Finally slept well last night. Took a shower after supper and was in bed by 7:30 pm. Had a brief period awake from about 11 pm to midnight, but woke at 5:30 am. So that's very good. Taking a shower is quite a process. First you turn the cold tap on at the sink which signals to the hot water heater to turn on. Then you turn on the tap in the bath/shower and start collecting the water in a huge bucket as it begins to warm up. When the temperature gets to a nice warm temperature, you turn off the sink tap, step in the shower and pull the knob to release it to the shower head. You have to wash very quickly before the water gets too hot. Yes, I said too hot. It keeps on rising in temperature. When you can't stand it any more, you shut it off and use the water you collected in the bucket to finish off. I had to dunk my head in it to rinse the conditioner out of my hair and then make sure my feet were clean. Strange, but it works.
Yesterday Dr. Rafik, who supervises the three community centers here in southern Afghanistan, picked us up with his driver in a little pick-up truck just after breakfast. We drove south out of Kabul past the former king's palace which was badly bombed during the fight over Kabul after the Russians left. The queen's palace sits about a quarter of a mile behind it; it is also uninhabitable.
Then we are out of the city. Rather like the foothills around Yucaipa CA but most trees are orchards of apricot and apple trees. Very dusty. Occasional herds of goats and sheep. The road is paved until we get to a military checkpoint which we skip by turning right up the side of the mountain, taking the "high road" to Lalander. The occasional villages are collections of walls built up close on both sides of the road. Dr. Rafik explained that this road was constructed by Hekmatyr's troops to supply his army during the fight for Kabul. You might want to google his name and read about him; he's still active in Afghanistan's ongoing political drama.
Then we are driving up the Lalander valley. On our right is the mountain, which shows signs of being quarried for rock. Most of the traffic we encounter are large trucks, some carrying rock, others loads of wood headed for Kabul. On the left is the valley with terraces where water flow is directed. The water is coming from mountain melt. Once in a while you see a couple of men sitting cross-legged on the terrace wall, having a cup of tea perhaps.
The clinic at Lalander was built by a PRT (Provisional Reconstruction Team) from Poland but was never made operational. Morningstar took over that task a few years ago. This clinic is open three days a week, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. We meet the midwife who has a couple of women in burkas with four children in her office. The women cover themselves when our cameras come out and even then turn away from the camera. There are posters on the wall with pictures of contraceptive choices, child in utero, woman's body with interior cutaways. There is a birthing room, but many of the births take place in homes.
We also meet the vaccinator who has a large blue refrigerated chest of vaccines, descriptions of the various required vaccines with samples attached written in Dari. He explains how he keeps track of each patient, who also has a shot record. All this information is regulated by the Health Ministry and regular reports are sent in. He gives a shot to a small child still in diapers who cries just like babies all over the world when subjected to such indignity. The vaccinator explains the maps on the wall which show the routes he takes regularly to take vaccines to outlying areas on his bicycle.
There is also a lab at Lalander with one of three "lab-in-a-box" kits granted by the US military. Much can be determined right on site without having to send samples or people to Kabul.
We drive next to Tangi Saidan which we had passed above on our high road. This is the model community center, a walled compound with separate buildings housing an education center, a communications center, a medical clinic and a guest house.
The education center has several large classrooms. In one, a group of 20-25 young men are being trained as vaccinators for an oral polio vaccination campaign which is being organized for early in October. They travel in teams of two with a loudspeaker to call out their purpose as the enter the village; one team member administers the two drops of vaccine to children under 5, the other keeps records. This is all part of a government effort to lower the mortality rate of children under 5. The young men gather quite eagerly around us foreigners while Dr. Rafik has the trainer explain how the system works. I think they were hoping I would give them one of the colored pencils I had in my hand, but they were for the children next door!
Then we go across the hall where a young woman has a class of 9 girls learning English. Dr. Rafik explains that more children will be coming later as they are let out of school. Brian asks the teacher to continue with the lesson so we can observe. She reads what is written on the entire page which is supposed to be giving her directions on what to do (review the days of the week, ask the students to spell a list of words, ask the students to write out the following sentences) and then asks a student to stand up who then reads back the entire page. It was rather like watching the teaching of the Koran to young boys in the movie "Osama". All rote, no actual involvement of the brain or the hands. This area needs work! We visit the library which also needs some help. There are lots of books in English on health, including a Physician's Desk Reference. Very little in Dari, perhaps 50 books total on children's level.
The communications center has an office for the manager, a young man; a large room with with two sections - one has about 15-30 computers on which students learn basic Office software, the other smaller section has internet access where internet skills are taught and access to the internet is available for those already knowledgeable. Fees are charged for these classes and the internet access, which are agreed upon in meetings with the local shura. Finally there is a radio station room at the rear, manned by another young man who explains how he works out the schedule for the two hours of FM programming six days a week. At our request he plays a CD of Afghani music with rebab, the traditional Afghani guitar. This however entails turning on the generator which generally is not done until time for the computer classes to start.
We also visit the medical clinic which is very similar in layout to the one at Lalander. We meet the midwife and she allows us to interview her for Brian's camera about her education and her work. The woman visiting her has donned her burka but also allows me to interview her. We meet the doctor who has practiced in this area for 10 years, coming six days a week from Kabul. He explains much about the procedures he uses for reporting to the Ministry of Health and tells us that the maternity mortality and infant mortality in this area are both well below the national averages, which are the highest in the world.
We finally visit the guest house: bathrooms with showers, bedrooms with 3-5 twin beds in each, a kitchen which serves Afghani food, not western food, and a dining/living room area. Very nice. Tea is set out for us, but we decide to move ahead because we've been invited to eat lunch at the home of one of Tangi Saidan's vaccinators who in this case is hosting us in his role as malik of the village.
It is quite a drive to his home, located in an area called white castle. (I will edit this after I check with Dr. Rafik.) After we are allowed to drive into the compound having beeped our horn to signal our arrival, we are greeted and escorted into the guest room, off to one side of the main house. We slip our shoes off in the entryway and enter. It is perhaps 12 X 20, with deep red toshaks on three sides. A beautiful oriental carpet is on the floor. Large windows with big ledges line one wall. A television stands on the fourth wall. I am a bit concerned about getting down on the cushions, but I've brought an extra scarf to put over my legs to maintain modesty. (It was a bit tough getting up afterwards but I managed not to embarrass myself or my host!)
A procession of people enter: our host (about 50 and dignified), his son (very tall and handsome, perhaps 25 or so), a little boy (perhaps 3 and cute as a button) and a young man, never identified but who acts in the role of a servant and doesn't partake of the meal. The servant brings around a silver pitcher and wide bowl, pours water over our hands into the bowl. They all help to bring in a tablecloth which is unrolled to reveal three slabs of nan, trays with large plates of seasoned rice, bowls of stewed beef with onions, and a salad of tomato, radish, onions and of course, cilantro. The platters, bowls and bread are arranged so each pair of us has one of each to share. We learned by observing that we could pick up the food with pieces of bread, or spoon the beef mixture and salad onto the rice and use large spoons or bread to pick it up. Our hosts used bread mostly, but the rest of us used spoons. But oh, was it good! I'm partial to onions anyway, but the rice was excellent, seasoned with the onion paste that I've learned how to make from my Kabuli pilau recipe. The beef also was very succulent, not greasy at all. The salad very tart. A well-balanced meal! The son served us each a cup of doh (sp?), a sort of salted watered down yoghurt. I don't usually do milk products, but it was quite tasty. Dr. Rafik put a bunch of the salad in it at the end of the meal to finish. Hmmm...
Next, plates of apples were brought with knives. Brian kindly took charge of our knife and we devoured two, leaving the parings right on the tablecloth. The apples were from his own orchard. Quite tart, good crisp texture. Not quite a honeycrisp but close!
Then the dishes were taken away and the tablecloth rolled up and removed. Again the servant comes by with the pitcher of water and small towels to dry our hands. Out came tea with small bowls of wrapped toffees and sugared almonds. Dr. Rafik explained that the water in this area was hard but very good so we would never have such good tea anywhere else. It was good as were the almonds. According to Dr. Rafik again, the almonds indicated our status as respected guests. Otherwise we might have been served another candy which sticks in your mouth!
And finally came the talk. Much of it was between the host, Dr. Rafik, and his driver. But eventually we were included and we talked about the Taliban, the elections, Afghanistan's past and future. The son never said a word. We were invited to return, to spend a night, all part of the famous pashtunwali. We never saw a female or talked about them.
Well, I'll spare you all the details about the journey home but we made it safely, stopping once to get some air put in a tire. All women we saw in the villages, however, were clad in burkas. We entered Kabul again during rush hour, once again hordes of people, cars driving quite chaotically.
We leave for the north later this morning. Internet access will be limited there so I won't be able to post as frequently. I also won't be able to keep up with the Twins (I was streaming the game live while blogging this morning - lost the 5th straight game, 10 - 1!)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
Day Two
Spent the morning on the computer. Besides the blog and checking my email, I had to check the Twins scores. Folks, fellow Minnesotans, how could you let the Twins get swept by Detroit? Sounds like Mauer was out for the entire series. It's hard to check the Twins website because the pages take so long to load. I finally found a page with just the standings and bookmarked it so I can get the results more quickly.
Also spent some time making sure I had the clothes I need for our trip north which is much more conservative than Kabul. Debbie is loaning me this delicious long black coat with some embroidery on it which makes it make my Pakistani scarf perfectly.
Mae Dawn came over to help make plans for all the things we want to do when we come back from the north. Visit the orphanage, visit the U of Kabul, find some playgrounds to take pictures of for our project, get my shopping done for Masouda, perhaps visit the ISK, the K-12 school for internationals to investigate teaching music. It will be a very busy week.
Late yesterday afternoon, Brian and I went to sit in on a class at the Institute for Leadership Development which has just started up in Kabul. Students were arriving late because of a big traffic tie-up. A huge machine was working on the road so all traffic going one direction was diverted to another street. The police there were very busy keeping traffic moving.
It was the beginning class of a new semester. Only one woman in the class; apparently there had been five last semester. They were using a John Maxwell book Developing the Leader Within You. They were discussing a chapter on Positive Change.
Lively discussion. Very friendly people all of them. The men all wanted to shake my hand, so very progressive. These are the leaders of Afghanistan in the days to come. Several doctors in the group. One mullah, as we learned later.
At the break, the director of the school invited us to his home where his wife and two children fed us dinner, including a hot fudge sundae cake for dessert. Very western food, but very Afghani home, all sitting on toshaks, with a tablecloth spread on the floor in front of us. When she served us dessert, she switched to a more decorative tablecloth. I am going to have to do some serious physical rehab if I'm to be sitting on toshaks a lot! Expect to run into that today as we have lunch in a locals home at one of the communities we visit.
Also joining us for supper was a young Afghani man currently working for the UN. He is a graduate of ILD at the University of Herat and had just spent two years in the US getting a Master's Degree in Diplomacy. Next year he is going back to study at Notre Dame to get some additional law studies to add to his law degree obtained here in Afghanistan. Very open, honest frank discussion about the future of Afghanistan and its citizens. With people like that in the leadership pipeline, there is great hope for the future.
Also spent some time making sure I had the clothes I need for our trip north which is much more conservative than Kabul. Debbie is loaning me this delicious long black coat with some embroidery on it which makes it make my Pakistani scarf perfectly.
Mae Dawn came over to help make plans for all the things we want to do when we come back from the north. Visit the orphanage, visit the U of Kabul, find some playgrounds to take pictures of for our project, get my shopping done for Masouda, perhaps visit the ISK, the K-12 school for internationals to investigate teaching music. It will be a very busy week.
Late yesterday afternoon, Brian and I went to sit in on a class at the Institute for Leadership Development which has just started up in Kabul. Students were arriving late because of a big traffic tie-up. A huge machine was working on the road so all traffic going one direction was diverted to another street. The police there were very busy keeping traffic moving.
It was the beginning class of a new semester. Only one woman in the class; apparently there had been five last semester. They were using a John Maxwell book Developing the Leader Within You. They were discussing a chapter on Positive Change.
Lively discussion. Very friendly people all of them. The men all wanted to shake my hand, so very progressive. These are the leaders of Afghanistan in the days to come. Several doctors in the group. One mullah, as we learned later.
At the break, the director of the school invited us to his home where his wife and two children fed us dinner, including a hot fudge sundae cake for dessert. Very western food, but very Afghani home, all sitting on toshaks, with a tablecloth spread on the floor in front of us. When she served us dessert, she switched to a more decorative tablecloth. I am going to have to do some serious physical rehab if I'm to be sitting on toshaks a lot! Expect to run into that today as we have lunch in a locals home at one of the communities we visit.
Also joining us for supper was a young Afghani man currently working for the UN. He is a graduate of ILD at the University of Herat and had just spent two years in the US getting a Master's Degree in Diplomacy. Next year he is going back to study at Notre Dame to get some additional law studies to add to his law degree obtained here in Afghanistan. Very open, honest frank discussion about the future of Afghanistan and its citizens. With people like that in the leadership pipeline, there is great hope for the future.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Settling In
Yesterday I was so tired that it's amazing I managed to write a coherent blog at all. Much better today, although I woke at 4 am and just decided to get on with my day so I journaled, checked my email - so much faster at that time of the morning! - did my obligatory crossword puzzle and sudoku plus some reading all before breakfast. My low carb diet is sure gone right out of the window. Breakfast was french toast and nan (Afghani bread). Supper last night was leftovers because the cook was not well, but consisted of leftover spaghetti from Saturday night, potatoes in tomato sauce from Sunday noon, rice, and macaroni in tomato sauce. Covered the carbs as though they were the entire food group spectrum. Fresh fruit though, tashakkor.
One would not know we're in a war zone. I can hear birds singing, some children playing next door who sound like children all over the world, a rooster who crows hourly from about 1:30 am on (reminds me of San Bernardino). The streets are full of people just going about their business. No real sidewalks on the main thoroughfares so people walk on the roads, along with the occasional herd of sheep. In the more commercial areas there are sidewalks or dirt paths. There is a new effort to deal with trash so big metal containers have been placed strategically along the streets. It is not as obvious who is to collect them and how often, so they are surrounded by mounds of trash that no longer fits in. In some places you see quite a few police in their blue-gray uniforms. Only at the City Center Mall yesterday did I see one with a visible weapon.
The shops seem to be arranged in groups by trade: one street will have various medical offices and pharmacies, another tailors and fabric stores. The appliance store we were at yesterday was surrounded by sports stores. Apparently an Afghani won a bronze medal at the last Summer Olympics and became an instant national hero. Bodybuilding is very big here.
Then there are the food stores. The produce shops look like our farmer's markets, but even in the barrios of East LA one doesn't see meat hanging out in the open. You might see the chickens in cages in the barrios though! I asked whether they eat rabbit but apparently they are sometimes pets.
The University of Kabul is right on our way home. Yesterday noon when we came by there were hundreds of students out on the street walking, waiting for buses. There are quite a few medical clinics and hospitals along our journey too, some quite good apparently.
Late this afternoon we are going to sit in on the Institute for Leadership Development class for U of Kabul students and have the opportunity to meet the director.
Tomorrow we leave after breakfast with Dr. Rafik to visit the community centers at Lalander and Tangi Saidan, and may have the opportunity to eat lunch with a local family.
Ken just stopped by with a wad of 500 Af notes for me. They're worth just over $11 each. Ooh, now I can go shopping!
Well, I think I'm going to try to get a nap in before lunch as the afternoon is pretty booked and I've been up a long time.
One would not know we're in a war zone. I can hear birds singing, some children playing next door who sound like children all over the world, a rooster who crows hourly from about 1:30 am on (reminds me of San Bernardino). The streets are full of people just going about their business. No real sidewalks on the main thoroughfares so people walk on the roads, along with the occasional herd of sheep. In the more commercial areas there are sidewalks or dirt paths. There is a new effort to deal with trash so big metal containers have been placed strategically along the streets. It is not as obvious who is to collect them and how often, so they are surrounded by mounds of trash that no longer fits in. In some places you see quite a few police in their blue-gray uniforms. Only at the City Center Mall yesterday did I see one with a visible weapon.
The shops seem to be arranged in groups by trade: one street will have various medical offices and pharmacies, another tailors and fabric stores. The appliance store we were at yesterday was surrounded by sports stores. Apparently an Afghani won a bronze medal at the last Summer Olympics and became an instant national hero. Bodybuilding is very big here.
Then there are the food stores. The produce shops look like our farmer's markets, but even in the barrios of East LA one doesn't see meat hanging out in the open. You might see the chickens in cages in the barrios though! I asked whether they eat rabbit but apparently they are sometimes pets.
The University of Kabul is right on our way home. Yesterday noon when we came by there were hundreds of students out on the street walking, waiting for buses. There are quite a few medical clinics and hospitals along our journey too, some quite good apparently.
Late this afternoon we are going to sit in on the Institute for Leadership Development class for U of Kabul students and have the opportunity to meet the director.
Tomorrow we leave after breakfast with Dr. Rafik to visit the community centers at Lalander and Tangi Saidan, and may have the opportunity to eat lunch with a local family.
Ken just stopped by with a wad of 500 Af notes for me. They're worth just over $11 each. Ooh, now I can go shopping!
Well, I think I'm going to try to get a nap in before lunch as the afternoon is pretty booked and I've been up a long time.
Arrival
It's 2:30 in the afternoon here in Kabul. Yes, we arrived safely - almost 24 hours ago. First impressions: lots of traffic, lots of men hanging about, trying to sell phone cards, etc., dust everywhere. We were picked up at the airport but had to walk quite a ways to get to an area where regular people are allowed to park. Police all around the airport but didn't see any guns. Ken and Debbie, the managers of the guest house came along with the driver Zamir. We stopped at a western market on the way to the guest house which had just about everything you might need - General Mills cereals! - chunky peanut butter, chips and dips. But no popcorn so it was good I brought 6 pounds along.
The weather was lovely, just amazingly beautiful, about 75 or 80 degrees. But very dry, which at first was very welcome after the humidity of Dubai (my camera lens misted over so I could hardly take pictures). By last night though, I was feeling my entire skin surface start to shrink. I'll probably look like a raisin when I get home.
The guest house here is not as fancy as the one in Dubai. But the people are just as nice. There are quite a few Afghanis on staff, a cook, a cleaner, drivers, guards and of course Akram who works in the office. He kindly lent me this laptop so I could keep up my blog and check email.
This morning after breakfast we went downtown to buy a vaccuum cleaner for a couple in north Afghanistan(that was the main reason we stopped at the western market yesterday, but what they had wasn't satisfactory.) Nice appliance store - not so many floor samples as we're used to, but quite a variety of products available. Kabul has electricity most of the time now, with only occasional outages, so the products are coming too. Next we walked to the City Center Mall. Big contrast. Once inside (there were guards outside and in, and saw my first armed guard) you might have thought you were in Dubai. Three stories of shops and another five stories of hotel, with a huge open stairwell that let you see all the way up. There are escalators there, but they weren't working, the only ones in Kabul apparently. Shops selling electronics, jewelry, videos, clothes. I stopped into one store to check prices on a lovely silk dress outfit - $472 US.
The big news is that we have decided to go to north Afghanistan on Wednesday, returning here on Sunday. The community center there is one that was started up by another group and came under the auspices of Morningstar a couple of years ago. They have many programs up and running there but Brian has never had a chance to visit. Life is more conservative up there and they use solar power for everything. Also no indoor plumbing. Hey, why not; it'll be just like summer camp!
The weather was lovely, just amazingly beautiful, about 75 or 80 degrees. But very dry, which at first was very welcome after the humidity of Dubai (my camera lens misted over so I could hardly take pictures). By last night though, I was feeling my entire skin surface start to shrink. I'll probably look like a raisin when I get home.
The guest house here is not as fancy as the one in Dubai. But the people are just as nice. There are quite a few Afghanis on staff, a cook, a cleaner, drivers, guards and of course Akram who works in the office. He kindly lent me this laptop so I could keep up my blog and check email.
This morning after breakfast we went downtown to buy a vaccuum cleaner for a couple in north Afghanistan(that was the main reason we stopped at the western market yesterday, but what they had wasn't satisfactory.) Nice appliance store - not so many floor samples as we're used to, but quite a variety of products available. Kabul has electricity most of the time now, with only occasional outages, so the products are coming too. Next we walked to the City Center Mall. Big contrast. Once inside (there were guards outside and in, and saw my first armed guard) you might have thought you were in Dubai. Three stories of shops and another five stories of hotel, with a huge open stairwell that let you see all the way up. There are escalators there, but they weren't working, the only ones in Kabul apparently. Shops selling electronics, jewelry, videos, clothes. I stopped into one store to check prices on a lovely silk dress outfit - $472 US.
The big news is that we have decided to go to north Afghanistan on Wednesday, returning here on Sunday. The community center there is one that was started up by another group and came under the auspices of Morningstar a couple of years ago. They have many programs up and running there but Brian has never had a chance to visit. Life is more conservative up there and they use solar power for everything. Also no indoor plumbing. Hey, why not; it'll be just like summer camp!
Friday, September 24, 2010
In Transit
I'm sitting here in a lovely guest house in Dubai at 9:30 pm Dubai time. I think that's about 12:30 pm on Friday back in Minnesota. The flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta was uneventful although exceedingly crowded. A Somali woman and I helped each other make the transfer to the E concourse from the A - ooh, I love those trams! Brian arrived about half an hour after I did, coming from North Carolina.
The Dubai flight was more efficient in boarding and I was seated next to another Somali woman who had started in Seattle and was making a connection here in Dubai to Somalia (I think.) What a long trek. Being an overseas flight, each seat had its own video screen to watch movies, play games or keep track of the trip. In the cycle of screens for the travel info, data was given in English with American measurements, then metric, a series of maps at three different resolutions, all of this first in English, then in Arabic. They also include a figure of the plane with a directional arrow pointing the way to Mecca and the distance from there. The flight was 14 hours with some turbulence and too much food.
The airport in Dubai is huge. Lots of English signs. I find I can read much of the Arabic, although I have no idea necessarily what it means or if I'm pronouncing it correctly. At least I have gotten to the point where the letters mean the sounds to me - I don't translate them into English letters although I do study Dari (Farsi) in both the transliterated and Dari versions. Dari doesn't have a lot of vowels, I imagine Arabic is the same. You just have to learn them. There are symbols that are used when teaching children or foreigners which tell what the vowel sound is, whether there is a glottal or a double consonant, etc. They are not used in standard written Dari however.
I found myself wondering when I would see men in flowing robes while walking through the airport. And finally, there they were, a bunch of them all dressed in white, very uniform. I soon realized that these were the employees coming on to man the passport control booths. There were a few women working there too, all dressed in flowing black. Reminded me of Spy vs. Spy in the old Mad Magazine comics of my brother Tom's. Dubai is pretty liberal so most westerners hadn't made any adjustment to their dress. I did notice some lovely ladies with a sort of white pillbox affair with veils draping down the sides. Very fashionable, I thought. When I saw the second one and her dress was exactly the same as the first, tunic, long skirt with front slit, I realized they must be airline employees.
We exchanged $100 US into $361 dirhams so we could pay for the taxi and the guest house. The taxi driver was from Egypt, was a bit concerned he wouldn't be able to find the place, but did just fine. The guest house is lovely, secure courtyard, lovely rooms. My room is on the 2nd level and I'm in a sitting room which has computers, couches and lots of bookshelves. I could stay here for days! My room has three twin beds and its own bathroom. We'll have breakfast in the morning, then head off to the airport about 9:15 am (just after midnight for you Minnesotans) to catch our noon flight to Kabul.
Ooh, one final note: when I logged on to my blog tonight, all the commands at the top are in Arabic! It took a while to find the place where I could sign in and post.
The Dubai flight was more efficient in boarding and I was seated next to another Somali woman who had started in Seattle and was making a connection here in Dubai to Somalia (I think.) What a long trek. Being an overseas flight, each seat had its own video screen to watch movies, play games or keep track of the trip. In the cycle of screens for the travel info, data was given in English with American measurements, then metric, a series of maps at three different resolutions, all of this first in English, then in Arabic. They also include a figure of the plane with a directional arrow pointing the way to Mecca and the distance from there. The flight was 14 hours with some turbulence and too much food.
The airport in Dubai is huge. Lots of English signs. I find I can read much of the Arabic, although I have no idea necessarily what it means or if I'm pronouncing it correctly. At least I have gotten to the point where the letters mean the sounds to me - I don't translate them into English letters although I do study Dari (Farsi) in both the transliterated and Dari versions. Dari doesn't have a lot of vowels, I imagine Arabic is the same. You just have to learn them. There are symbols that are used when teaching children or foreigners which tell what the vowel sound is, whether there is a glottal or a double consonant, etc. They are not used in standard written Dari however.
I found myself wondering when I would see men in flowing robes while walking through the airport. And finally, there they were, a bunch of them all dressed in white, very uniform. I soon realized that these were the employees coming on to man the passport control booths. There were a few women working there too, all dressed in flowing black. Reminded me of Spy vs. Spy in the old Mad Magazine comics of my brother Tom's. Dubai is pretty liberal so most westerners hadn't made any adjustment to their dress. I did notice some lovely ladies with a sort of white pillbox affair with veils draping down the sides. Very fashionable, I thought. When I saw the second one and her dress was exactly the same as the first, tunic, long skirt with front slit, I realized they must be airline employees.
We exchanged $100 US into $361 dirhams so we could pay for the taxi and the guest house. The taxi driver was from Egypt, was a bit concerned he wouldn't be able to find the place, but did just fine. The guest house is lovely, secure courtyard, lovely rooms. My room is on the 2nd level and I'm in a sitting room which has computers, couches and lots of bookshelves. I could stay here for days! My room has three twin beds and its own bathroom. We'll have breakfast in the morning, then head off to the airport about 9:15 am (just after midnight for you Minnesotans) to catch our noon flight to Kabul.
Ooh, one final note: when I logged on to my blog tonight, all the commands at the top are in Arabic! It took a while to find the place where I could sign in and post.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Final Preparations
Well, tomorrow is the big day and this prep has not been without its own drama. I ordered my Afghanistan visa through a service (which shall remain nameless) and somehow, some way, my passport with its new visa got sent to an address in Colorado Springs where a Morningstar associate "used" to live. When I finally saw the tracking receipt on Tuesday morning stating that the parcel had been "Left on Porch" in "Colorado Springs", my faith (and patience) was sorely tested. However, the Morningstar staff rallied, sent someone to the residence and retrieved the package, and overnighted it to me. Whew!
Had a lovely day at Redeemer on Sunday being blessed by everyone. Spent the last couple of days buying the final necessities: new crossword puzzle and suduko books, kleenex, new batteries for the travel alarm, compressions bags for those lovely blankets made by the Coon Rapids VBS kids. Lunch yesterday with friends at Khyber Pass Restaurant in St. Paul, then back again today to get orders from Masouda and Emel for things to shop for. I am so NOT a shopper, it's really nice to have someone give me a reason to get out and about and see what is available. They also gave me a list of places to visit on their behalf. I need to learn how to be a good photographer too.
I just checked in for my flight and got my boarding pass. My brother Jim is kindly taking me to the airport. Lift-off is scheduled for 3:30 pm for a 2-1/2 hour flight to Atlanta where I will meet Brian for the overnight flight of 14 hours to Dubai. We'll stay there at a guest house called "The Edge of the Woods" (sounds like Minnesota!) and fly to Kabul at noon the next day, arriving about 3:00 pm Kabul time. Afghanistan is ahead of Minnesota by 10-1/2 hours.
Had a lovely day at Redeemer on Sunday being blessed by everyone. Spent the last couple of days buying the final necessities: new crossword puzzle and suduko books, kleenex, new batteries for the travel alarm, compressions bags for those lovely blankets made by the Coon Rapids VBS kids. Lunch yesterday with friends at Khyber Pass Restaurant in St. Paul, then back again today to get orders from Masouda and Emel for things to shop for. I am so NOT a shopper, it's really nice to have someone give me a reason to get out and about and see what is available. They also gave me a list of places to visit on their behalf. I need to learn how to be a good photographer too.
I just checked in for my flight and got my boarding pass. My brother Jim is kindly taking me to the airport. Lift-off is scheduled for 3:30 pm for a 2-1/2 hour flight to Atlanta where I will meet Brian for the overnight flight of 14 hours to Dubai. We'll stay there at a guest house called "The Edge of the Woods" (sounds like Minnesota!) and fly to Kabul at noon the next day, arriving about 3:00 pm Kabul time. Afghanistan is ahead of Minnesota by 10-1/2 hours.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Remembering
All through the weekend of September 11, I kept listening in vain for anyone to acknowledge what Afghanistan might be remembering at this time. Two days before 9/11, on September 9, 2001, two Al-Qaeda terrorists disguised as television journalists, with Belgian passports and claiming to be Moroccan, managed to gain an interview with General Ahmed Shah Massoud, the Lion of Panshir, head of the Northern Alliance, and assassinated him by setting off bombs hidden in their cameras. He had been extremely wary of meeting with them - assassination attempts were frequent. But he decided to take the opportunity to try to explain himself and the Northern Alliance to the Arab audience.
According to many sources, Massoud represented Afghanistan's best hope for a moderate leader, but he was disliked by the Pakistanis who controlled the flow of US and Saudi money to the Afghanistan mujahedin. According to Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, Massoud had warned the CIA about the dangers of the Taliban, Pakistani intelligence and their Arab voulunteers for many years. See chapter 19: "We're Keeping These Stingers". Yet because of the US commitment to trusting Pakistan, Massoud's warnings were not taken seriously in the necessary quarters.
Hindsight has the luxury of 20/20 vision. It seems to me that the US has missed some momentous opportunities to have created a better outcome in Central Asia than the chaos of the past two decades. And it is frightening that Al-Qaeda more astutely recognized the value of Massoud in Afghanistan's future. As hard as it is for we navel-gazing Americans to admit it, our tragedy was merely the 2nd act of the September 2001 debacle. More horrific perhaps, but no more consequential.
I find myself wondering where I was in 1997 when the Taliban were taking over Afghanistan. Busy with my life in southern California, working as a chaplain at the LA County Jail, doing good. But why didn't I pay any attention to the fact the Afghanis were leaving the country in droves to flee the Taliban. Wasn't it in the news? Certainly many Americans were aware as I've learned from my reading over that past two years.
Now that I do know, I feel a responsibility to be involved, to be there. It may feel like I've missed the boat, but I'm trusting that while I was doing my thing, being there in the LA County Jail in 1997, now my thing is to "be there" in Afghanistan.
I remember an occasion while I was working as a chaplain at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre in the late 80's when I met a recently released inmate for coffee in downtown Saskatoon. Midway through our conversation, he blurted out "I can't understand why I feel so calm when I'm around you." The guards on the semi-secure unit told me how much my presence in the unit on Saturday nights, playing cards, kept the unit calm. I can only hope that my presence in Afghanistan, whichever form it takes over the next decade, helps someone, anyone, to feel calm.
According to many sources, Massoud represented Afghanistan's best hope for a moderate leader, but he was disliked by the Pakistanis who controlled the flow of US and Saudi money to the Afghanistan mujahedin. According to Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, Massoud had warned the CIA about the dangers of the Taliban, Pakistani intelligence and their Arab voulunteers for many years. See chapter 19: "We're Keeping These Stingers". Yet because of the US commitment to trusting Pakistan, Massoud's warnings were not taken seriously in the necessary quarters.
Hindsight has the luxury of 20/20 vision. It seems to me that the US has missed some momentous opportunities to have created a better outcome in Central Asia than the chaos of the past two decades. And it is frightening that Al-Qaeda more astutely recognized the value of Massoud in Afghanistan's future. As hard as it is for we navel-gazing Americans to admit it, our tragedy was merely the 2nd act of the September 2001 debacle. More horrific perhaps, but no more consequential.
I find myself wondering where I was in 1997 when the Taliban were taking over Afghanistan. Busy with my life in southern California, working as a chaplain at the LA County Jail, doing good. But why didn't I pay any attention to the fact the Afghanis were leaving the country in droves to flee the Taliban. Wasn't it in the news? Certainly many Americans were aware as I've learned from my reading over that past two years.
Now that I do know, I feel a responsibility to be involved, to be there. It may feel like I've missed the boat, but I'm trusting that while I was doing my thing, being there in the LA County Jail in 1997, now my thing is to "be there" in Afghanistan.
I remember an occasion while I was working as a chaplain at the Saskatoon Correctional Centre in the late 80's when I met a recently released inmate for coffee in downtown Saskatoon. Midway through our conversation, he blurted out "I can't understand why I feel so calm when I'm around you." The guards on the semi-secure unit told me how much my presence in the unit on Saturday nights, playing cards, kept the unit calm. I can only hope that my presence in Afghanistan, whichever form it takes over the next decade, helps someone, anyone, to feel calm.
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