Readers – Two reasons why I haven’t blogged for some time now:
i) I have expended a good portion of my blogging time, energy and creativity writing for the Juhudi internal blog. My post received three “Sawa Kipisas” (the highest possible rating), just as high as the other serious posts on that blog. OK … I must admit though – one of those was from me for myself … but still, far exceeding my expectations. Corporate blogging or memo writing is new ground for me – hard to balance “folksy” story telling with “top down” vision and direction setting, especially when one is trying to influence change in a relatively flat and open culture (which I like).
ii) These are tumultuous times – I am travelling back home (to Islamabad from Nairobi), literally writing out of the Emirates Business class lounge at the Dubai International Airport. Life decisions (about how I spend the next 12 months) absolutely have to be made now. MBA applications need to be taken very seriously. Nairobi has emptied out after the summer, and there are too many missing people and too much nostalgia to make that city a happy place or situation to have just been in or think about going back to.
Plus, on my way out of Nairobi, Kenyan Immigration tried to arrest me again (third time now). I dealt with them with a bit of a flippant and carefree attitude. I just didn’t have the patience to deal with them as I did, or at least tried to, with the very first folks at Nyayo House (please read my very first post on this blog – the one which started it all). Still, whatever was left of my patience and of my soft skills prevailed, and I got out of the situation with just a few pleasant arguments.
Back in Dubai, albeit only at the airport, I am realizing that my love and admiration for the city is not “significant”. Looking out at the skyline as we were landing at night, I felt that the city was familiar, but I did not feel very connected to it (even though I have been defending and promoting it quite a bit – The contrarian that I am, I like countering stereotypical perspectives on Dubai). I will be making a proper stopover here in two weeks, on my way back to Nairobi, but I suspect that it will be more about the people I have left behind, rather than the city or the sights. The fact that the WiFi password at the Emirates Business Class Lounge is “FLYEKA380”, speaks to the obvious grandeur it aspires to. For me personally, this part of its culture is a bit of a turn-off. The “tourism video” Emirates displayed as we were landing showed this grandeur and decadence. But the “organic” beauty of Nairobi feels so much more like home – the church spires, the dark and heavy smoke from the busses, and the narrow roads with their age old trees. Still, there’s the fact that this is the only place close to home, with some form of stability and professional opportunity. Home is very fast failing as a state – I wonder if it will be safe at all to return to in a few years.
And this bring me to my final point – A good part of the reason why I am travelling back home is to find some kind of courage and inspiration, and to do some hard due diligence, on starting a social enterprise – more specifically a Microfinance Institution with a kick-ass model. If the right people are excited, and one or two tangible pieces of the model can be put in place (e.g. livestock insurance), it’s a go. I have the story line, a bit of the professional credentials and experience, and even much of the start-up capital. But, how am I supposed to feel upbeat about this when the front page headline on “The Gulf Today”, the newspaper I involuntarily received on the plane reads – “26 Pak soldiers die”? As the story goes, a bunch of militants crossed over the Durand line (the “artificial” border between Afghanistan and Pakistan carved out by the British) into a part of Pakistan today, which had previously seen relatively little conflict. They attacked a set of army and police and check-posts, killing 26 Pakistan Army soldiers and 10 police personnel. Surprise … They have ravaged 36 families. Kids who are orphaned – who will never see their fathers again. Fathers and mothers, who will have to live through the day they will have to bury their own sons. And an apathetic local news audience (populace), tired of seeing this for the past 5 years or so – I read somewhere recently that Pakistanis don’t take terrorism that seriously anymore and only perceive it to be the 4th most important issue in the country (after corruption, poor governance and inflation).
This raises the question as to whether this is the kind of place I wish to spend the next two weeks in, let alone one to three years. I am seriously upset and I seem to be a minority in being seriously upset. I am trying to swim against the tide. I fully anticipate that religious rituals this Eid will include a mullah spewing out some serious hatred (this happened last year at Eid Al Fitr in the local mosque close to my parents’ home), and that no one will be unfazed by this. But I have come off the plane after watching “Invictus”, hence the confusion. I need to draw inspiration from the actions of Mandela, which helped so radically alter the course of post-apartheid South Africa. Is there hope still? Is this at least worth a few years of personal investment? Let’s fly into Islamabad with an open mind. Let’s leave the decision open still. Happy Eid everybody!
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