Comment

Stones Into Schools

Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of West Vancouver Memorial Library.
Feb 12, 2012sambert rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I gave stars as there are some good descriptions of people and that area, having lived and travelled there. Greg seems to have a great adventure spirit, and no doubt did some great things in an exceptional environment. Well done. He got a good part of proper development practice right (Listen and make sure you have the local’s wish behind you). His descriptions (some hilarious maybe to those who haven’t lived in such conditions) are excellent, & I have no problem believing their veracity. I have had similar experiences, though maybe not quite to that extent. So again, thank you Greg, in letting the world know how life is like in some parts of the world. But I took stars off, as the book give an odour of propaganda, and much semi disguised self-congratulation. That he may have borrowed some stories, or embroidered a bit, that’s fine, but on a few occasions it’s unbelievable, and makes zero sense. This was, in my view, written (or heavily edited) for the US audience, and distortions are evident, to the extent that sometimes, it can discredit the whole. Sad in my view. It was a bit surprising that school “buildings” seemed very much up-front, (as is the emphasis on girls) and sustainability, well … If you pay for everything, yes, it goes fast, but may not last that long. What is less clear is how these buildings stood up to time, including what teachers were still there and the amount of kids attending regularly. Apparently a lot of schools are deserted. True or not ? Greg was not a NGO manager, and hence achieved lots more. Well done. However, for example, he keeps referring to his board, and when you dig a bit deeper, the board is pretty thin (deception ?) and there are only 2 years reports published ( 2004 and 2010) on the CAI website, the 2nd does raise a few eyebrows in the finance section. If there was a scandal etc in April 2011, the 2010 report was then published only in October 2011, and the report of Sept 2011 is not yet published 4 months later ? Sad that he did not surround himself with some wiser people in an area where was weak. I quite understand that when you have to carry “bricks” of cash around, western accounting principle may seem somewhat weird (I have done the same in remote areas, so I know what he is talking about), but when revenue-donations of 20+ million $ are present, some precautions are needed. The CAI website now states that Greg is no longer on the board and will be concentrating on relations, hopefully in Afghanistan & Pakistan. That is great. Maybe the euphoria of having many US presentations got to him, and reality started to have 2 faces? I wish Greg well, and that he continues to have a fulfilling life.