A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Chapter 11 The Best Field Assignment in UNICEF ... the children's hour...\" in South Asia Part One: Finding Our Way For years, my ambition had been to work in India. I did not plan or hint, but I had thought about it a good deal. Harry Labouisse asked me to take up the assignment as he was about to retire, and he cleared it with his soon-to-be successor Jim Grant. The executive director sent off the pro forma request for agrémont, and we waited for India's response. The time involved in hearing back from a 1
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton government's Foreign Office is unpredictable. In this case it took longer than usual. I was worried; New York was concerned. We had a feeling that there was a problem. At last, with no explanation, it came through in early 1980. My curiosity wouldn't let me forget it, though. After I got to know authorities in India better, I took a chance and made inquiries. What I was told was: Don't broadcast this around, but the letter got lost between the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Home Affairs! We made our move to India in September 1980, and this time it had a very different impact on the family. Lynn did not like the idea at first another move and so soon. In particular, she was a little hesitant about going to India. David, our oldest, had a choice to make. Since returning from the U.S., he had spent the last couple of years in Brazil and took to the life well. He had dived into learning Portuguese fluently and looked forward to finishing his studies at the National University. 2
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton So David stayed as we left. It was a tough thing to separate. It was tough on all of us. Elizabeth had left Brasilia for Flagler College in Florida. Tom had left for school in South Carolina. It was a period of understandable and normal partings, but difficult, and we all recall the sensations even years later. Jeanne and Mark were in high school and felt sad indeed to leave their Brazilian friends and familiar surroundings. The move was especially hard for them. Our attempts to understand and sympathize were meager salves for the wounds of change. Anne was taking time off from school in the US, for a period and decided to tag along to India, and it was wonderful to have her back with us. We set off for the U.S to visit family and friends - then to London, Madrid and Delhi. I had been to India during my Jaycee days when JCI President Kaye and I called on Prime Minister Nehru. I visited the country again while stationed in Indonesia, a participant in discussions about the new cooperation between UNICEF and the Indian government. This was during the time of the 3
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton controversial \"state of emergency\"1 declared by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In advance of my officially taking up this new UNICEF assignment, a visit was set up so I could meet people informally and get started on orientation. On arrival, though, I was quarantined at the hospital-guest house at the Delhi airport. There was a problem with my inoculation record - the prescribed amount of time had not elapsed between getting my shot and stepping onto Indian soil. India, I was learning, took rules and procedures with great seriousness. The internment was fine with me because I needed some rest, but it was an embarrassment to staff and government officials, I believe. Our arrival in New Delhi as a family came in the middle of the night. Most flights from the West did. After sorting out luggage and entry into the country, 1 The state of emergency, which effectively gave Indira Gandhi the power to rule by decree, lasted from June 1975 to March 1977 4
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton we camped at the India International Centre,2 a cultural hub in Lodhi Gardens near the office and overlooking a lovely park studded with relics of construction from prior ages. We learned to love the place. House hunting began, and it was a real chore. Nothing seemed available in a convenient neighborhood at an acceptable price and within reasonable proximity to the American Embassy School where Mark and Jeanne would be enrolled. As time and patience wore on, Lynn returned from a long day of looking to announce: \"I have met Chloe Greaves3, and we have agreed to go to Rajasthan for a few days, the day after tomorrow. We will rent a car and driver and I need some Indian currency to cover costs!\" She left me at the centre, took Anne and dropped house hunting for 2 I joined the centre and remained a member right through retirement many years later, 3 Chloe's husband, Peter, was UNICEF's chief of nutrition in India at the time. 5
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton some days. And so, her love affair with Rajasthan began!4 A Broad New Role My previous posts had increasing levels of responsibility and new challenges. Becoming both the regional director for UNICEF in South Asia and its representative to India (plus Mongolia and Bhutan) expanded the list. Moreover, regional directors worked with the executive director as a group on a range of corporate personnel, management and policy issues. The role of regional director had changed after the management review in the 1970s. It was now a position more of \"senior colleague than of direct supervisor and called for collegial oversight and relationships. Before, the regional office was a \"mini-headquarters with its many divisions and 4 Lynn's initial uncertainty became lost in the mist of time. The experiences in India made it for her the most exciting and memorable place we ever lived 6
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton sections. Now, it was seen as more of a source of guidance, professional analysis and a process through which to share experiences and information. The main objective, always, was to design a national development programme for children based on national commitments and resources and to do so as efficiently and professionally as possible. And we had to make it clear that UNICEF was a supporting element, not the implementing element. In the South Asia region, UNICEF had working relationships with the governments of Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Not only is this a varied range of governmental structures, but beneath and within the organizational charts are people representing a long list of nationalities, cultures, habits and practices that each country has to accommodate in order to be a nation. We had full country offices in all except Bhutan, Mongolia and Maldives. UNICEF's total commitments to the region's country 7
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton programmes were the largest in the organization. The staff was the largest as well. It seemed to me I needed to understand more about regional issues and how relations between the governments and among the peoples created what was seen and felt. And there was a lot to learn! The Region at a Glance • A fghanistan w as at war with itself and with the Soviet Union, which invaded the country in 1979, The invasion was complete but resistance continued. Western nations and others were providing support to anti-Soviet groups, and a massive refugee problem had developed across the border in Pakistan. The kingdom of B hutan, situated high in the Himalayas between two giant, not-always-friendly neighbors, was a \"Shangri-La\" monarchy looking to 8
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton accelerate accommodation to modern systems while retaining the essence of its culture and customs. Bhutan had chosen to work with UNICEF to assure basic health services, including village nutrition work, protection of children and adequate drinking water to all areas of the country while also pressing for equal priority to primary education. The king was supportive and the government most cooperative and committed. • Maldives is a collection of atolls, a few of them populated off the coasts of India and Sri Lanka. Its population is mostly Muslim, UNICET cooperation with Maldives was mostly focused on the training of personnel for health services on outlying atolls, teachers in village schools in the same places, and in assuring that sustained national budgets had a priority for children. • Mongolia is a large, landlocked country with a vast nomadic population, Situated between the Soviet Union and China, it experienced delicate-to-difficult relations with both neighbors. Mongolia was organized along Soviet lines, and 9
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton UNICEF assistance was a token of the needs for development of services for children. However, it must be said that children were a priority in this centrally planned state economy, including an emphasis on kindergartens even for nomads in the Gobi Desert. • The Himalayan republic of Nepal was dependent on India economically and politically, but also was dependent on good relations with China, with which it shares a long northern border. The nation had attempted various forms of democratic practices at the sub-national level. There was nagging unrest, but the major challenge to development was a combination of few resources for economic strength (due to an unusually low tax revenue base), low levels of education and job skills, and an almost total dependency on foreign assistance to exist and function. Poverty was the country's perpetual enemy, • Sri Lanka, an island republic with a long history of democratic governance, was facing the consequences of smoldering resentment between 10
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton the Tamil and Sinhalese populations. This ethnic-based unrest was festering despite the country's long history of peace and steady social progress. Per-capita income was low, but the country boasted a very high literacy rate and low infant mortality. Many development experts attributed this to steady and persistent investment in education and basic services. In the country, however, some contended that more attention was paid to one cultural group than another. Ironically, it was via the education channel that some of Sri Lanka's unrest was fostered, beginning with pressure to emphasize one language. • I ndia had amalgamated more than 100 different entities into one republic after gaining independence from the U.K. in 1947, and it had been persistently democratic It shared a border with all the countries of the region except Afghanistan and Mongolia. Relations with neighbors had mostly been good, if often contentious. The fragility of the country's complex mix of religions, cultures, nationalities, languages, political ties and customs had long been debated. 11
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Jim Grant said that during his time in India a decade or so earlier, dinner conversations often centered on the country's potential for disintegration. I also found this a frequent topic in talking with friends and journalists in the country. While it was often said to be a serious threat, in my mind the country's magnificent diversity was a strong force for union and nation building. It was a dramatic demonstration of democracy at work. It's been said, not altogether in jest, that \"If one visits India for a short period, one can write a book. If one lives in the country for a couple of years, one needs help writing a monograph. If one lives in India for a decade, one needs help in formulating the question!\" I have always agreed with that thought. Statements about India always need qualification and context. I had read a good deal about this amazing mix of people and that was helpful, but insufficient, as I struggled with reality and how to seek broader applications for our work in the variety of processes already in place. 12
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The Setting in India India dominated the South Asia region and was the major challenge. My briefing and homework convinced me the country was on the verge of significant change in improving services for children, and it prompted me to be more optimistic than some of my colleagues. It needs to be noted, nevertheless, that India had undergone a rough period in the previous decade: suspension of some openness, mass protests, riots, secessionist movements. However, there was a sense of a new direction. That hopeful impression encouraged me to begin my work in India with a challenge to the staff to \"go public\" on the issue of the needs of children and the need for additional resources for them from national as well as international sources. This approach implied doing more than the usual public information work. In short, by focusing on the needs of children, the needs of UNICEF would then become obvious. The idea was to talk in public 13
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton more about what was happening for children than what was happening with UNICEF. When one looked at India's total investment in development, and social development in particular, compared with aid it was receiving from foreign sources (including from the World Bank), it was humbling to see how relatively meager foreign contributions were by comparison. India's investment was huge by any measure. One could quarrel with bureaucratic overhead and relative priorities (and we did), but it was a fact that India was spending a good deal of its financial and professional resources in direct services to children. While it remained important to maintain and even increase UNICEF's investment, in my view it was in the realm of ideas and innovations that we (and others) could suggest ways to make investments in children more welcome, useful and productive. In my first annual report to the executive director and the board, I noted: 14
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton \"There are signs of change in India. Slowly the political will is being mobilized to attack the problems in which UNICEF is most interested. Gradually the network of resources is coming to grips with the delivery problems and beginning to embrace convergent approaches. It is important that services for children converge for the same children at the same place at the same time at affordable costs (as compared with 'adequate' liaison between local government offices!). We feel a broad consensus is emerging led by the Planning Commission ...of the need for a set of complementary strategies to be applied in a concerted way increase employment, meet basic needs, reduce inequalities of income, status, gender and opportunity, raise the productivity of the poor. It is also increasingly recognized that this is not within the exclusive capacity of the Government to fulfill.\" 15
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Policies for children are part and parcel of the policies of the nation. To effect change in them, it is necessary to grasp how they are formulated, how compromises are reached, how acceptance is fostered and how things work. It is necessary to influence political decision-making, not just have discussions with bureaucratic management. It is the art of making the possible doable, and in so doing make things politically \"OK\" and national in design. UNICEF hosted a range of global and regional meetings in its new building, built and inaugurated in 1981. Regional staff gatherings were held there, along with meetings of major donors to Indian development. In addition, promotional meetings relating to issues such as breastfeeding, rural water supply and sanitation, primary education and iodine deficiency. We also brought in people From Rotary International to discuss collaboration on the eradication of polio, Britain's Princess Anne honored us by holding a \"Save the Children\" meeting in the building. Such gatherings demonstrated what some of us called \"the convening power\" of UNICEF: bringing groups and 16
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton ideas together to blend and expand on opportunities. A Turbulent Decade We were about to face a decade of drama and turbulence. India had just held an election and Indira Gandhi had returned to power. The election was, of course, covered by the international press but I was surprised that not much was made of the depth and power of the country's democratic forces. I was optimistic about the newly seated leader and let it be known. (Sadly, I would come to learn that Mrs. Gandhi was in reality an autocrat, She had no serious interest in modernizing the economic infrastructure, policies and practices that prevented the ingenuity of India to flourish.) The unfolding history of India was the core of the drama of national life. There was near-constant opposition to union by some group or other, in Punjab or Kashmir or Nagaland, and it played out in compromise, sometimes violence, India's attempts 17
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton to take sides in disputes across its borders resulted in additional pressures. India took pride in the peaceful coexistence of Hindu and Muslim communities, but communal conflicts of substantial size caused a great deal of political unrest and social stress. When Sikh militants took over the Golden Temple in Punjab during the summer of 1984, Mrs. Gandhi ordered the Indian Army to dislodge them. The bloody siege set in motion the prime minister's assassination four months later. Another calamity struck the country in December that year when a pesticide plant leaked gas into the low-lying community of Bhopal. It was one of the world's worst industrial accidents. UNICEF dispatched emergency assistance to the area, mostly consisting of sale drinking water, emergency medical needs, infant and young child seeding, and help in setting up emergency clinics. The official death toll from the disaster was initially set at around 3,000 people. However, the leader of our relief team, Sharad Sapra, was among the first to suggest that the official casualty figures were 18
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton extremely modest. He reported nearly twice as many deaths and injuries. When I pressed Sharad to explain how his estimate was so different from that of the government, he said he based his numbers on a personal check of crematoria and linen shops (to ascertain cremation services). Legal challenges sprang up as a result, but we avoided them. We quietly told the government our views and how we came to have them. The company that owned the plant met with us to see how a settlement might be reached, but we avoided entanglements and left the process completely alone. \"Going to Scale\" Jim Grant brought a new energy to UNICEF. He had a sense that we could and should do more, and with zest. Traction for a new platform of action took a couple of years to get cracking. It was not until he brought together some UNICEF staff (mostly people from the field) and mingled their 19
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton thoughts with those of outside professionals that his ideas began to translate into work plans. I found no difficulty accepting that it was time for UNICEF to \"go to scale\" and reach its full potential. In fact, one of the first things I announced to the staff in Delhi was the intention to \"go public with the story of the needs of children and what was being done and not being done about them. As far as I was concerned, advocacy in political circles was a good way to proceed and I said so. We ran into a snag, when the proposed budget for UNICEF called for an expanded staff, about evenly divided between New York and the field. It ran into resistance in the Executive Board because of the economic recession had the board concerned. Jim was nominated to be executive director by President Jimmy Carter, who told him: \"Jim, I want the U.N. to work. Show them how through UNICEF.\" His formal training was in law, but he had worked more in development work with stints in USAID in Sri Lanka, Turkey and India. He was born in China to missionary parents. His father was 20
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton well-known in public health circles in India and was on the Bore Commission in Europe much earlier, UNICEF's new leader was nearly tireless in his pursuit of change, and the organization's slow decision-making process was difficult to adjust to. Jim's well-developed talent for working with U.S. congressional committees was helpful, but the ways of national legislation were much different from those in international circles. Slowly, however, we began to see change and more national programmes had a focus on essentials for child survival, Jim was persistent, imaginative and successful at fundraising. He was an inventive social marketer. He was persistent in efforts to sit with heads of government and persuade them to elevate priorities for children. To get a policy framework around which all could rally, he asked a small group (about 15 of us) over a long weekend to address this question: \"What are some specific actions you would propose if you had only a small amount of 21
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton money and wanted to make a difference in primary health care and nutrition?\" The group simultaneously picked up an issue from an earlier management review that suggested an advocacy approach to attracting political attention, using the large outreach network of UNICEF as the permanent vehicle through which to deliver a persistent, high-level message. Experiences gained in national plans were reviewed, in particular those from Indonesia, China, Nepal and Brazil. Gradually the discussions led to a short list of things that were low-cost, doable, easily communicated, and demonstrated to be effective, safe and efficient. The combination of a process, an inexpensive goal therapy, a normal biological function for infant nutrition, and a manageable public health intervention gave us the platform for what came to be known as the GOBI Programme. It stood for: Gr owth monitoring - to prevent infants' health problems before they begin Oral hydration therapy - to combat diarrhea 22
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Breast-feeding - to ensure that infants have the best nutrition possible Immunization - to protect against six diseases: measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, tuberculosis and polio GOBI became GOBI-FFF later with the addition of Female literacy, Family planning and Food supplements. The vehicle for communicating this approach was UNICEF's \"State of the World's Children\" report, which offered well-written, policy-oriented advocacy of a high standard and global reach, Authored by Peter Adamson, the report became the center thrust for some years as well as solid material for consideration in planning and developing national interventions. Each country office translated the text for use in their part of the world, and heads of governments were asked to endorse the document, not only for publicity reasons but to get the concepts of the report more embedded into national 23
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton political policy. It became the most read document in the United Nations publication list. Jim Grant brought a strong team to his front office: Margaret Catley Carlson, from Canada, took over all operations matters. She had a depth of experience in development and was a strong, warm and genial personality with a contagious sense of joy in the work. Richard Jolly, of the U.K., a respected international development economist, led programme development, policy and field support services and made significant contributions in new thinking. Tarzie Vittachi, from Sri Lanka, a noted journalist, thinker and shrewd counselor, took charge of external functions of the organization. Jim came to India a number of times and we always had good conversations and worked hard. During my last days there, in 1988, he and his wife, Ethel, again visited the country and while traveling in Rajasthan, Ethel died suddenly of a massive heart attack. Our team worked through the night to get them back to Delhi, arrange a ceremony and take care of the details for travel back home. 24
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Part Two: Working in the Field Planning for services for children without looking at the political and social policies of the government and the interplay between the always-competing forces that make up most societies is a mistake. In the South Asia region, there was a long list of contentious issues to face that had bearing on our relationships with governments and on their abilities to create priority resources for children within the competing demands of war, security, political pressures and governance. During my time as regional director, operating a program for children in Afghanistan meant working in the midst of an invasion, a revolution and regular armed conflicts between various groups. Our two representatives there, Hans Narula of India and Juan Antonio Lopez Panela of Spain, found their work hampered in part by security restrictions imposed on UN staff by the secretary general and 25
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton in part on logistical difficulties. Another major concern was the possibility of being arrested by the government for alleged crimes of various sorts. We dealt with seven arrests over an extended period. Six of those cases were cleared up to the involved staff's satisfaction. The seventh one, a murder charge against Mr. Tarwakal, was not so easily dismissed. Still, it was our job to pursue the case as far as we could. This included a demand to see the detainee to assure that he was well and not mistreated. He was being held in a fortress-like prison just outside Kabul, and we were well aware of its reputation i must say that both Hans and I were subdued when the big iron gates clanked shut behind us. The fundamentalist government used this place to imprison its enemies. All too many behind those walls never left. Small crowds of people milled around the side wall waiting for news but also to provide clothes and food to relatives inside using a horizontal \"dumb 26
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton waiter*** system. When packages came back unopened, they knew the worst. Formal news tight or might not follow, We saw the prisoner and he was as well as could be expected under the circumstances. We went to the Foreign Ministry again and tried to persuade the minister that a mistake had been made - that Mr. Tarwakal had not committed a crime, he had only taken pictures of it! We reasoned that if someone was guilty of murder, surely he would not keep pictures of the event in his desk. We continued our pleas and arguments for some weeks. Later we came to understand that he was killed in prison. Obstacles in Afghanistan It is all too easy to conclude that poverty alone was (and is) the sole culprit impeding human and economic development in Afghanistan. It is the major reason, but the root causes of poverty arise from a combination of factors. One is geography. Afghanistan has no natural protection on its 27
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton borders, and most of them have been open pathways to incursions over many centuries. From Genghis Khan in the 13th century to the Soviets in the 1970s, Afghanistan has been a magnet for migrations and attempted conquests. The origins of the country's ethnic groups are subject to a range of views. At one time it was believed that the Pashtun was one of the lost tribes of Israel, but that theory has faded. Pashtun tribes and clans always had a prominent role in national life and were almost autonomous. They have a strict code of honor and behavior, not to be taken lightly. Afghanistan's other ethnic groups - the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Turkmen - cach have their own language, culture and history and have maintained connections over the centuries with compatriots in Central Asia. Those factors and divisions work against attempts to develop the country into a viable and unified state, and they also make it challenging to build a program to benefit the children who live there. Family custom, language, tribal loyalty, politics and 28
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton a constant search for stability were all factors in deciding which basic services took hold or did not. Questions of religious practice and social attitudes toward children, especially girl children, had to be considered in designing an intervention, including attempts to immunize against fatal diseases. Afghanis share great similarity and affinity with people from Central Asia who were under Soviet and tsarist domination for hundreds of years. A good many Uzbeks and Turkmen entered Afghanistan as refugees from both and brought their languages with them. Along the border with Pakistan, the Pashtun people dominate on both sides. The border itself is but a line agreed to by the British many years ago, and people pass back and forth across it almost at will. From 1747 when the Durrani Empire was founded, Afghanistan at least was ruled as one country, even with all the internal conflicts. It fiercely resisted domination by Persians, Russiaris and British, at great cost to the invaders 29
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton and devastating costs to themselves in resources, people and cultural unity. A kingdom was the nominal national government for many years, but a revolt tossed the family out and the king took asylum in Rome. A communist group initiated the coup, but then had trouble consolidating its hold and called on the Soviet Union under a friendship treaty to assist. That was mere legal cover for a full-fledged invasion of the country and to make sure that Soviet \"advisors\" were in each department of the government. While they claimed the new government arose from a \"people's revolution, the truth was it never had wide support. Setting up a comprehensive country program was not possible in Afghanistan. We were lucky to have a complex of activities in child survival, child protection, and education that reached all the neighborhoods of Kabul and a bit of the semi-urban periphery. But in a persistent endeavor to expand and reach more children, we kept up a steady beat with the Ministry and finally came to an 30
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton understanding that UNICEF could provide services for \"Afghan children wherever they were.\" This opened up opportunities to assist Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan.5 The UNICEF staff was small but cohesive, comprised of Afghani nationals and international staff from the Philippines, India and Cuba. We made trips to Afghanistan to encourage and supervise, flying on either the Indian or Afghan national air carriers out of Delhi. On every flight, the Afghan Air Force rose to escort the plane to the airport as a protection against rockets. There was little or no bilateral aid for our work, and our budget ceilings were limited. Alex Kukolevski, a former UNICEF employee who was well-connected, told me the Soviets would cooperate with a U.N. team, if I were a part of it. I reported that, but 5 B ut I often wondered what our response would have been had we been asked to assist Afghani children in, say, London, Delhi or New York. 31
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton nothing ever emerged from Moscow for assistance in the social sector. On the surface of things, it seemed that Soviet penetration of government ministries was increasing But our sense was that this was true only in urban areas and the north, not nationally. Near the end of our term in 1987-1988, there were indications that dissident groups had, bit by bit, all but taken over the south of the country and were active on the eastern border, making the presence of the Soviets more tenuous and ignoring the government in Kabul. It is important to note that more than one struggle was going on. While the Soviets were struggling to consolidate national oversight and control, warlords were consolidating their control and competing with one another while resisting the invaders to varying degrees. Getting things done by national commitment was hopeless, and getting things done by regional commitment was prohibited. Despite valiant efforts by the staff, the infant mortality rate remained one of the worst in the world. 32
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton But there was a sense that the political tide against occupation was turning, that the Soviets were having trouble keeping control of the country. A big problem was arising for them and its name was Taliban. The militant Islamic group finally won the day over the occupation and even in good part over most of the warlords, with considerable assistance from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. In visits to Afghanistan's national museum, one has to be impressed by the history of this people and place and with the incredible effort it has taken to preserve clothing, pottery and other artifacts during all the strife it has endured. I read later that under the stiff-necked rule of the Taliban, patriots buried some historic relics for preservation from the fundamentalist rulers' constant search to eliminate Afghani culture they did not approve of. 33
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton The Dragon Kingdom Bhutan was the first of India's neighbors I visited. The small kingdom is wedged into the Himalayas, bordered by China, Nepal, Bangladesh and India, and it had remained isolated from the world until Jigme Singye Wangchuck became the country's fourth Dragon King. Bhutan joined the United Nations in 1971 and tourists were allowed to enter the country in 1974. I was the third UNICEF representative to the nation. UNICEF's modest collaboration in Bhutan focused on primary health care. The government was eager to establish a health center in each village and provide safe drinking water and primary education. Lynn and I were able to see a good bit of this activity on our first visit as we traveled up and down the valley. To get to Bhutan, we flew to Puntsholing in northeast India and then engaged a car and driver to get us over the mountain passes to Thimpu, an all-day trip with few straight stretches of road and no guardrails on the edges. 34
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton In my first audience with the king, I followed the custom of offering a white scarf as a symbol of friendship. He reciprocated with a ‘tanka’,6 a musical instrument and a small piece of cloth. Calling on him was a test of one's stamina. His office was on the top floor of the central ‘dhzong’ of the government complex and required climbing up a steep, ladder-like staircase of some four floors to a small waiting room at the top. I hardly had time to get collected before being ushered into his room. The monarch spoke with obvious enthusiasm about his plan for education. When I could. I raised the question of iodine nutrition, and he agreed to look into the situation and to consider importing only iodized salt. Lynn and I visited the national museum, a round building on the side of a mountain. You enter it from the top and wind your way down to the core of the exhibit some five floors below - meaning that when 6 a silk embroidered painting, which is still on my wall 35
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton you leave, a long climb is involved! One of the major displays was of Bhutan's imaginative and highly prized postage stamps, a source of considerable revenue from the millions of collectors around the world. We also visited religious sites, watching as flags flapped in the never-ending wind as people went about their duties and prayers Because of its small population, Bhutan did not qualify for a World Bank loan but an accommodation was made. In fact, all international assistance was well applied and supervised. It was an impressive national attitude to see in action the culture of the people is the tie that binds the nation together, the religion of the people is the philosophy that guides their positions. Ground access to the country is limited to one highway. Druk Air, the national carrier, is the only airline allowed to fly in and out of Bhutan and it offers service to some half a dozen cities. There is no railroad. Visas even for a growing tourist trade are limited, to protect both the people and the environment. 36
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Mountains run along Bhutan's northern border with a long east-west valley in the center that is very productive for small farming. Another range running east and west must be passed to reach the southeast, a wide, low stretch where rice, vegetables and abundant wildlife provide support to the country. A large population of Nepalese immigrants lives here, and their lack of assimilation into the culture has often caused strained relations. The Bhutanese people are happy, open and friendly. They welcome interchange with foreigners, but do not desire them to stay in the country. They are polite and cooperative to a fault; dealing with them across the negotiating table was refreshing. They were open, frank and inquisitive and always kept their word. We placed a resident program officer in Thimpu, the capital, which helped with day-to-day implementation of operations. When Rolf Carriere took over general oversight and liaison, the partnership quickly went from good to excellent. He 37
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton pushed the iodine campaign, the efforts to vaccinate all children and manage infant diarrhea, and primary education improvements. He had an excellent rapport with the government. Iodine deficiency disorder was declared eliminated in Bhutan in the early 1990s, a major first for South Asia. King Jigme's leadership was imaginative and forward-thinking. When UNICEF published its first \"State of the World's Children\" report, he was the first head of government to endorse the report in writing. The Land of Eternal Sky What once was the world's largest empire, stretching from the Yellow Sea to Eastern Europe and south through China, Myanmar and Thailand, is now substantially reduced but still a large country. The Mongols are one of the few national ethnic groups that still live in the place where they originated. They became known in Central Asia as 38
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton Tatars. Their vast empire fostered trade, and their horsemanship and ferocity as fighters made them feared everywhere. Their story is a truly exciting and rich one to study. It was almost a year before I could make my first trip to Mongolia, mainly because of the weather. I flew to Beijing, then caught the train to Ulan Bator through the Great Wall and the mountains north of the city across the Gobi. We made a station stop at Erlian near the border and I gathered (through hand signals and sign language) that we would be there for some time and that I could leave the train and explore a bit. I disembarked and went through the empty station to the streets of the Chinese town to have a look, but in a few minutes opted for a drink at the station. When I returned, the train was gone. With all of my clothes and documents on it! There was a different train on the track now, headed the other way, and the tea shop that was empty earlier was now filled with a tourist group from Australia. After a time, I spotted the leader of the group and he calmed me down. My train hadn't 39
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton actually left, he told me. It was just away having its wheels replaced. That is how I learned about the changing of the undercarriages of Chinese trains to accommodate Mongolian roadbeds, a precaution against using the railroad for military invasions. After that I never feared being \"lost\" in China. I knew I could easily be spotted as a foreigner! Mongolia is one of the very few countries with a near homogenous population. It was a Soviet ally at the time and run on the standard Soviet pattern. UNICEF aid was limited to daycare centers and kindergartens associated with nomadic peoples. My first review suggested that we needed more freedom to discuss comprehensive issues of children, Assistance was curtailed for a short while when the existing grant expired, but it was later renewed and things went well. I visited the country six times during my period as regional director and four more times after retiring. Lynn was able to join me on three of the trips. On one of them, we took the train from Beijing to Ulan Bator and then to Moscow and Leningrad. 40
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton There is a general dearth of information about Mongolia, and this is not surprising given its history. What one usually hears are stories of strife with China to the south or the invading hordes of Genghis Khan, whose offspring and armies were the ones to reach the gates of Vienna on horseback some 800 years ago.7 A long period of unrest prior to World War II and 70 years or so of Russian dominance also had their impact. Mongolians are the overwhelming population group. About a third live in two urban centers, but the vast majority of the others roams as nomads. Wheat and grain farming is the agriculture base.8 Before domination by the Soviet Union, Mongolia had a brief period of independence after driving out 7 A grandson of Khan led an army all the way into what is now Italy. An Italian opera commemorates that event. 8 I n retirement, I joined the Mongolian Society in the U.S. and wrote some pieces for its publication. Membership seemed to others a harmless idiosyncrasy! 41
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton the Chinese early in the 20th century. Subtle resentment seemed evident. Somehow the central monastery survived, though many were destroyed during the period under Stalin. In a formal call on the head monk of the monastery in Ulan Bator, we learned to drink fermented camel's milk, a delicacy. I downed mine obediently, but Lynn told me later she had found a convenient potted plant nearby that looked like it needed a drink We did not have a resident officer in the country. It was expected that the regional director and a deputy could handle affairs, which was fine with me. But when Eugene Leonenko of the U.S.S. R. joined our stall, I asked him to be the program officer because of his skills and facility with the language. Ulan Bator was typical Soviet in its construction. Streets were extremely wide and I wondered often if they were built in anticipation of motor traffic, which seemed a long way off at the time. The nomads live in ingenious portable abodes that are relatively easy to erect and tear down. The ‘gers’ 42
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton are made of treated animal hide, often decorated in wild and wonderful colors, and feature a central opening to vent smoke and fumes from cooking and heating. Families eat and sleep in these abodes in even the coldest of weather, I tried hard to obtain a ‘ ger’ as a gift to our regional office and had visions of erecting it in the garden or on the roof as a small meeting place. As so often, geography defined the nation. Mongolia is comprised of the vas! Gobi Desert, made known to me in childhood reading by Roy Chapman Andrews of the National Geographic Society. The rugged Altai mountain range lies across the northern and eastern borders and the vast rolling grasslands are home to roaming peoples and their herds and camels. The horizon seems endless. The condition of children in Mongolia and services available for them were on the whole quite good. They were a priority in the Soviet planning system. We pressed for expansion and consolidation of the immunization program and for improvements in 43
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton training kindergarten teachers and attention to preschool-age children. While the government was favorable to the iodization of salt, it wanted to develop its own domestic salt, a product of poor quality and demanding more investment than seemed available in the country. We supported importing the excellent salt that was available from Irkutsk, across the border. The Island of Serendipity Sri Lanka occupies a unique place in the developing world, with a very high literacy rates9 and a low infant-mortality rate. In addition, family size was dropping and more children attended and stayed in school than in most developing countries. This was clearly a place where gains in social development - including child and mother care, health and nutrition services, education, water supply and sanitation - had set the stage for 9 in particular among women, which had risen to 97 percent in 2010 44
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton economic growth and more equitable social advancement. It had been a stopping place for sea traffic in the southern waters for centuries and was rightly associated with the word \"serendipity.\" UNICEF had employed good leadership in Sri Lanka country for many years. Paul Ignatief, a Canadian friend, was representative when I arrived and was succeeded by a dynamic and intelligent woman from Egypt, Hoda Badran. Farid Rahman, of Pakistan, and Keshab Mathema, of Nepal, later kept the UNICEF tradition of intelligent and concerned-leadership standards. Despite Sri Lanka's flourishing exterior, social tensions between the two major population groups were festering beneath the surface. A well-financed dissident group favoring Tamil independence began what was to become a long and violent struggle. There were attempts at political assassination, one of which occurred just hours after we had visited the parliament. Seemingly random bombings in crowded places and rural buses became more frequent. Many in the country 45
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton accused India of complicity by allowing the smuggling of arms and other support to groups in the northern part of the island. At one point, the two navies seemed on the verge of engaging. The fighting continued throughout the entire period of my service in South Asia. It seems clear that the large Tamil population in Tamil Nadu was supporting the people in the north who wanted to expand their sovereignty. In 1987 an agreement was signed and things seemed to settle down a bit, but the problem never entirely went away. The ingenuity and skills of people of the island nation are documented. On a field trip to look at a rural development program in which UNICEF had a modest investment, engineers told of their challenge to channel the rainwater that falls so abundantly on the southern side of the mountains to the northern valley where it was needed for people and their crops. To get the flow and slope of a canal properly aligned was complicated. As it turned out, though, it had all been done before 46
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton At the site of a proposed storage tank built with packed dirt walls, an engineer discovered the remains of a wooden sluice built some centuries earlier. Then when he checked with the database in Colombo to suggest a site for drilling, the report showed that the spot was precisely where the ancients had put theirs! Further, while tracing the process, they found the remains of a trough that was used to manage the natural flow of the water. Despite Sri Lanka's political troubles, UNICEF struggled to sustain a comprehensive plan with the government to assure basic services for all children regardless of their parents' politics or social status. The country team exhibited exceptional skill in negotiating and courage in traveling about and observing. When we started planning for a region-wide political meeting to elevate the discussion of children, the government of Sri Lanka was among the first to see the benefit of such a venture. It was stalwart in its support of the SAARC Meeting on Children and 47
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton was instrumental at the SAARC Summit to get the proper resolutions in place. UNICEF's suggestion to consider iodizing all table salt was taken up when out review showed that fewer than 20 percent of households in Sri Lanka had access to sufficient iodine in their daily diet. Working with the leaders of the salt industry, the effort to expand household access was undertaken with all deliberate speed. While the task was complicated by the number of very small pan holders along the east coast, the major producer (Lanka Salt) showed extraordinary leadership in how to work with the small producers productively The Himalayan Buffer Kingdom It is a short air trip from New Delhi to Kathmandu and if one flies on a clear day the view of the valley and the Himalayas along the north is stunning. On 48
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton very clear days, one can see Mount Everest,10 Nepal is an ancient land that traces its origins from the Kingdom of Gurka through the unification of Nepal in about 1768. During our period in South Asia, there was constant internal struggle for changing the top-down, monarchical rule to various forms of decentralization and democracy. Some of the pressure for reform turned violent, but not on the scale that came later. The country is multicultural, multilingual and multi-religious, the birthplace of Lord Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. It is bounded by India on three sides and Tibet on the other. Its natural beauty and the challenges of adventure in the high Himalayas and the fascinating ways of life in the 10 The conqueror of Mount Everest, Sir Edmund Hilary,\" was New Zealand's High Commissioner (ambassador) to India and Nepal during most of our assignment and we became good friends with Ed and his wife, June. Both had a rich sense of humor and a fantastic commitment to travel and investigation. 49
A Good Life in a Changing World David P. Haxton valleys make it a major tourist attraction. The economy is based on tourism and agriculture, but neither offers permanent economic support nor sufficient stability to satisfy the needs of this terribly poor country. Dependence on foreign aid is indispensable. During most of our stay in South Asia, Nepal had to import basic commodities to survive. The Gross Domestic Product (a major indicator of a country's standard of living) barely kept pace with population growth in the already crowded country. It is one of the poorest countries in the world. Hal Kuloy, a gregarious Norwegian with high-caliber credentials,11 was representing UNICEF in the country when I arrived. He was replaced on normal rotation by Malcolm Kennedy of the U.K., an intelligent, well-organized engineer with considerable experience in development. Both 11 H e was also an expert on Central Asian carpets and wrote a book on the subject 50
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