The Russian Civilian Tank

The Lada Niva is the Soviet Landrover.

The Niva was originally designed for the Soviet Ministry of Defence in the 1970’s as an off-roader. In many respects it was ahead of it's time, and in many other ways it was not. AvtoVAZ invested heavily in a new plant in Tolyatti, named after Palmiro Togliatti the leader of the Italian Communist Party. Tolyatti soon became the Russian Detroit / Dagenham, and the Niva became the people's vehicle of choice. Unfortunately, 30yrs later the exact same production line was still in operation, and the Niva remained unchanged.

The Daily Telegraph recently rated the Niva in the worst ten cars ever made. However, it was the first vehicle to reach the North Pole, the first to ascend to 5300m in the Tibetan Plateaux, and the car of choice for the Weston-Super Mare Life Boat Crew and the Channel Tunnel Engineers.

Having owned my third hand Niva for at least 100days, here are MY own key observations:

1.If you replace the 50W headlights for 90W you can drive at night.
2.If it is cold, the indicator and the hazard lights are indistinguishable.
3.If you change the 8” windscreen wiper for a 14” you can drive in the rain.
4.The car is set to automatically streamline at high speed; the wing mirrors fold in.
5.The tyres are designed by cyclists, they have inner tubes that frequently burst on asphalt roads.
6.To ‘balance’ the wheels (stop them wobbling) you attach lead bricks to the wheel rims.
7.Standard Niva parts are substantially better than the factory fittings (plastic – metal)
8.The Niva can perform a spontaneous 180 degree spin on compacted snow.
9.It is permanently (and expensively) in 4 wheel drive, somewhat apt for Tajikistan.
10.The smaller gear stick vibrates against your leg massaging your calf muscles. Long journeys can result in bruising.
11.The automatic speed restrictor kicks in at 60mph; the shaking becomes deafening.
12.On hitting a pot hole, the gearing system can be knocked out of sync. This can be fixed in twenty minutes by a golden toothed mechanic with a chest full of phlegm, a hammer and an adjustable spanner.
13.The fuel tank leaks if you park on a slope.
14.There is no point in locking the doors, your granny could open them with her hair pin,
15.I wouldn’t replace it with a Toyota Landcruiser, the SUV of the UN.

Check out the link to see a NIVA in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVJonSJV27o&feature=related

CAMP's Crusade

There are three taboo subjects for blogging; (i) work, (ii) love life and (iii) size of your appendage (or boobs).

Maybe there should be a phone in vote to gauge popular opinion, but as I live in a one party state, what is good for the president is good for me. Thankfully, for you and more so for me, I will hold blatant disregard for the former: work.

So after nine months of working under the VSO mantra ‘Sharing Skills and Changing Lives’, in the Tajik Non-government organisation CAMP Kuhiston, what gives?

CAMP Kuhiston was the brainchild of a Swiss university, who with the best intentions, created a local environmental training organisation. After five years they abandoned ship, and left CAMP to drift in the sea of development. Remaining on board were a skeleton crew, four training modules, several capable trainers, a stove design, and an office set up, but on boarding I also discovered, a bad reputation, a couple of inept staff, a director drowning in expectation, and no new donors on the horizon.

So, what gives after nine months? Well, actually understanding the above! On paper it is easy to clarify and provide theoretical solutions, but every time you turn over a rock there is snake waiting to bite you. The list of issues is exhaustive, and is applicable to many other organisations in different settings, but in Tajikistan transforming a non-competitive soviet style organisation into a sustainable entity that can survive in a new market economy is a perpetual challenge. There are many re-occurring issues, these include the employing (and keeping) competent staff on average salaries, preparing onerous reports in three languages, understanding and complying with the suffocating tax laws, second guessing donors desires, introducing the concept of networking, advertising and marketing, developing new products, and undertaking pitiful contracts to prove capability and so on............... and on................and on.................

However, the CAMP yacht has now turned with the tide, and is waiting for the donors to blow into her sails. So what turned the rudder? The captain became a little more focussed and self-assured, employment of a couple of competent deck hands, some engine maintenance and modifications, emblazoned marketing on fresh sails and catching a little financial breeze.

However, CAMP is still a fragile vessel that sails in heavy seas. Calmer waters are around the next headland with the next wave of European funding, but the ‘solo’ sailing will only occur in the years ahead when Tajiks are funding Tajiks.

I am half way through the placement and we have only tackled the first part of the mantra, ‘Sharing Skills, now we are awaiting the spring thaw to embark on the second part of the journey, ‘Changing Lives’.

For an on board tour: www.camp.tj