Day Three

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!)