Kabul's Garbage-to-Green Man

It sure ain't the prettiest town in the world; it is dusty, grimy and overwhelmingly brown. You could bore everyone witless reading out a shopping list of the amenities Kabul lacks, and somewhere tucked into that endless list would be green space.

Combine that need with a one-man hurricane named Walid Tamim and you have the Civic Initiatives Program. He has taken his deep commitment to Afghanistan and is turning it to what he does best: haranguing, cajoling and exciting people about volunteering.

Walid has been working within communities creating green spaces that are safe and sustainable. The CIP has already created green parks -- the latest is in the Khair Khan area of Kabul, which for 45 years has been used as the neighborhood garbage dump. Walid organized the tones of rubbish to be removed, earth fertilized, smoothed over and prepared. Four hundred trees and hundreds of flowers and grass patches have been planted by volunteers from the community, who also built the fences and installed a watering system.

"As a post war country people desperately need psychotherapy and these green and clean parks are one of the items that could help them," says Walid. "Children were using the garbage centers as their playgrounds, now green parks can be perfect and healthy playing stations for them."

I should disclose that I have known Walid for nearly a decade. When I met him, he was a media fixer (there is none better) and a full time medical student. He is now qualified as a pediatrician and is studying for a Masters in Economics from Edinburgh University.

But that's not all he is.

Geoff Thompson, a seasoned foreign correspondent who spent several years based in South Asia, says, "I never expected to meet one of the most stand-up guys I know in a country like Afghanistan. Walid is this strong, honest, decent, loyal person. He's also as funny as hell. He could choose to leave his basket-case of a country, but he remains committed to it till the end."

Walid credits his time as a media fixer - and the opportunities it gave him to travel freely when others were not able - to opening his eyes to what was possible in his country. He saw, as have many people who believe in the essence of volunteering, that people really want to help, but they just do not know how.

"Every individual Afghan I noticed was a peace lover, environment lover, education lover. He or she wanted to enjoy life and do something for the future of Afghanistan, they wanted their children play in peace and in clean areas, have higher education and so on.....but they were never given this opportunity to fulfill their dreams."

Walid says that it's pretty much up to community mobilization to create a new cityscape of Kabul, because lord knows, waiting for the government to pretty up the city would be like waiting for Godot. With his undoubted charm, persuasive abilities and negotiating skills he's turning the Civic Imitative Program into a volunteering tour de force of local residents.

"It is the first thing people can see as an example of their own hand and it makes them believe in their capacity and capability," says Walid of creating neighborhood parks. "Greening (brings) results quickly comparing to other project which take time in showing the blossoms."

The Civic Intitiave Program can be found on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=67289631812