From Hamburg with Love

119 impressive pages on the political economy of the aid system of Afghanistan from 2002-2007. I've spent the past few days reading the PhD dissertation of a woman I’m becoming to admire more each day.

I'm always in awe of anyone who has nearly perfect or absolute command of a foreign language in terms of understanding, speaking, and writing. Written entirely in English, I do not have the words to express how amazed I am with her ability to communicate the difficult context of state-building in post-conflict Afghanistan interspersed with themes on good governance, democracy assistance, aid effectiveness, and the overall development cooperation climate depicting the disconnect among the donors’ domestic constituencies, the multi-layer/contractor implementing agencies, the central government, and the rural communities to which aid must reach.

It is almost like a summary of what I have been striving to do the past ten years except the regional cooperation part, which is a little bit more complicated to tie in an in-depth study such as that even if  Afghan history has largely been shaped by the powers that controlled its regional neighbors.

I’m here sitting in a warm office in Volksdorf, supposedly one of the wealthier neighborhoods of already rich Hamburg – the city with the highest per capita income and highest concentration of millionaires in Germany. Sometimes aid efforts must be ‘backstopped’ from this comfort, far away from the communities intended to benefit from the help.

Yet here I am also away from my comfort zone. Or maybe not.

Hamburg reminds me of my three favorite places: Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Stockholm. It’s culturally diverse but not as shocking to me as Rotterdam even if it has the second largest port in Europe. Hamburg has plenty of bridges, rivers, and canals. It’s also cosmopolitan and old at the same time. I saw very few people wear Jack Wolfskin jackets even if there’s a very big store near the Rathaus. Although I do not expect much from Asian restaurants, I can pretty much eat everything here.  There’s a lot of meat and a lot of seafood. (Even a store that sells dulce de leche but no alfajores.) If only there were crabs, I’d be very, very happy. But who needs to be very, very happy? Being happy alone is enough.

It’s just been almost 3 weeks since I moved here doing what I enjoy doing most – development cooperation in my favorite continent working on my region – Asia. Just what I always tell everyone: “I couldn’t ask for more.” Well, perhaps if my friends and loved ones can all be here too (even for a visit) but that is asking too much.

I was sitting in Cape Town, specifically during a class on public policy and reform management at the University of Western Cape thinking, “this scholarship was God’s way of reminding me that His plans are better than mine.” And He continues to surprise me every single day through the people He sends my way.

And for that, I am very thankful.