Published
internationally in July 2003 as Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide.
First published in Kabul in September 2002
as a pamphlet.
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January 2004 June 2003 Kabul – The Bradt Mini Guide is
published, the successor to the Autumn 2002 pamphlet The Survival Guide to
Kabul. 6000 copies of the new mini guide were printed. 3000 were taken into
Kabul for sale. Other copies are available from bookshops and Amazon in the
US and the UK. In October 2003 a further 1000 copies of the book were
reprinted with some amendments. A pirate copy (the height of flattery in
Central Asia!) has also been printed and is for sale in Kabul. The book has received excellent coverage such
as: “book of the week”, “best buy”, “a must read” and “a good
stocking-filler.” Read some
reviews from The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Observer,
Newsweek, The Guardian, USA Today and Wanderlust. In 2003 the mini guide also featured in the
Financial Times on News Hour on the BBC World Service, on Fast Track on BBC
World TV and on Globetrotting on BBC Radio Five Live. In January 2004 co-author Dominic Medley was
interviewed on Cape Talk 567MW in Cape Town for thirty minutes about the book
and Kabul. The December 2003 issue of Outside Magazine The Kabul Express begins with the launch of the
Kabul Mini Guide in June 2003. In August 2003 Dominic revisited Sarajevo
where he used to work. The Sarajevo Media Centre promoted the guide and
Dominic was interviewed by two Bosnian magazines BH Dani (full
scanned article) and Start (full
scanned article). There’s also been coverage on the Kabul guide
in the Croatian media. Dominic also featured in the Warwick Graduates Magazine. Other coverage on the new book from: Internews. Photos of the guide on the streets of Kabul and the guide at the printers in Italy. And see the original pamphlet guide in Kabul
in Autumn 2002: The early days of The Survival Guide to Kabul. BEFORE
THE MINI GUIDE WAS PUBLISHED
June 26 2003 Guide co-author Dominic Medley
quoted in The Caterer magazine “Hospitality the healer?” May 10 2003 Guide co-author Dominic Medley
quoted in Wall Street Journal front page: The Spoils of War in Kabul Now Include Thai Restaurant. And in the Indonesian media. April 26 2003 This guide is linked from the
BBC story Threats close Kabul’s Irish bar. (Photos
provide by this guide are used in the story.) April 12 2003 Survival Guide co-editor
Dominic Medley quoted in Kabul
InterContinental in $10m rebuild, Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine. (Reprinted on The Hospitality Site.) April/May 2003 The Survival Guide to Kabul in
Wanderlust travel magazine. April 5 2003 The Irish Club features in The Times, courtesy
of this guide (photo provided by this guide is also published). March 15 2003 The
Survival Guide to Kabul features on Fox News. December 28 2002 The Survival Guide to Kabul in The Times. And
the cartoon and photo that accompanied the article. November 14 2002 USA Today photo of a street seller with The Survival Guide to Kabul.
Full article. October 6 2002 There’s a story mentioning the guide in Swedish newspaper
Aftonbladet. ("And in Kabul - a city spending time in
which both in principle and in practice is a threat to your life, and which
has not seen a tourist for twenty years - I could buy a recently published
travel guide, "The Survival Guide to Kabul". Sure, it is only 16
pages thick but includes the ordinary tips of travel guides about bars and
hotels, tipping and common phrases in the local languages Dari and Pashtu.) September 2002 Caritas Press Release on The Survival Guide to
Kabul by guide co-editor Jude Barrand. Wais at the Mustafa Hotel has had the guide’s
web address painted on the hotel’s staircase wall and on the outside of the hotel. Guide
souvenirs: There are 500 mugs and 500 pens with the guide web
address on scattered around the offices, restaurants and guesthouses of
Kabul. Watch out for your tea or coffee in a guide mug. This from Manoel de Almeida e Silva,
Spokesman for the UN Special Representative in Afghanistan: “Just a quick
word to tell you that Mr. Brahimi enjoyed very much the survival guide mug
you sent to him. It is now on his
desk at his office at the residence.
He asked me to thank you.” We also had T-shirts printed in 2003 to
launch Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide. LINKS
Co-editor Dominic Medley worked for Internews
in Kabul in 2002. A link appeared on
the main Internews
web page and is also part of the Internews Afghanistan pages. Co-editor Jude Barrand works for Caritas
Internationalis. A link appears on the Caritas Afghanistan web page. And Caritas in the Netherlands covered the story:
AFGHANISTAN: straatkinderen verkopen stadsgids Kaboel 28/11/2002 - "The
Survival Guide to Kabul", is een 16 pagina's tellende gids voor
hulpverleners, journalisten, zakenlui en toeristen die de stad Kaboel aandoen.
Jude Barrand, de communicatieverantwoordelijk voor het Caritasnetwerk ter
plaatse is co-auteur. De stadsgids wordt verspreid via straatkinderen die
sedert de val van de Taliban als krantenventers aan de kost proberen te komen
op de drukke kruispunten van de hoofdstad. Kinderen die vroeger de
vuilnisbakken doorsnuffelden op zoek naar eten en verkoopbare spullen,
verkopen nu de gids en met plezier, want heel wat toeristen zijn bereid een
behoorlijk bedrag neer te tellen! De opbrengst van de verkoop gaat volledig
naar de kinderen.Meer info over onze hulpprogramma's in Afganistan vindt u
bij onze prioriteiten voor 2002 en 2003 We’re linked from a new website Kabul Caravan
who describe us as “currently the
best travel website dedicated to Afghanistan.” The IOM Return of Qualified Afghans Programme also
features a link to the guide. We’re also linked from the Swedish
South Asian Studies Network. The
Afghanistan Embassy in Australia is also using material from The
Survival Guide to Kabul on its web pages. This guide is
linked from the American International School of Kabul. There’s also a
link to the guide on the pages of the Afghanistan Girls’ School Project 2003. Centurion Risk Assessment Services, which
provides training for hostile environments, also mentions the guide on the
media safety (subscriber only) pages for the Afghanistan Field Report: "Mine maps are available. HALO De-mining Trust is present
and Handicap International Belgium runs mine awareness courses. Details can
be found in the Survival Guide to Kabul which is
distributed by children at traffic calming areas, markets, street corners,
etc for 40,000-50,000 Afghanis (up to $1)". OTHER
COVERAGE
The Survival Guide to Kabul has featured on
several occasions in the Moby Capital Daily Afghanistan Update, a free email
digest of news on Afghanistan. To subscribe email: info@mobycapital.com. The guide has also featured in the BAAG
(British Agencies Afghanistan Group) Bulletin Board which provides a weekly
email on latest Afghanistan developments and in the Afghanistan Briefing Pack
(www.baag.org.uk). The US Embassy in Kabul photocopied the guide
and distributed it to newcomers. IAM uses The Survival Guide to Kabul as part
of its orientation courses for expat staff in Kabul every other month. Thanks to the UNHAS flight crews flying from
Dubai and Islamabad to Kabul for distributing the guides on the planes. We’ve
seen all the passengers reading the guide and taking their free copy with
them! A German organisation (LANDESINITIATIVE ded AFGHANISTAN, Country Initiative of former
Volunteers, 413 of them) who worked in Afghanistan from
1964-1980, has also distributed information on the guide to the volunteers,
German businessmen and institutions working on co-operation with Afghanistan.
THE
STREET KIDS
In September 2002 500 colour cover copies of
the guide were printed in Kabul. A further 2000 with hard colour covers were
printed in Islamabad. More than 600 were printed and bound by the editors on
office printers. The newspaper street sellers sold most of the
copies, often for as much as $10 a copy, though averaging $1-3. Biggest thanks to the Kabul street sellers.
Here are some of their names and ages: Naseer (15), Nasrat (14),
Mustafa (12), Sorab (12), Yonus (12), Ghulam Sadiq (10), Aiaz Gul (12), Tamim
(15), Abdul Muqim (14), Muhibullah (14), Samim (12), Muhammad (16). THE
STORY OF ONE OF THE STREET SELLERS. Naser Barotali has been selling The Survival Guide to Kabul for
two months. With his income he supports his younger brother and his blind
grandfather. He is an orphan. This is his story. Guide 2002: Print
the text of the original guide. Autumn 2002: The
early days of The Survival Guide to Kabul with authors Dominic
Medley and Jude Barrand and the street children who sold the pamphlet. |
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كابل،
افغانستان |
The Survival Guide to Kabul©
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