Canadian Voices in Afghanistan
Q&A with Melissa Rudderham, Program Specialist, ELECT Project - UNDP Afghanistan
Melissa Rudderham, Program Specialist,
ELECT Project - UNDP Afghanistan
What is your job in Afghanistan?
I work for the United Nations ELECT Project, providing assistance to Afghan elections. The project channels international funding to the electoral authorities, which makes it— in dollar terms— the largest development project in the country. I work primarily within the management team, providing planning and coordination support.
Why did you decide to come to Afghanistan?
In mid-2007 I was eager to find meaningful field experience, and since Afghanistan was on everybody’s lips it seemed the logical place to go. I have been in Kabul ever since.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Elections in Afghanistan remain quite high profile, which means our work is never far from the front page. As a communications professional, it is fascinating to see the back story to a given issue— such as the handling of electoral fraud in 2009— and to subsequently see how it is portrayed to the world by the media. To this day, I find myself correcting friends and former colleagues who characterize the 2009 elections as a bust. In fact, they were successful in many ways, but undoubtedly mired by controversy.
What changes have you seen since you started working in Afghanistan?
Within Kabul, the most noticeable differences are in infrastructure. In 2009 the city started receiving electricity 24/7, which was a huge deal for those of us living off the main power grid— no more cold showers! The same year, a new international airport opened with flights directly to Europe.
There are undoubtedly changes for the worse as well. Attacks within the city have become more dramatic. An attack in October 2009, for instance, killed five UN colleagues. A few months later, in February 2010, a large explosion near the Safi Landmark Hotel kept those of us within earshot on tenterhooks for much of that day. In such circumstances it is difficult to remain optimistic, but on the whole I believe the country is moving forward slowly but surely.
What do you think Canadians should know about Afghanistan that they are not learning from the mainstream media?
Primarily, the portrayal of Afghans in the media is tragically uni dimensional. Afghans, in my experience, are similar to Canadians: they can be kind, compassionate, annoyed, or arrogant the same way individual Canadians are. Some look to the modern world, others want to follow the family trade. Some dress in the most modern fashions while others are more traditional. When media articles say “ Afghans think,” or represent the opinion of one or two Afghans as if they constitute the totality of public opinion, they fail to account for the great diversity of Afghan views on a given topic and can, in cases, be misleading to Canadians. I would like to see a greater emphasis on our common humanity.
