The Adventure Begins ...

Rather a fetching title, but really this is a chance for me to begin to articulate some thoughts on a piece of academic reading that I did today on Adventure Learning.

Adventure Learning ... What is it?

Buettner & Mason, (1996) describe Adventure Learning as a "creative and promising way to engage learners ... through educational programs that revolve around expeditions and adventures [that are] grounded on the use of technology". Doering (2007) defines Adventure Learning as an approach to the design of online and hybrid education that provides students with opportunities to explore real-world issues through collaborative learning environments. Simply put, this could be a virtual window into a real world, as in the case of Arctic Transect and GoNorth!

These projects have been based on a similar narrative: Each year a team of explorers and educators traverse an Arctic region of the world on a dog-sledding expedition. Their adventures are made available to teachers, students, and parents from around the world on a distance learning adventure. The expeditions are based on problem and inquiry-based curricula that focus on a specific issue, a region of travel, the local people, and are enhanced by electronic media sent from the trail (e.g., video, audio, imagery).

As a distance learning student, Adventure Learning is of particular interest as it exemplifies the 'ultimate' in distance learning.

Mapping the Militant Nexus

A leaked report offers a bleak assessment of the challenges facing Afghanistan - and a timetable for possible failure. General Stanley McChrystal heavily criticises the way NATO forces have operated until now, saying that they had been "pre-occupied" with their own security and have distanced themselves from the Afghan population "physically and psychologically". Put simply, Gen McChrystal acknowledges that the US could lose this war in the next 12 months.

In the coming weeks, Gen McChrystal is expected to ask for as many as 30,000 extra US forces, but he also points out that this conflict will not be won by the military alone. Whilst the military can offer security, it cannot provide jobs, health facilities, and opportunities for children to go to school. That is the job of the Afghan government, which, Gen McChrystal states is riddled with corruption and commands little support from the Afghan population.

Taliban advantage

Gen McChrystal that the UN and the international community must do more to persuade, and help, the Afghan government to provide better services and rule of law for their people. It may take "generations" before the country sees effective governance and it is this issue that is being successfully exploited by the Taliban who are growing in influence and controlling larger parts of the country, where they have set up "shadow governments" such as Shariah courts that offer quick justice. It is this, that ultimately what this conflict will boil down to. Who will the Afghans themselves choose? Will the Afghans decide to support their government (backed by the West,) or will they, in the end, decide to side with the Taliban?

adapted from this BBC Report

Life ... on a Dubai Metro

The Dubai Metro made it's official inaugural journey at 9.09 09/09/09. Within two days it was estimated that over 10% of the population of Dubai had made the journey on the metro. That was two weeks back and this weekend, I drove down from Abu Dhabi to take a trip on the UAE's first train - at present only the Red Line is open to commuters (we took the journey from Ibn Battuta Mall through to Rashidiya), but it is hoped that when fully on-line the metro will provide connectivity to the main areas of Dubai from the malls, to places of interest and the financial district through its network of sub-stations and air-conditioned skyways.

The metro claims a number of firsts - the first driver-less fully automated metro, the first in Dubai and of course, the first in the Gulf. It has been a long time in waiting and the novelty aspect means that it was very busy on the weekend. There were some teething issues with lines at the ticketing booths, but the ride was comfortable (when sitting!) and I was impressed with the frequency of the trains (said to be between 7 and 10 mins). There's even a written guide on travel etiquette, and plenty of staff to remind travellers should anyone forget.

I shot this video on my mobile phone. Edited using Windows Live Movie Maker (still looking for a simple Vista-compatible video editor!) and featuring a soundtrack by Rahim Shah and Nazia Iqbal singing Tor Orbal.

The Flowers of Bajaur (2)

Larsha Pekhawar ta kameez tor mala rawra
Taza taza guloona dre saloor mala rawra - da Bajaur guloona

Part 2 of Samar Minallah's Da Bajaur Guloona.

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The Flowers of Bajaur (1)

Larsha Pekhawar ta kameez tor mala rawra
Taza taza guloona dre saloor mala rawra - da Bajaur guloona

Travel to Peshawar to bring me back a black shirt
Fetch me some flowers - flowers from Bajaur

Samar Minallah, an independent young film-maker beckons to a call of distress from her ancestral Pukhtunkhwa. To identify the horrors of war, she made a documentary on the wretched state of refugees, rendering them 'homeless in their homeland'. Da Bajaur Guloona is a 25 minute film, that opens with kaleidoscopic landscapes of the fabled land and a heartbreaking commentary by the people of Bajaur.

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French Jungle - دا زمونږ کور دی

This is the plee that comes from 700 Pashtoon refugees who have camped in Calais, France in makeshift homes - made from wooden crates and plastic tarpaulin sheeting. Conditions are squalid mainly because these people are stranded - this is obscene - who would believe that this is 'modern' Europe? How can we consider this civilised when people end up living on the fringes like this, right under the nose of the EU? The refugees want to cross the border to make it to the UK, but the fortress mentality of the Brits means that hearts and minds are too small to assist at this time, so the Brits have exerted pressure on France to close the camp.

دا ځنګل زمونږ کور دی،
که دا وران کړی نو مونږ به چیرته ځو؟
Da Jungle Zamung Kor De, Ka Da Wran Kre No Mung Ba Charta Zu?
This jungle is our home, if this is destroyed, where will we go?

Considering that the world shares major responsiblity for the damage inflicted on Afghanistan over the years, Europe needs a wake up call. Sometimes considered 'pariah' states by political commentators, Iran and Pakistan took in millions of refugees during the heart of the Afghan crisis - comparatively, a mere 700 is hardly going to dent the economic status of countries in the EU.

They are sending in the riot police today to clear the camp. News link here.

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Eid Mubarak - عید مُبارک

 اختر مو مبارک شه

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History and Folklore

Sir Olaf Caroe's 1957 narrative on the Pashtoons digs into the historic and folkloric orgins of the Pashtoon people. It is sometimes held as the compendium of Pashtoon history and origin. The book, known as "The Pathans", reflects the language of its time and whilst other major events have occurred in the Pashtoon lands since the book was written, the contempt/admiration of the Pashtoons is something that continues till today.

Technology allows us to read these archives online - click on the picture above for the online reading option. Alternatively, download your PDF copy of the book here.

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Ramadan Blessings

The exact day that Laylat al-Qadr (لیلة القدر‎) occurs has, by tradition, been a matter of discussion. The Qur'an says that this night is better than a thousand months and that on this night the angels descend to earth. There are various Hadith pointing to different days during the last 10 days of Ramadan. Many Sunni Muslims believe that the Night of Excellence is the 27th of Ramadan. 
 

Allah's Apostle said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of the heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained." [Bukhari] ...

"Whoever establishes the prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping to attain Allah's rewards (not to show off) then all his past sins will be forgiven." [Bukhari] ...

Hexxagon

Play time!

Hexxagon made by Neave Games

Malang Jan - وطن ژاړي - The Homeland Weeps

Malang Jan's poetry is amongst my favourite and in the wake of 9/11 reflection, I think his words capture the mood of a homeland* that is divided and asks questions of why this is so. I take these two lines from Watan Jaree وطن ژاړي (The Homeland Weeps).

وطن به ژاړي په قيامت زمونږ نيکونو ته

عرض کوي پلورنو ته، زه مو چا ته وم سپارلى؟

Watan ba jaree pa qiyamat zamung nikuna ta
Arz kawee plornoo ta, za mu cha ta wam sparley

On judgement day our homeland will weep before our grandfathers,
We ask the sellers, who handed us over?

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On this very day, back in 2001, the Americans felt wounded following the attacks that the world now knows about and invaded Afghanistan shortly after. In 2009, I can safely say that the American plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan is in a state of confusion. Osama Bin Laden seems to have dropped off the agenda and instead Americans and NATO have strained relationships with the people on the ground. Crowds, at weddings, funerals and prayers are vulnerable to missile attacks from the skies and US intentions are met with a genuine scepticism. What happened to the confident promises of development and reconstruction?

The Taleban, never fully dismantled, emerge from the shadows as a "credible" resistance force. That the Americans don't admit that they are losing the battle in the Pashtoon heartlands troubles me. The Americans are not the only ones wounded. Today, the Pashtoons are being bombed back to the stone-age, our supplies are interrupted, we are forced to flee our homes, our tribal leaders are slowly being killed off and we are punished in a manner that the British colonialists called Collective Punishment (i.e. it's indiscriminate - we're all blamed for the militants).

Eric Margolis calls this a war on Pashtoons. Malang Jan Baba was right - who sold us out?

*In much of his poetry, Malang Jan writes about Pashtunistan.

Roles, Rules and Responsibility

I was asked to compose a little poem yesterday as part of a Professional Development session. I was given the first line "There used to be chaos ... " and had to take it from there.

This isn't master class poetry by any means, and in all honesty, I would probably feel that we're still not too far from the "Routines were discussed" bit, but here I share a moment that captures something of what my vocation is about:

There used to be chaos when I came to this school,
I walked into class and I couldn't see rules,
There was fighting and running, did anyone care?
The VP; the teachers did nothing, but stare.

Routines were discussed, and progress was slow,
But with training and modelling, procedures did flow.
We now have a school where everyone smiles,
A journey we've travelled, we've come miles and miles.

Khyber Zalmay - خيبر ځلمى

The classical rubâb is the national instrument of Afghanistan and is synonymous with the sound of Pashto music. Here, Homayun Sakhi plays an instrumental rendition of the Pashto classic, Mung Yu Da Khyber Zalmay موږ يو خيبر ځلمى (We are the Sons/Youth of the Khyber), sung originally by Ustad Khyal Mohammad from the early days of Pashto cinema, and recently covered by Zeek Afridi (who incidentally, is on my Facebook list of friends!).

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Who is Boo Radley?

Literary classics are classics because they've made a certain mark, but, usually I confess to not always enjoying the books that the world, in some form or other, seems to follow. (Perhaps this is changing, but) ordinarily, I've tended to avoid the crowd telling me what I should think. This book, therefore, presents itself as something of a surprise discovery.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a modern literary classic. I never did read the book at school, had never read a review and knew little of the classical film that it was turned into. All of which is a relief because the book would have had a different set of attachments altogether. I happened to pick up the book, quite by accident, at a bookstore here in Abu Dhabi last year. I began reading it before summer, but forgot to pack it when I travelled. I then resumed the remainder of the book on my return.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a real warm story of growing up in Alabama in the 1930s, seen from the perspective of a (white) child. The moral of the story? Never be too quick to judge ... you never know a person until you've walked in their shoes. The children in the book, Scout and Jem have an inspirational father in the shape of Atticus Finch who remains a level headed character throughout - he stands up there as a fine role model for both his children and his community. The racial tensions are captured by Harper and dealt with sensitively - Tom Robinson, the (black) man on trial becomes a fall guy, though as Atticus points out, not the first in America's history.

Boo Radley, is an interesting character - he lives only doors away - the children's imagination about him only adds to the rumours of his isolation. Harper Lee never wrote much beyond this book after it was published in 1960, and whilst Boo Radley turns out to be a hero in the end, he is never seen again by Scout and Jem never gets to thank him. We never, as a result get to know him and continues to remain a mystery that Harper, never quite solves for us.

Favourite quotes?
1. "Atticus told me to delete the adjectives and I'd have the facts."
2. "Atticus had said it was the polite thing to talk to people about what they were interested in, not about what you were interested in."

... Magic Carpet Ride ...

I'm quite partial to carpets and cushions - but I reckon that comes from being Afghan. I'd like to broaden my collection, but here's a sample of a few carpets and rugs that I've acquired over the past couple of years ... enjoy the slideshow ...

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