Most international staff of IOM have left the country and all the national staff went home at lunch time today. I have Pavarotti blaring and am trying to catch up with work. It is strange. Until I am involved in a bomb blast it is not real. If the suspected car bomb goes off I will probably be blown across the room but in the quiet of the office with opera this seems very unlikely. Security is getting very tight. It is based on general rules that the security officers, mostly ex military men, follow without much logic. It has been very quiet over the last two weeks which has caused a lot of speculation by some that it will blow up soon and by others that it will stay calm.

In the last five months I have started 62 projects including bridges, libraries, water sources, poultry breeding and human rights courses. This took a lot of lying to our donor, USAID. The director of Women's Affairs is fully involved in this project means in reality the greedy cow has no interest at all except what she can get out of it, The department of Rural Development will actively monitor this project means they have no money and are begging us for payment to be involved. The contractor has interacted with the community means he has pissed off local men who are threatening to blow him up. A local commander is interested in the project means he has threatened to pull up the water pipes unless he is paid. Next I am introducing solar lamps to Afghanistan and supplying books and equipment for the setting up of provincial libraries. Change is not going to come fast here and perhaps it is better if it does not. Most sustainable change seems to be evolutionary with the assistance of activists pushing it along and waiting for the rest to catch up.

The political campaigns have been almost non existent. The presidential candidates messages have been mostly vote for me because I am of the same ethnic group as you. There have only been a few rallies and quite a lot of posters. Some candidates admit they have no idea how to campaign and those that do risk their lives.

I am likely to be in lock down (confined to my house) for the next couple of days. After this the speculation will probably be over. My ducks do not seem to care.
As I sit typing this at 14.20 local time on Thursday 7th October there is a bomb scare 100 metres up the road.