October in Afghanistan

Last week I took a trip to the Panjshir Valley with the Kabul CSSP Team. We took our own vehicle and driver and followed up through some of the most beautiful country I have seen in Afghanistan, following the Salang River for a time and then turning a hard right, traveling East through small villages and clusters of wooden merchant and vendor displays on up to Panjshir.

We met with the Commander of the men's prison there and also with the US military PRT Commander. Both men expressed their struggles and challenges and also described successes in their own respective areas of responsibility. The CSSP Team (Corrections System Support Program) was actively involved in developing support for the prison commander, as well as communicating about collaboration with the PRT Major.

We then drove down to Parwan and I was able to tour the Parwan Women's Prison for the first time. The female quarters are composed of essentially three small, dark, tightly occupied rooms, with women and children occupying the rooms. I had invited Laura Bradford, a Dental Hygienist from Caldwell, Idaho, who is working with James Rolfe, DDS in Kabul, to join us. Laura brought toothbrushes and toothpaste for each of the female inmates and children and discussed oral hygiene and the importance of brushing the teeth twice daily after meals. I was not sure how much of the discussion was getting through to the ladies, but they seemed willing to cooperate with us on some level.

I would love to see some visible improvements to this location over the coming year or two. The women's facility is in severe need of a general painting of the interior of each room, exterior of buildings and perimeter walls. There is space outside for a small garden and sitting area, but a couple of trees would need to be planted.

We delivered some personal care items: soap, lotion, toothbrushes, toothpaste, some small soft toys and notebooks and pens for the children and young women. There is an empty room that could be cleaned up and organized into a new small reading room library with tables and chairs for literacy, vocational training and sewing for the women and school for the children. I hope to return to this place again. There are hygiene kits and school bags coming to CSSP in a couple of months and some of these items will be delivered here.