|
|
Summer 2003 In this issuePresident's Letter: Welcome to Tajik Visitors BSDC Sends 59 Computers, Clothing, Software to its Sister City Cyber Café Gift: BDSC to Partner with Citrex Systems Pharmaca Lends its Support for the Cyber Café Flatirons Elementary School 5th Grade Lends Hand to Cyber Café Effort New Friends of the Teahouse Group Forms Plant Asia Event Summary of a Recent Dissertation in Tajikistan March Tajik New Year Celebration: A Day Full of Dance, Food, and Fun |
||
BDSC President's Letter |
|||
|
Greetings to all! Since our last newsletter, we have met with and hosted several Tajik visitors here in Boulder. During the Boulder Creek Festival, the City worked with us to plan a fifth anniversary and rededication ceremony for the Boulder-Dushanbe Teahouse. Mayor Will Toor, City Councilman and BDSC board member Don Mock and Tajik ambassador to the United States, Hamrokhon Zaripov were a part of the ceremony. Ambassador Zaripov is the first ambassador from Tajikistan to our country. The new embassy is ready to address economic questions and to assist US business people. The embassy will also be able to help us process visas to Tajikistan. Early in July we hosted three Tajiks traveling across the United States under the sponsorship of the Department of State. Our visitors were Rustam Latipov, first Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Environmental Protection; Saodat Kulieva, Deputy Director of the Tajikaviator Agency; and Musharaf Khasanova, Chief of the Department of Foreign Tourism and Commerce. Their time in Boulder was to learn more about tourism and how to promote it in Tajikistan. Kholikjon, son of Mirpulat Mirakhmatov, one of the two woodcarvers of the ceiling in the Teahouse, recently visited Boulder. Mirpulat passed away this last year. He is remembered with warmth by all Boulderites who knew him. Holik saw his father's work for the first time. Our progress in raising the funds to build the Cyber cafe in Dushanbe is going well. We are about a third of the way there. Helping us tell our story to the citizens of this area is the public relations company CSA Public Relations of Denver, (Colleen Hackley and Cynthia Storer). They have been interested in our project, and have provided pro bono time to successfully generate great media exposure for us. Barb Perin represented us at the Sister City International conference this summer in St. Louis. SCI is extremely interested in our project, the Dushanbe Cyber cafe, and Barb was able to make some important contacts. We are a featured Sister City International project under the category of technology and communications. This is what we are doing. A flyer produced by SCI says, "As they carry their people-to-people relationship to cyber space, . . Dushanbe community center as a place where residents, organizations, business and governments can come together, end their isolation, and use technology to promote ideas and partnerships throughout the world." Coming up: A television crew will be here from September 20th through the 23rd. A Tajik cameraman and journalist along with a student and journalist who will serve as their interpreter will spend this time interviewing Tajiks living in the area, families, business persons, students. Accompanying them will be Lee Lederer, US Department of State escort and producer. These interviews will then be aired in Tajikistan. I want to express a special thanks to Mrs. Jean Dubofsky, Mr. and Mrs. Gary Meyers, and Mr. and Mrs. Keven Kelly who through their generosity have made it possible for the City of Dushanbe to become an international city member of the Sister Cities International. Our annual meeting will be in November. You will be receiving details later this fall. Become a member of our group if you are not already. Our work is exciting! Simply call our number, 303-444-9004 and leave your name and number. Our membership chairman, Mary Barnett will get right back to you. Have a great rest of the summer. Jancy Campbell, President |
|||
BSDC Sends 59 Computers, Clothing, Software to its Sister CityBoulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities has sent its shipment of 59 refurbished Pentium computers and other humanitarian goods on its way to Dushanbe. It is on its way by ship and then overland to Dushanbe for arrival in late September. Local officials will receive and distribute the computers, clothing, and hand-knitted items to schools and orphanages. Eight Boulder area and international non-profit organizations have teamed up with BDSC to bring this project to fruition. The Jared Polis Foundation (22 units), AutoDesk in Denver (13), and an anonymous donor company (26) donated the computer systems. One computer remained in Boulder to support the Cyber Café fundraising and a second was donated to the Denver Osimi Center, which promotes the scientific and cultural heritage of Central Asia. The Colorado Materials Exchange (COMEX) played an important "match-maker" role for securing the AutoDesk and the anonymous donation. Eco-Cycle donated additional computer cables. AutoDesk also donated a copy of AutoCAD LT2002 though the Gifts In Kind program. It will be used to communicate and share planning with the Tajik architects involved in the Dushanbe Cyber Café project and provide training in software to support other development needs. The Compassionate Stitchers group knitted several sweaters and other clothing items for children in Dushanbe. Adult and childrens used clothing rounds out the shipment. Khujand Computer Technologies, an Indiana non-profit founded by a former member of BDSC, is paying shipping costs through a grant from infoDev (a World Bank organization). They are developing the first Tajik language operating system (Linux), as a first step to bringing native language application and training software to Tajikistan. Counterpart Humanitarian Assistance Program (CHAP) will facilitate the shipment from their headquarters in Washington, D.C. and will manage the distribution and monitoring of the computers and other items once they arrive. The Dushanbe-based Non-Government humanitarian organization Central Asian Development Agency (CADA) will also help. Orphanages, hospitals, and local non-profit organizations will use the computers to modernize and connect to e-mail. With less than 5000 Internet users in the country of 6 million, BDSC is working with other organizations to bring resources and connectivity through projects like this shipment and the Dushanbe Cyber Café project. Cyber Café Gift: BDSC to Partner with Citrex SystemsBDSC is in the process of developing a partnership with Citrix Systems through the Digital Development Partnership (www.digitaldevelopment.org) to support the $80K technology portion of the Cyber Café budget. Citrix selected the Cyber Café project as its next seed project through BDSCs participation in the Sister Cities International Sustainable Development Network. Traver Gruen-Kennedy, Chief Strategist and Vice President, Strategy at Citrix Systems and Board member of DDP, recently met with Richard Varnes, City of Boulder Sister Cities representative and later with Barb Perin at the Sister Cities International conference. Mr. Gruen-Kennedy hopes to join BDSC on their next trip to Dushanbe to gain an understanding of the state of technology in Tajikistan. The mission of the Digital Development Partnership is to optimize the social and economic impact of information and communications technology initiatives for underserved communities by enabling global access to affordable application service provider (ASP) computing capabilities. A description of the other ongoing project can be found at http://www.citrix.com/site/NE/news/news.asp?newsID=8611 Pharmaca Lends its Support for the Cyber CaféThe Pharmaca strores of Boulder stepped up to the plate for BDSC in July by placing donation boxes in its stores in support of the Gift committee. $122 dollars was donated by customers and that amount was matched by the company. Thank you very much to our friends at Pharmaca! Flatirons Elementary School 5th Grade Lends Hand to Cyber Café EffortThe Flatirons Elementary School 5th grade class presented an all school talent show on May 15 and 16. Money raised was donated to the soon to be built Cyber Cafe. 5th graders worked very hard during lunch recess and after school getting their acts just right. Acts included dancing, fiddling, piano playing and comic skits. The goal of the presentation was to educate the audience about the CyberCafe project and other interesting facts about Dushanbe. New Friends of the Teahouse Group FormsMary Barnett, Member Chair and Board Member, and Lemoine Dowd, Membership Breakfast Chair, have been holding new member breakfasts since July. Six new members joined Mary and Lemoine for a free breakfast at the Teahouse, where they are introduced the BDSC mission and an opportunity to make new friends in Boulder. 14 other new members have joined BDSC as a result of the groups efforts. The group, which calls themselves Friends of the Teahouse, will report directly to the BDSC board. They will have a budget approved by the board. They will be composed of volunteers who are members of the BDSC who will take on various projects, all for the purpose of increasing membership in and awareness of BDSC. Mary said that they plan a number of social and or fundraising events. The whole idea is to get an energetic group of people together to meet new friends and have fun supporting BDSC and especially the Cyber Café gift project, Mary said. Ideally, we would like to be a model for other people to start groups with specific goals in mind. Then we could bring all groups together for large functions. The more people involved, the better. Mary reports that the current membership in BDSC is122. Plant Asia EventCynthia Butler, along with Ann and Andy Key, shared a booth with the Silk Road Foundation on April 26 during the Denver Botanic Gardens PlantAsia opening. Cynthia, Ann and Andy recently joined BDSC and have brought their enthusiasm and interest in our mission of building friendship with Dushanbe to several events where they volunteered. Their efforts introduced the Teahouse/Cyber Café exchange and our mission to Denver-area plant lovers and raised funds through the sale of craft items and donations. PlantAsia captures the diverse and threatened flora of Asias steppe region, and solidifies Denver Botanic Gardens as the worlds leader in the collection and display of steppe climate flora. Summary of a Recent Dissertation in TajikistanJonathan Zartman recently submitted a doctoral dissertation to his committee at the University of Denver. This dissertation attempts to explain the current stability in Tajikistan, in contrast to the common pattern in other countries that return to violence within five years after a negotiated settlement. He tested three perspectives from social science on social mobilization: · One says that people make a rational calculation that the benefits that they will gain from fighting, combined with the probability of success, are great enough to justify the damage and losses that they will suffer in the fight. · Another says that people fight when the government abuses their basic human rights to security, identity and recognition. · The third says that people only fight when they have leaders who are able to construct a world-view that defines problems and creates expectations for the consequences of social action. This research finds that the first two perspectives only give a partial explanation of one side of the situation and that the third provides a more persuasive and complete understanding. In Tajikistan, a parallel, informal "Sustained Dialogue" process has stimulated the development of an indigenous civil society that is more vigorous than others anywhere else in Central Asia. The cultural intellectuals of Tajikistan are promoting an image of Tajik identity that supports tolerance and pluralism. The growth of civil society provides a means by which cultural nationalists can sustain themselves while the country remains in dire poverty. The sustained dialogue process provided inspiration and a mechanism for their efforts to promote values of greater human freedom. He concluded that support for cultural autonomy is just as important as meeting basic human needs or altering the incentives and opportunities in the path of peace. He reports that his experiences in Tajikistan during the 2000-2001 academic year, and dissertation research, have convinced him that the people who will promote stability and liberty in Tajikistan need and want greater contact with the rest of the world. The Cyber Café project, in helping Tajiks in Dushanbe to become more closely connected with the people of Boulder will strengthen the hand of those who promote peace and tolerance in their struggle against those who want isolation and sharp restrictions on human freedom. Biographical note: Jonathan Zartman taught at the Technological University of Tajikistan from September 2000 to June 2001. He will be in Dushanbe again from September 12 to November 2, 2003 to interview participants in the peace negotiations to confirm the propositions of his dissertation. His son, (BDSC board member) Jeremiah, studied in Dushanbe from June through August 2001 at the Russian-Tajik Slavonic University, where he met Vera Ahmedova. Vera had just completed her studies, graduating with highest honors majoring in English and is a skilled translator, especially in medical work. During the 2002-2003 academic year he studied Russian in Khabarovsk, Russia where Vera had moved to care for a dying relative. They were married August 2 in Colorado Springs and have now established their home in the family housing at CU Boulder while Jeremy completes his final year of undergraduate studies in engineering physics. He can be contacted at Zartman@Colorado.edu or (303) 786-4890. March Tajik New Year Celebration: A Day Full of Dance, Food, and FunBoulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities once again celebrated the Persian New Year, Navruz, on the afternoon of Sunday, March 23, 2003, with a free, public festival at the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse and adjacent plaza. The citizens of Tajikistan celebrate Navruz each spring with music and dance, stories and special dishes. This year, for the fifth time, Boulder-Dushanbe Sister Cities celebrated our ties with a culture halfway around the world with a similar flair. Events this year included Tajik and Central Asian dancing, childrens activities, a poetry reading and stories from Central Asia. Tajik music and food was served, and information was provided about the people and culture of Tajikistan. In Tajikistan at this time, a ceremonial table is covered with a cloth called a sofreh and set with seven dishes, each beginning with the Persian letter sinn (s in English). The seven dishes are sabzebh (sprouts), seeb (apple), seer (garlic), senjed (jujube fruit), samanou (wheat-based pudding), somagh (sumac) and serkeh (vinegar). Each dish represents an angelic herald of life rebirth, health, happiness, prosperity, joy, patience and beauty. In addition, a candle is lit for each child in the family and place near a mirror, representing the images and reflections of creation. As part of the celebration, Boulder Teahouse Executive Chef Lenny Martinelli and Head Chef Latham Hill hosted a multi-course Tajik and Persian Feast that evening. Ten dollars of each ticket were donated to the Boulder-Dushanbe Reciprocal Gift Fund. |
|||