In what will be the next post, you will hear about the "bazaar walks" and other missions we have done. It was actually a really good time. Well, enough rambling from me, I know you came by to see 'the real story'...
Hello All!Paris was everything I hoped it would be and more! I could fill this entire letter with Paris details, but I will save that for another time. I did enjoy myself and look forward to sharing my pictures with everyone. When I returned to FOB Mehtar Lam I had some time to get caught up on the latest changes then started back on missions.First was a QA/QC to the Mehtar Lam Power Plant. The engineers are monitoring the repairs to the local power plant so after photographing the progress we drove to a place in the city to do a presence patrol. We walk for a couple of hours and talked to the locals along the road with our SECFOR. I love these patrols because I get to interact with the children. This particular area has a lot of schools and they go in shifts throughout the day so we were able to talk to the kids as they were walking home from school. They were very proud of their UNICEF notebooks and shared their school work with us.On another mission we visited the Social Affairs Director, who runs the local orphanage, at his office to discuss building a new orphanage. We spoke with the engineers and looked at the land where he would like to see it built. The view from the hill where they want the orphanage is beautiful. The mountains and the fields below in the village were a great backdrop. The Social Affairs office holds vocational workshops for men, women and for men leaving the Taliban trying to reintegrate into society. We visited with lots of children as usual and I was stopped by a woman who was having a hard time trying to get money for her son-in-law who was killed. There is a program here that provides assistance for families when a family member dies in war time. The old woman had a lot of questions and comments about being strong and brave to leave my family and come to help the women of Afghanistan. She was trying to get me to come to her house and sit with her. She would not let go of my hand and kept hugging me. I feel bad when I can’t sit with them and talk at length and I wish I could go and spend a day in their life to truly understand them better.Next CPT Love and I went to visit the known location of the Mehtar Lam District Center (DC). We needed to confirm what the facility was being used for because some districts have a government representative from all the different ministries at the DC for the locals to address their needs. We found that the NDS were located in the building instead of it being used as a district center. The NDS are kind of like the FBI in America and it turned out to be an interesting visit after all. They explained how they do their background checks for hiring employees. They go into the village the person comes from and talk to everyone about the person and their entire family. If the family lineage is bad or if there are other bad reports from locals they cannot be hired.Another mission was to the Mehtar Lam prison. I learned a lot about the court process from the civilians from the US that went with us and the locals that work there. We were not allowed to wear our vests or carry any weapons while we were touring the facility; the SECFOR guys were not happy about this. The men roam freely and don’t get locked up in individual cells like in the states. The male side of the jail was full and had some of them working and some lounging around in the open courtyard. The women have their own area to live in individual rooms that open up into a courtyard. The courtyard had all kinds of flowers and a walk way all around the flowers in the center. The rooms are very simple with a bed, a cabinet and a table. We visited with the two women currently incarcerated. One was sentenced to 6 years for leaving her husband. She said she left after taking enough of her husband beating her with a strap and causing her kidney and heart problems. She snuck out in the night and stayed with family until she was caught. The husband’s family refused to let her see her children all these years, but she had only ten days left of her sentence and hoped to see her children when she gets out. The other younger female has been through the first of three court processes and has been convicted of killing someone. She claims that a man did it and there is no evidence to prove she was involved. She will serve 18 years if all three courts keep her conviction. The young woman had her little boy with her and we were told children are encouraged to live there with the moms until they are 7 years old. The women make beautiful beaded jewelry and gave us some things they made. They try to sell the jewelry or just enjoy passing the time with them. I met with two women that work at the prison and had their four children living with them in a very small room with mats on the floor for sleeping. The facility has a medical clinic and a little store. I got permission from the guards to go back to take some toys and school supplies for the kids living there. It is very hard to see the little kids playing in the dirt. The facility is nothing like what we have back home, but it is interesting learning the rule of law stuff here in Afghanistan.I went on a mission to the Governor’s compound. It was an interesting experience sitting in a room full of US Military Officers, our Sergeant Major, and Dept of State Representative as we listened to what the Governor is upset about this week. Our Commander introduced me to Governor Azizi as the Female Engagement Team Leader and we briefly discuss Women’s Affairs in Mehtar Lam. We talked, had lunch and then chai in the garden. The governor has great English skills due to receiving his education in Pakistan and has a background in education. The food was really good; I really like the Afghan rice and the bread they serve. The Governors daughter sat on my lap in the garden and colored in my notebook while we drank chai and talked some more. I am glad for the experience, but would much rather spend time talking with the locals and playing with the kids in the village.I went along for a village walk with our Commander. The area is very poor and the children are known to be very aggressive and out of control. I did not know exactly what that meant until I experienced it for myself. I barely got off the truck and was being pulled on by children. I had a bag of toys and candy that the commander asked me to hand out. I had a very hard time getting the kids to stay back so I could pass it out fairly and they almost knocked me over in the process. I had kids bending my fingers fighting for stuff and many times SECFOR had to help get the kids under control. Finally we divided up into smaller groups and entertained the kids with playing games, climbing trees with them, and talking with them using Elders or police to calm them down. The area and children were very dirty with trash all over and some kids did not have shoes on. The Commander met with one of the Elders then joined us with the kids. It is very hard to see these kids living in this area. The smell alone was hard to handle and the body odor of the people as they crowd around us was hard as well. I still love talking to the people and it is funny how some of them act. I was proposed to by three guys this time and joked with them as they tried to outdo each other and impress me. One guy showed me his business card with Bruce Lee on it and told me he teaches Karate; they are so funny. I try to learn what is important to them or how they spend their time. It is a very simple life of work or school and not much in between. No TV, video games or books to read. The children hang out or walk around; many of them sit on the side of the road with what looks like nothing to do. The best part for me is when you speak to the kids and they come alive as they tell us things they know or ask about America and their facial expressions or how they try to talk over one another. They ask me what my name is, if I am married, if I have brothers, and if I like Afghanistan. The smiles on these kids faces made up for the way I felt attacked when we first got there. (Except for the kid that stole my glasses out of my helmet I was holding in my hand) I love to go back and look at the pictures everyone takes and see the expressions on the people’s faces. Old and young they all fascinate me.Part of my job as the Female Engagement Team Leader is to work with the Director of Women’s Affairs (DoWA). We went to the DoWA Center and met with her and took a tour of the facility to see what kinds of things they have for the women of Afghanistan. The DoWA and her staff were very nice and of course asked for our assistance. It was interesting to see what kinds of jobs she said women can have here and the problems they face with the Taliban trying to keep them from getting to work. A German NGO donated 30 sewing machines for females to take sewing classes. I was very excited when they showed me a room full of “antique” sewing machines. I have an Antique Singer machine similar to these and I love that they will be using these machines. I found it interesting that the workshops that the women can take are advertised by the Mullahs in the Mosques in town. The DoWA helps the women get legal help and tries to find different ways for the women to make money or learn skills. She does not have a good reputation, but I hear everyone is corrupt here so it’s hard to tell. We were given a box of cookies as a gift and the DoWA repeatedly said she appreciated all the support she has received for the PRT. I have become friends with her assistant, a male who has been working on women’s issues for several years, and will be working with her and her office while I am here.One of the hardest missions we went on so far was to the orphanage. We took clothes and blankets to them and the Governor of Laghman Province came to visit the orphanage. The children and the Social Affairs Director gave us a tour of the school before handing out the donated items. The children recited songs or the alphabet for us and we got to see what they do for Pashto/English lessons. There are 318 children in the orphanage; mostly females, but a handful of boys. The facility does not have overnight accommodations so the girls who are missing a mother, father or both go sleep with family members and return during the day. The down side of that is some of the uncles allow the girls to live with them for free but they marry them off to the male cousins as payment for their kindness. The Director is trying to get a new orphanage built so the girls will be safe and not be married off. The average bride price in our Province is $15,000 (US) so anything they can do to not pay it or take advantage of the orphans is a big problem here. There is a group of girls that took part in a sewing class. We got to meet them and give them sewing kits to use now that they have graduated the class. When we walk through the orphanage the kids shouted “thank you” or came to the doors or windows trying to shake our hands. Ordinarily, the girls are shy, but in the enclosed environment they acted a little different. On the street they come up quickly, shake our hand then get back. Inside the rooms it seemed like they were studying us. They asked some of us questions and would hug us or get very close when we took pictures with them. I had to follow the Governor around with his entourage to make sure him and the Social Affairs Director looked like they were working together on camera. I like the Social Affairs Director because he seems to really care about the girls. His son (4yr old I think) is also a student at the school and when you talk to him he seems passionate about wanting to get the girls a safe place to stay. I struggled with playing the political game of the Governor walking in and looking like he made this all happen, but I want to believe that the end state is that the kids got needed clothes, hats, socks and blankets.I still have about five months left and since I got back we have three to five missions a week planned. We are going to be busy and I love every minute we get off the FOB to experience Afghan culture and all the people here. I try not to be sad for them and I try not to feel like I need to save them all. I am trying to understand the transition happening here with the pull out of troops that is supposed to happen in 2014. It makes our job so much harder when we have to say no more money and you have to help yourself because we are leaving. Some don’t believe it and some just blow us off and look to the next NGO for a hand out. I feel so restricted by my uniform and gear and wish I had a better way to spend time with them. I learn so much from them and am blessed by the smiles and hugs and the little ones that follow us around in awe of a girl in a uniform carrying a gun. I have one little girl in particular that I run into every time I am in the city and she follows us and smiles the whole time. I just want to wrap my arms around her and tell her she can be anything she wants to be if she puts her mind to it. If only it were true.Blessings from Mehtar Lam. More mission updates to come soon.Sabrina
I assure you, we heard ALL about Paris for the last few weeks....she really had a good time.
CPT Love
