Time for 2008 Trip to Afghanistan

Tomorrow we leave for our sixth humanitarian trip to Afghanistan. We had planned to fly from Dubai to Peshawar and drive over khyber pass to Jalalabad, but some of our associates in Jalalabad recommeneded against going through Pakistan this year, due to security concerns.

So we have rebooked tickets flying directly from Dubai to Kabul and will fly on a domestic flight to Jalalabad.

We have a number of projects and activities planned for the trip which I will share as we go along. Highlights include a Women's Community Health Seminar, Art and Computer Workshop at a girls school, delivery of a number of high quality textbooks and general subject reading books to six reading rooms at schools in Jalalabad and Kabul, delivery of sewing machines and supplies to the Nangarhar Women's Prison, and a children's reading and play corner, ongoing support for the rural school field health worker, and participation with several Rotary clubs in Afghanistan.

We have been lucky to have made some wonderful contacts in the communities we serve and it is a joy to be invited to visit with them and learn more about the culture and everyday family life.

My Rotary club has collaborated with another Rotary club in east Mesa, Arizona and we have completed construction and implementation of four women's poultry farms in the Jalalabad/Surkh Rud/Behsood area. On this trip we will have the opportunity to tour the four farms for the first time and visit with the women and their families.

In Afghan Pashtun Muslim culture, women are not allowed to be seen or looked upon by a man who is not a close family relative. For this reason, when we visit with the families of the four households where the women's poultry farms are located, it will be impossible for the male members of our travel team to meet or even see the women. The female members of our group will however be able to go into the back women's area and enjoy a visit participate in discussions with them. The ladies are always very sweet and shy, and have questions for us, as we do for them.

I always feel lucky to have these more intimate insights into the lives of the women in this part of the world. They are a mystery to us in the West because they are so cloistered and secluded. We don't always get invited to meet the women, it usually seems to depend upon the man of the house, whether he likes us or not, or perhaps has to decide if it is worth the complications it may cause by introducing the strange western females to his wives and daughters, versus their interest and excitement at being able to visit with foreigners.

If we behave ourselves and keep our headscarves on our heads and try to behave in a 'demure' and non aggresive, polite manner, we are generally invited to meet the females, and I am always delighted when permission is given.

Getting to Afghanistan

When I first became interested in developing a new non-profit organization, I knew that to work with children and families in Afghanistan it would be imperative to travel there. The more I read and studied about the Afghan people, particularly the Pashtun Afghan people and culture, I became fascinated with this unique and beautiful part of the world. I was saddened by the degree of suffering and poverty that existed there. I was also shocked by the long history of violence that seemed to be a constant part of the history of Afghanistan.

But getting there, I knew, was important, in order to make contact and establish relationships with individuals or groups within the country, who were familiar with and were a part of the culture and customs.

I was very lucky to have been introduced to several NGO's and organizations that were just beginning to re-emerge and work again in Afghanistan. Several were cordial and willing to assist us with the logistical challenges of travel, accomodations, introductions to local schools and community leaders.

Our primary contact was the Abdul Haq Foundation, based in Peshawar, Pakistan at the time, the home of the late Abdul Haq, an Afghan mujahadeen fighter well known and respected within the Afghan community, who had been killed in October of 2001. His brother Haji Qadir, the governor of Nangarhar Province and Vice-President under the new interim Afghan government, had also recently been assasinated in Kabul, and the family was in mourning as we had prepared for our trip. We had nevertheless been invited to stay at the Abdul Haq guest house in Peshawar and graciously offered assistance with accomodations and logistical support into Afghanistan.

Our first trip over the Khyber Pass and into Jalalabad, Afghanistan, the first major city traveling West between Pakistan and Afghanistan, was memorable and in many ways indescribable. The United States and allied military forces had recently entered the country, and it was only as of November 2001 that westerners were allowed into the country. Thousands upon thousands of returning Afghan refugees were traveling back into the country. The roads were teeming with buses, trucks, cars and taxis loaded with people and belongings returning to their homeland.