Tag: May 2002

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

The central monk body has begun teaching computer operations to monks
in its bid to electronically archive Bhutan’s rich collection of
Buddhist manuscripts, biographies and historical documents.

Twenty monks of the central monk body recently completed a two-week computer
operations course conducted by the National Technical Training Authority
under its special skills programme. Among the skills taught were using
Dzongkha (the national language) fonts with MS Word, typing, editing and
formatting in Dzongkha, typing pechas (scripts) and using templates
for pechas, printing techniques and an introduction to the internet. With
this training the monks will be able to save all the scripts on computers
using CDs as back up storage. The central monk body has already purchased
twelve computers for the project and will soon buy another eight.

This project was personally initiated and funded by His Holiness the
Je Khenpo, His Holiness contributed Nu 1.8 million (£25,289/$36,815
source http://www.xe.com) to the project.

To start with the Drukpa Kagyued text will be compiled. “Some portions
of the text have been lost”, said Karma Lhendup of the central monk
body, “but we have borrowed the text from Buddhist monasteries in
India and Nepal to fill in the missing bits and make corrections where
necessary.” He added that other rare Buddhist texts, which once
existed in Bhutan but are now lost, will also be borrowed and archived.
Important religious texts of other Buddhist lineages like the Nyingma
tradition will be compiled at a later date.

“When we complete compiling, our archive will be accessible to
the public and those interested in research” said Karma Lhendup.

Keep up to date with news from Bhutan by visiting Bhutan’s national
newspaper online at www.kuenselonline.com

This article was taken from the April 2002 newsletter of The Bhutan Society.
With thanks to Lucy Hornberger and Kevin Brackley from the UK.

Our first speaker was Mark Honigsbaum, whose talk was entitled
The Fever Trail, after his book of the same name, which documents the
discovery of the Cinchone tree (Cascarilla), which was found between 4,000
& 10,000 ft up in Ecuador. This tree provided the cure for malaria
and was brought back to Europe and then planted in other malarial regions
of the world such as India and Indonesia.

Mark’s slides however showed us a trip he made to Ecuador in April
this year. He travelled into the mountains with a guide following an old
treasure hunter’s trail for seven days and a distance of around
30 km’s. His scenic photo’s reflected this stark area that
the sun hardly seems ever to penetrate, the mountains seemed to always
be covered in cloud. As well as the scenery he showed us the revered grave
of an old treasure hunter, where today’s treasure hunters leave
an offering.

Our second speaker was Toby Green whose talk was entitled Travels
in West Africa to Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Toby’s mission
had been to find the Marabout, who are shamens and charm makers who can
reputedly make you invisible with their ju-ju magic! Toby’s slides
were not for the squeamish as they depicted what goes into the making
of the charms, such as parts of black cats and used funeral shrouds.

Toby heard of cases where these charms were used to cure snakebites,
but this did not stop him coming down with malaria! His pictures showed
us the regions green valleys, volcanic cones and waterfalls and scenes
of village life including millet pounding and tea making. We saw a photo
of a “Magic stone” these stones miraculously come back to
the same place even if removed; this has resulted in dead straight roads
taking diversions around them.

Toby did finally meet a Marabout who for a price would make him invisible,
but he wouldn’t divulge whether he managed it, we’ll all have
to read his book, “Meeting the invisible man” to find out.

The next London meeting will be on the June 8th (the second Saturday
due to the golden jubilee bank holiday weekend). Speaking will be Peter
Eltringham — Travelling in the Maya World and Mary Russell
— Travelling around Syria, digressing to Baghdad.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court,
behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the ussualy onfirst
Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will
be back on Saturday 1st September. For more information, you can contact
the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website:
www.globetrotters.co.uk

Where is it? South of France, on the Med

Why would I know it? The French Connection? The Count of Monte
Cristo? Beautiful people in the south of France?

How do I get there? It is possible to fly direct, alternatively,
get into Paris, by plane or train (Eurostar from the UK) and take the
train a grand vitesse (TGV) to cover the 700km from Paris to Marseilles.
It only takes 3 hours!

What’s it like? Old, the Phoenicians landed in the natural
harbour around 600BC, had a bad rep with drugs and immigrants from French
immigrants. Nice harbour with cafes, a castle and a large cathedral on
the hill.

Is it safe? Well, it’s a lot different from the image projected
by the French Connection! No, seriously, like all big cities, you stick
to the good areas at night – there’s been a lot of money pumped
into the city to do it up and make it a really attractive place these
days!

What’s there to do? These days, it’s got good shopping,
vibrant nightlife, try out the bouillabaisse (fish stew), get a tan, mix
with the “beautiful people”, eat well, try out good bars,
visit the ballet or the opera, buy some soap (seriously, a Marseille speciality!)

Take the ferry to the Château d’If, (famous from the Count
of Monte Cristo) from the quai des Belges, otherwise, wander around the
Vieux Port, shop, eat, drink….

Would my mother approve? Um, take her shopping, then for a good
bouillabaisse, keep her away from the railway station, then, yes!

OK, when should I go? It’s a bit windy with the Mistral
during February and March and also October and November. Otherwise, any
time, but maybe avoid August – it’s almost national holiday
time.

Hello Globies!

June 1st is our next meeting. A timely and interesting topic; Afghanistan.
We will NOT have a July meeting due to all of our summer travel plans
and the July 4th holiday. Hope to see you June 1st.

See below for a glimpse into Jason's adventure in Afghanistan.

Travels in Afghanistan August 2000 and August 2001 by Jason Florio When
I journeyed to the Taliban controlled region of Afghanistan in August
2000 it was by default. I was on my way to Kashmir when I got a call to
join a journalist colleague who said, “This [Afghanistan] is where
it is happening”. In August 2001 my Afghan journey to the North eastern
region was fuelled by a need to complete a picture of a divided country.
The North eastern area of the country under the control of the Northern
Alliance (who opposed the Taliban,) was a Shangri-la compared to the Taliban
held region where I constantly felt a great sense of general and personal
paranoia (I was arrested by the Taliban Vice and Virtue police for taking
pictures of a football match, and then being accused of spying by their
military). I wanted to experience Afghan life without the confines of
the extreme Deoband form of Islam practiced by the Taliban.

My first attempt to cross into the Northern Alliance region (2001) from
Pakistan by horseback, disguised as an Afghan woman in a head to toe burqa
failed. After subsequent weeks of waiting. I finally made it in after
landing a flight on an Russian made Northern Alliance helicopter crossing
from Tajikistan into the Panjshir valley, the lair of the legendary “Lion
of the Panjshir”, Commander Massoud. This idyllic valley is the gateway
to the north, and who ever controls it controls the region. Being allowed
to roam freely and shoot photographs without the constant monitoring of
the Taliban was liberating. Working closely with the Afghan Ministry of
Foreign affairs, I was granted permission to photograph on the front line
at Bagram as well as deep in the Panjshir valley where multi-national
Taliban POW's were held. In addition, I also photographed girls'
schools (non-existent in Taliban territory) and fighters en route to the
front line.

While waiting for the Massoud interview I was promised by the Ministry
upon my arrival, I headed deep into the mountains with five Kalashnikov
carrying mujahideen fighters to find the Kuchi nomads. After twenty-two
years of fighting in the country, their life style had changed very little.
They were still camel-riding transients who showed they were virtually
immune to the effects of the war by crossing through the frontline without
hindrance from either side. The Kuchi we encountered greeted us with open
arms, until one of them thought I was trying to photograph his wife. We
were then asked politely to leave in the form of a group of young nomads
palming rocks at us. Before heading to the sandy wastelands of the northwest
and eventually onto our UN flight back to Islamabad, we finally were granted
audience with Massoud, “The Lion of the Panjshir” met us in
his fortified bunker office and gave us forty -five minutes to interview
and photograph him.

Within a week of returning to NYC on Sept the 5th, commander Massound
would be assassinated by Al Qaeda operatives posing as journalist, and
the attacks in the US would indelibly link the US and Afghanistan, finally
giving the Afghan “Silent Majority” a world voice.

New York meetings are held
at The Wings Theater, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington
St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday
of each month. Meetings start promptly at 4:00pm and end at 5:30pm. $10.00
for non-members, $8.00 for members.

Who, you might ask? William Speirs Bruce, let’s call him Bruce,
may not be as famous as other Antarctic explorers, such as Scott and Shackleton,
but he certainly did his bit for Antarctic exploration!

Bruce was from Scotland and headed up the Scottish National Antarctic
Expedition 100 years ago. Bruce wanted a place on Britain's “Discovery”
expedition – which was ultimately to be led by Scott, with Shackleton
among the crew, but he was snubbed by the organisers, who took so long
to make a decision on whether to include him or not, that Bruce made his
own expedition. Bruce was actually an experienced whaler, and he had already
been to Antartica and had spent almost a year at the meteorological station
at the top of Ben Nevis, (cold, brrrr!) training himself in the methodology
of recording weather and climate. So, really, Bruce was the best qualified
person to be on any Antartica expedition with all his polar experience.

But by launching an alternative expedition to the one he’d been
waiting to go on for so long, he annoyed the wealthy and powerful Sir
Clements Markham, of the Royal Geographical Society. So Bruce raised funds
from the wealthy Coats family of Paisley, near Glasgow, and set off on
the voyage he dubbed the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. He took
a converted Norwegian whaling ship, which he named the Scotia. Unlike
Scott, he had no interest in a race to the South Pole – his priority was
to do original scientific research. The aim had been to establish a scientific
research station on the continent, but bad weather prevented that.

Instead, they set it up on a sub-Antarctic Island, called Laurie Island,
where scientists are still working today.

David Munro, president of the Scottish Royal Geographical Society, in
Glasgow, said: “Bruce began to believe that polar exploration was
becoming more of an adventure than a science and it was only the science
he was interested in.

“From that point of view the expedition was a huge success – they
discovered several hundred miles of previously unknown Antarctic continent,
collected a wealth of geological and biological specimens and when they
came back, published six volumes of scientific reports on their results.”
Bruce even took a photo of a Scottish piper dressed in a kilt serenading
a penguin on the ice! Apparently, the idea was that they were going to
play it jigs, strathspeys, reels, slow marches, etc, and see if the penguin
had any reaction.

Some people say that it is because Bruce’s expedition was so well
run, that this is why so few people today have heard of him!

The last Ontario/Toronto GT meeting was held on Friday, May 24th; members
Ray & Inge Bates spoke on “Six Months in Asia Following 911”
and Dan Ramrose spoke about “Five Months' South American Adventure”
and Paul Webb gave a talk on “Eight Weeks in Ghana”.

We are planning our annual GT picnic this summer. Proposed dates include
one weekend in July or the beginning of August. The location could be
at Meaford (on Georgian Bay,) at Vera Blowers' place or Toronto Island.
To be advised when arranged, so stay tuned – we just hope the weather
improves a little bit.

Bruce Weber has just left for a month-long trip to Vietnam and the Philippines
and he is planning to tell us all about it in September.

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek:

shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce
Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the
third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at
the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto
at 8.00 p.m.