Agia Napa

Angus in full flight

Last weekend we headed for Agia Napa, which is about a 45 minute drive from Nicosia.  Agia Napa used to be a small and quaint fishing village before it was 'discovered' by developers who have now transformed it into a resort style town where you can see the best and worst of tourist development.  Picture an old fishing harbour, big resorts, party boats, lots of restaurants (some tasteful, some not so tasteful.......for example a Flinstones-themed cafe that looks like Barney Rubble's house complete with big sign 'Yabba Nappa Doo'), lots of tanned Russians and badly sunburnt Brits, nightclubs on the sand, and you start to get the picture.  The beaches are stunning though.  All sand and limestone cliffs, not unlike parts of Western Australia.  Agia Napa is very much a party town, described by some as the new 'Ibiza'.  The town is taken over by a large clubbing crowd from Europe who move in for a few months in summer.    

Monica came down with us for the day, and Bob and Meaden also, so it was very much an extended family trip.   The kids loved going out on a boat called the Yellow Submarine (complete with theme song.......very Agia Napa), and were able to swim just off some lovely limestone caves.  Angus enjoyed jumping off the boat from some precarious heights, and even Sam made it into the ocean.  It was Monica's first time on a boat, so a great experience for her.   Things are really starting to warm up here now - high 30's or 40+ each day, so trips to the coast will be a regular part of surviving the summer!

Bob reliving his days as the McWilliams monk at a
monastery in Cyprus (actually, they had a dress code
and anyone wearing shorts had to wear a robe!)

The long summer school holiday begins

School has just finished this week, so the kids are looking forward to a 12 week break.  Yes that's right, you heard correct......12 long weeks!  Sarah is not sure whether to celebrate with the kids or cry!  Suffice to say, there's been some detailed planning go into how to spend the summer.  It's already been hot here, and we're told it will only get hotter.  One of the interesting challenges for us is how we get the kids into the groove of having a siesta each day.  The place virtually stops in the summer afternoons from around 2pm until 4 or 5pm.  This makes for some interesting dynamics when our kids refuse to sleep and want to swim in the pool instead.  One of the things we're learning is that Cypriots love their siesta, and are none too impressed when they are awoken by the noisy Australian kids living next door!  So this is our current challenge, with the incentive for the kids that they can stay up until 11pm like the rest of Nicosia through the hot summer months.  We'll see how things go on this front!

We've enjoyed welcoming Bob and Meaden (Sarah's parents) who arrived for a 3 week visit last weekend.   It's lovely for the kids to have their grandparents around, and Bob and Meaden are quickly adapting to life in Nicosia (including the obligatory experience of getting lost on a recurrent basis while driving). They had an interesting introduction on their first day in Cyprus when they joined us for a kids birthday party on the Turkish side of Nicosia.  Passports in hand, we crossed into the north and spent a few hours with a lovely Turkish Cypriot family for their daughter's 8th birthday (she is in Angus' class at school).  Whilst in Cyprus, Bob and Meaden are planning to see a number of areas in the country, and last weekend we did a trip up to the Troodos Mountains, which are still cool and temperate at this time of year.  Tomorrow we're heading for Agia Napa, where we'll hopefully take a boat trip and swim at some of the nearby beaches. 

Otherwise all well with the Piper clan this week.  Hope all is fine in your part of the world.  A few more recent pics of life here below.

Gus and his friend Rashid at an end of school concert

St Hilarion Castle near Kyrenia

Village of Lefkara

Preschool for Sam

This is for you S.K!  The Sat & Wed market place in town.

Farmagusta gate in Nicosia old town

A thousand splendid suns

“Every street of Kabul is enthralling to the eye

Through the bazaars, caravans of Egypt pass

One could not count the moons that shimmer on her roofs

Or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls”

Saib-e-Tabriza  17^th Century Iran poet

I’m writing this tonight from Afghanistan, where I’ve spent the last week visiting staff and projects in Kabul and Herat.  Afghanistan is a confronting place to visit, a so-called ‘failed state’ in every sense of the word.  The  statistics tell a very hard story:

• 60% of the population lives on less than $2 per day
• The second highest infant mortality rate in the world (including mothers)
• One child in every five born in Afghanistan dies before reaching the age of 5
• Six in every ten Afghan children are stunted
• Less than one in two Afghan girls enrol in primary school

 The first experience of Afghanistan comes in the rapid circling aircraft descent into Kabul (aircraft approach this way due to the mountainous topography surrounding the city).  At first glimpse the city below looks like some sort of alien landscape.  Ancient mud houses and walled compounds, dust and towering mountains everywhere. The airport is highly militarized, UN aircraft and helicopters come and go, along with the constant movement of coalition forces aircraft.  Security around Kabul airport is something to behold, and the experience of clearing customs, collecting bags and heading to the domestic terminal for the one hour flight to Herat is not for the faint hearted. The sight of many women in full burkas in the arrivals area is also somewhat confronting.  Welcome to Afghanistan…..

 World Vision has been operating in Afghanistan for the past 10 years.  The main operations are based out of Herat, with other offices located in Ghor and Badghis Provinces.  There are currently about 200 national staff in country, and 5 expatriates.  In the past the program was significantly larger, but the conclusion of several large food aid grants has resulted in recent downsizing.  Key program areas focus on maternal and child health, education and agricultural livelihoods.   The program staff includes a range of qualified doctors and other professionals, along with a full cross section of disciplines and skills.  They are a great team who work under conditions that are at best challenging and often extreme at times.  An short clip outlining some of the issues in Afghanistan and some of the work World Vision is engaged with can be viewed here.

The staff house in Herat.  Sand bags for blast protection.

The problems in Afghanistan are complex and seem at times to be intractable.  In recent history, the country has had some sort of active conflict present since the late 1970’s with the Soviet invasion.  Security within the country has deteriorated significantly over the past few years, and this continues to present a major challenge to NGO’s and UN agencies operating within the country.  Operating safely and effectively in Afghanistan is complex, and the World Vision program has to implement a range of extraordinary security measures to manage risks effectively.    

A drive down any street in Herat or Kabul is a sensory overload, with the maelstrom of people, families on motorbikes, old Afghan tribal men, small children on bikes or on foot crossing busy roads, women in burkas, street sellers.  A week ago in Herat there were two suicide bombings in the city centre, but as in many of these places, commerce and trade quickly resume and people are soon back on the streets.  Difficult to fathom from a western mindset and perspective, but unfortunately all too common in Afghanistan.   

Entry to the team house.  Thick walls for blast protection.

It’s hard to come to a place like Afghanistan and not be challenged about issues of suffering, poverty, conflict and injustice.   Many of the staff, community members and children I’ve met this week have known nothing but conflict since they were born 5, 10, 20 or 30 years ago. And yet in the midst of this there is hope.  It seems that people in places like Afghanistan often have a remarkable resilience, and that the darker the situation seems, the brighter the light when someone shows love, compassion and hope.  I’ve seen this in many of the people I’ve met this week, and been humbled by it. 

  

I was running this morning on a treadmill within the WV staff compound (definitely no option to run on the streets), and the U2 song “Yahweh” came onto the ipod. It’s a song that has always challenged me in my faith.  Anyway, listening to it this morning, I was struck by how apt the chorus is for a place like Afghanistan, where the injustice and despair can seem to overwhelm, but perhaps a better future awaits.  The chorus of the song says:

“Yahweh, Yahweh, always pain before a child is born

Yahweh, Yahweh, why the dark before the dawn?

What no man can own, no man can take

Take this heart, take this heart and make it break”.

Someone once said ‘let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God’, and this is a good description of my feelings after visiting Afghanistan this week.  Much to process as I head back towards Dubai and Cyprus over the coming days.

World Vision community
project area

The main mosque in Herat.  5000 years old

Main street of Herat

Midwife training program

Inside the staff compound

Herat fort

UN aircraft on the ground in Kabul

Mosque miniarets in Herat