who now translated my English to the secretary in English!!! 

Those were some tough days, but I survived and found my place within the diversity of America. I still face situations where certain people blinded by their prejudice can't see you for who you are as an individual or that you are part of this country and always look at you as the "other" or the "outsider". Too bad for them...

So in 2017 and beyond, let us respect and appreciate each others diversity.  Make sure you reach out to that coworker or neighbor you avoided because you may be looking at them through the prism of stereotype rather than who they really are. And more than anything lets listen to each other and don't assume the other person is speaking a language different from yours....at this point I would like to end by saying, Muchas Gracias!

US Companies' Secret to Success in Africa: Invest in Africans!!

The first time I came to the African Continent was in 1998, when as a Peace Corps Volunteer I was send to Namoo, a rural community located in Bongo District of the Upper East Region (the most northern province) of Ghana. Namoo was located on the border with Burkina Faso. After my first visit there I was asked by some of my Ghanaian Peace Corps trainers, "so how was Namoo?", I replied "have you read the Bible?", they all said yes..."Have you read the part that says, God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day?" again they all said yes...then I said, "Well, in Namoo's case God rested on the second day!!!" Namoo did not have much, 99% mud huts, no electricity, lack of access to water, and so on. 16 years later, Namoo, has electricity, 75% of houses are cement block houses, has access to more clean water boreholes, a clinic and there is a secondary school and a college there. Its young inhabitants are on Whatsapp, have e-mail addresses and exchange photos and music instantly on their cell phones!! You see houses that have satellites on their roofs, and most of the young adult of working age are in constant move pouring into the cities looking for jobs and a better life.

The economic growth and technological leapfrog of the past decade in Ghana and throughout Africa has put this continent on a path of unprecedented material growth. The last frontier of economic opportunity, 1.1 billion consumers waiting to be courted. These days everyone wants to court the Africans, one day its the Chinese, the other day its the Europeans and now its been  the Americans. In 1884 at the Berlin Conference it was the Scramble for Africa that led to formally colonizing Africa, these days the Scramble for Africa is about economic opportunities and gaining foothold into the markets.

During his speech at the 2014 US-Africa Summit, President Obama said, " The United States is determined to be a partner in Africa's success...a good partner, an equal partner and the partner for the long term. We don't look at Africa simply for its natural resources; we recognize Africa for its greatest resource, which is its people and its talents and their potential."

If the United States can keep its word as uttered by its President then Africa's fortunate can and will change for the better. The most important part of the focus must be the investment in the people of the continent.

American companies who come to the continent can be the catalyst to invest in people. This is not just giving wages to labor, and creating employment (as important as that is ) but rather setting up mentorship programs within the company to identify talent, develop creative/new management and organizational skills and a professional workforce that can raise standard in running organizations and private companies in Africa.

American companies can become involved in private-public investment to develop further the institutions that are already in place on the continent. For example they can invest in Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), which is set up to train Ghanaian public servants to be more effective in running national, regional and district government institutions and programs. Another institute is AGRHYMET (Centre Regional de Formation et d'Application en Agrometeorologie et Hydrologie Operationnelle), located in Niger, a training site related to food security, water issues, desertification and monitoring of real-time weather patterns for agriculture and grazing land for cattle. This regional institute provides training and information to the countries of the Sahel region.

American companies must implement Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  and hold themselves to a higher standard unlike their Chinese, and Lebanese counterpart. Destroying the timberland of Ghana and poisoning the rivers of Africa is not good business and though it might get the company some quick money in the long run it will be bad for business. It must create good community relations and bring the best and teach the best of American business practices. Men, women and children that live in the company's area of operation must get some benefit or if no benefit, it must not receive any harm.

Remember just because the African politicians can be bribed into allowing you to dump the poison into the river that does not mean you should do it! Most likely the politician and his family don't get their drinking or bathing water from that river!!

I was recently in Ghana, and travelled to Burkina Faso and Niger. In Accra, I drove everyday for hours to my job and back, driving though the different neighborhoods of Ghana's capitol, I pass by hundreds of young men and women carrying goods to sell on their head and hands, struggling to make a living. Most have left and are leaving their small rural communities for what they think will be a better life in the big cities, whether it is Accra or Ouagadougou or Niamey. The young employable population leave their villages because of lack of employment opportunity and infrastructure. Large private investment in agricultural sector and US government's implementing of Power Africa will go a long way to slow this trend. A young unemployed, restless population gathering in urban centers around the continent put tremendous pressure on an already limited infrastructure and can create unrest unimaginable. Additional, it can be fertile recruitment ground for extremists and criminal syndicates. Agriculture can be an important sector to provide employment to the young, but that too must come with mentorship and training programs that develops the sector to a new level.

Since the 1960s when most African countries gained their independence many have come to Africa bearing gifts of war, coup, assassinations, plunder, bad development plans and ugly international politics. Perhaps now finally in 2016, one of those players, the United States, will set the example for others to follow by investing in Africans for Africa's development.

 

40,000 Brave Girls of Shindand District Fight On for their Education

From 2009-2012, I served as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Field Program Officer in Shindand District. Shindand District was considered one of the most dangerous districts in the western part of Afghanistan. When I told my Afghan colleagues I was going to Shindand, they just shook their heads and wished me the best. When our Ambassador found out USAID was sending a representative to Shindand, he asked surprisingly, "we are now sending civilians to Shindand?"

I decided to "google" Shindand and find out what the fuss was all about. Everything written about Shindand was about the on-going violence. Amongst them was, the bombing of a wedding ceremony by the Coalition Forces, inter-tribal (Pashtun vs Tajik) and intra-tribal (Pashtun vs Pashtun) violence, Coalition vs Afghan and Afghan vs Coalition fighting.

Shindand District, though a district, is bigger than some of the provinces in Afghanistan. It is made up of majority Pashtun tribes and sub-tribes along with Tajik groups. Most inhabitants in the district are bilingual speaking both Pashto and Dari.

Before I got to Shindand  and when I first arrived there I heard from many so called "informed" individuals that the inhabitants of Shindand are not interested in education, that they don't want to send their boys, how much more their girls to school. The citizens will listen to whatever the Taliban decree specially in terms of educating girls.

As I got acquainted with the civilians of the district and as I listened more to them, I realized that the people of this district considered education a top priority for their children both boys and girls. Using local NGOs, and funded by US government (the hard-working US taxpayers will appreciate it), we started computer-training courses for girls in two parts of the district. The reception was so overwhelming that the NGOs had to turn away hundreds of women, who were eager to register. Few days after the start, one of the local school committees (local  Parent-Teacher Association), came to see me and said they had gone to see the classes and were very happy with them. Some members who had only sons asked if next time boys could also be allowed to enroll.

I met elders from other parts of the district who asked that we build them a school for their girls so the female students like their counterparts across the border in Iran, can sit in good facilities and not be bothered by passing public and the weather. I told him, "Haji Mohammad are you just sitting here and telling me to build you a school so you can get money off of the project?", he said, "you can think what you want, but we put a lot of value on girls education!"

On several occasions elders from Shindand went up to Herat to talk to the regional government education officials to ask for better teachers.

All this focus on improvement of education and giving girls access to better education eventually brought the now much marginalized Taliban out of the wood work to try to undermine the community-led effort. One day I got a call from a friend to inform me that the Taliban have ordered the girls in their area not to go to school!!  Because of my close relationship with the local population I was usually called when there was a crisis or conflict to be resolved. Of course, I was not that smart to resolve any of them! but I knew who could, which usually meant bringing the elders together in consultation knowing eventually they could resolve their own issues using their traditional conflict or crisis resolution methods. In this case I called Haji Ghous ( a veteran of the war against the Russians who had lost one of his legs) a respected elder who lived in that area and was an open advocate for girls education based on religious teaching. So I called and asked him if he could counter the Taliban messaging and get the girls back to school. Haji Ghous rallied the other elders and in a couple of days the girls were back in their school. I called Ghous back and he said the Taliban (in a face-saving tactic) had allowed the girls to go back to school only if they respected the Islamic dress-code!!! Which everyone knew was not an issue since the girls always abided by the Islamic dress-code...

One important ingredient of the growing importance of girls education was the close interaction of the donor and the beneficiaries. In a deeply scarred society like Shindand and Afghanistan in general, Afghans needed allies that stood by them through thick and thin, meaning as a USAID field program officer I was there each step of the way, mentoring them if needed and reassuring them that I was in their country to work with them to improve and empower their lives and not just to promote an outsiders agenda. Building trust allowed me to interact directly with rural women, in a place where a non-relative can never talk directly to a female. The close interaction and unwavering support allowed Afghans time to envision what a normal life would look like...and in a normal environment the people of Shindand would overwhelming send their girls to school.

As we fast-forward to today, in the past couple of years, the Taliban have been issuing decrees against sending girls to school....Despite, the threat the people continued to send their girls to school. Having been unsuccessful with verbal threat, the Taliban have attacked the girls schools in the district injuring teachers and students.

Tonight my thoughts are with the brave forty-thousand girls who fight daily to continue their education.

Their struggle continues...









     

40,000 Brave Girls of Shindand District Fight On for their Education

From 2009-2012, I served as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Field Program Officer in Shindand District. Shindand District was considered one of the most dangerous districts in the western part of Afghanistan. When I told my Afghan colleagues I was going to Shindand, they just shook their heads and wished me the best. When our Ambassador found out USAID was sending a representative to Shindand, he asked surprisingly, "we are now sending civilians to Shindand?"

I decided to "google" Shindand and find out what the fuss was all about. Everything written about Shindand was about the on-going violence. Amongst them was, the bombing of a wedding ceremony by the Coalition Forces, inter-tribal (Pashtun vs Tajik) and intra-tribal (Pashtun vs Pashtun) violence, Coalition vs Afghan and Afghan vs Coalition fighting.

Shindand District, though a district, is bigger than some of the provinces in Afghanistan. It is made up of majority Pashtun tribes and sub-tribes along with Tajik groups. Most inhabitants in the district are bilingual speaking both Pashto and Dari.

Before I got to Shindand  and when I first arrived there I heard from many so called "informed" individuals that the inhabitants of Shindand are not interested in education, that they don't want to send their boys, how much more their girls to school. The citizens will listen to whatever the Taliban decree specially in terms of educating girls.

As I got acquainted with the civilians of the district and as I listened more to them, I realized that the people of this district considered education a top priority for their children both boys and girls. Using local NGOs, and funded by US government (the hard-working US taxpayers will appreciate it), we started computer-training courses for girls in two parts of the district. The reception was so overwhelming that the NGOs had to turn away hundreds of women, who were eager to register. Few days after the start, one of the local school committees (local  Parent-Teacher Association), came to see me and said they had gone to see the classes and were very happy with them. Some members who had only sons asked if next time boys could also be allowed to enroll.

I met elders from other parts of the district who asked that we build them a school for their girls so the female students like their counterparts across the border in Iran, can sit in good facilities and not be bothered by passing public and the weather. I told him, "Haji Mohammad are you just sitting here and telling me to build you a school so you can get money off of the project?", he said, "you can think what you want, but we put a lot of value on girls education!"

On several occasions elders from Shindand went up to Herat to talk to the regional government education officials to ask for better teachers.

All this focus on improvement of education and giving girls access to better education eventually brought the now much marginalized Taliban out of the wood work to try to undermine the community-led effort. One day I got a call from a friend to inform me that the Taliban have ordered the girls in their area not to go to school!!  Because of my close relationship with the local population I was usually called when there was a crisis or conflict to be resolved. Of course, I was not that smart to resolve any of them! but I knew who could, which usually meant bringing the elders together in consultation knowing eventually they could resolve their own issues using their traditional conflict or crisis resolution methods. In this case I called Haji Ghous ( a veteran of the war against the Russians who had lost one of his legs) a respected elder who lived in that area and was an open advocate for girls education based on religious teaching. So I called and asked him if he could counter the Taliban messaging and get the girls back to school. Haji Ghous rallied the other elders and in a couple of days the girls were back in their school. I called Ghous back and he said the Taliban (in a face-saving tactic) had allowed the girls to go back to school only if they respected the Islamic dress-code!!! Which everyone knew was not an issue since the girls always abided by the Islamic dress-code...

One important ingredient of the growing importance of girls education was the close interaction of the donor and the beneficiaries. In a deeply scarred society like Shindand and Afghanistan in general, Afghans needed allies that stood by them through thick and thin, meaning as a USAID field program officer I was there each step of the way, mentoring them if needed and reassuring them that I was in their country to work with them to improve and empower their lives and not just to promote an outsiders agenda. Building trust allowed me to interact directly with rural women, in a place where a non-relative can never talk directly to a female. The close interaction and unwavering support allowed Afghans time to envision what a normal life would look like...and in a normal environment the people of Shindand would overwhelming send their girls to school.

As we fast-forward to today, in the past couple of years, the Taliban have been issuing decrees against sending girls to school....Despite, the threat the people continued to send their girls to school. Having been unsuccessful with verbal threat, the Taliban have attacked the girls schools in the district injuring teachers and students.

Tonight my thoughts are with the brave forty-thousand girls who fight daily to continue their education.

Their struggle continues...









     

Middle East Act of Misery!

The year was 1978, the historical Camp David Agreements were being signed. As a 10 year old child, I watched the proceedings on TV, as Carter, Begin and Sadat stood around smiling, shaking hands and signing a bunch of papers.

That day the commentator on the Iranian National Television, spoke eloquently and with much emotion as he described the bright future that awaited the region. This agreement would lead to everlasting peace. Perhaps his optimism was more like a 10 year old boy than a veteran TV reporter!

In the proceeding years that followed the region went back to its old ways, wars, conflicts, assassinations, violence, inter and intra-conflicts between nations and within nations, radicalization, death and destruction. This happened during the era when the rest of the world went through a transformation in all arenas of human endeavor from economic growth to democratization.

Today's Act of Misery continues to play out in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the region. There are protests and counter-protests around the world in the name of peace, justice, and the right to defend. Diplomats flying all over, holding meetings and giving interviews and pointing fingers and then announcing cease-fire , governments support and encourage each side and feed them weapons.

The people of this region are blessed with all the necessary resources and human capitol to make the Middle East the leading scientific, environmental and business zone in the world. But instead of going to school and conducting research, its citizens have to worry about bullets and bombs, instead of running towards their school out of excitement for another school year, its children have to run to the bomb-shelter out of fear. People in the same city can't meet in person and have to Skype as they can't go to certain neighborhoods because of their religion, sect or ethnicity! Instead of the region attracting professionals and experts from around the world to share their knowledge and enhance the quality of life , it attracts the worst of the worst of the international community who come in the region to spread venom and destruction.

The truth is that the great majority of the people living within the diverse communities of the Middle East are moderates who want to live in peace and prosperity. They love their children, their neighbors and have within their hearts compassion for people who are different from them. Most want a normal life. Not until the moderates unite throughout the region and create a united voice that indeed, "enough is enough" this abnormal backwardness will continue. Not until the international community shows a genuine interest for the welfare of all the area's inhabitants and groups these conflicts will continue. When the motives of the "friends of the region" comes in line with the betterment of the lives of the citizens of Syria and Iraq rather than advancing their narrow and short-term interests then there is real chance for peace and progress.

Until that day comes I will pretend I am 10 years old again and just believe everything that the TV commentator said four decades ago!