How do you express that much joy?

Each night I go to bed thinking that there is no way that tomorrow could possibly be better than today.  And each day I am proved wrong.

Today we were able to take our first trip out to Barek Aub.  Barek Aub is a small town north of Kabul that Sozo has been involved with since it was a tent of 300 families in a field.  Today they have a water system, a school, a clinic and many homes.  As we drove out to Barek Aub, I was struck by how much has changed on the way there.  18 months ago it was fairly barren between Kabul and Barek Aub, but now there are many new side roads and buildings along the way.  We saw a lot of construction and even surveyors getting measurements for future construction.  When we pulled into Barek Aub I was amazed at how much had changed.  There were so many more homes and actual roads and a playground.  But still that initial tent stood in the middle of town.  It is a reminder of where they started, and when you look around it you can see how far they have come.

A couple of years ago Sozo started constructing homes for widows in Barek Aub, and we were able to go visit three of those homes and spend time with 10 different widows.  The experience in the first home will stay with me forever.

As we walked in we were all struck by the beauty of the home.  Not only is it constructed amazingly well, but it was truly a home.  It had beautiful walls painted in two shades of pink, with some glitter thrown in.  The carpets on the floor were beautiful and the toshacks were all laid out on the floor.  And then we met the young woman who lived there.  Her name is Soma and she is 18.  She is not a widow in the traditional sense, her mother died when she was a child and her father is disabled.  She has two sisters, one who is 12 that lives with her and her father.  And she is the woman of the house.   And as she was pouring us tea, she told us how thankful she was to Sozo for giving her so much.  As she continued pouring tea she began to pour our her soul to us and how she had felt so hopeless before but that this house and everything she has received has given her a hope for the future, and the tears began to pour from her eyes.

Being in that room and being able to hug Soma and her sister was overwhelming.   But knowing that because of the work that Sozo is doing and the encouragement that we were able to give Soma today, will give her hope and that she may one day become the doctor that she dreams to be, there are no words for that.  I will forever be grateful to be a small part of the transformation that is happening in this country.

"We have realized two things: everyone cries the same, and everyone laughs the same." - Mary

Fly swatters and chocolate

Today was an amazing day.  The highlights happened before lunch and after dinner.  After breakfast we were able to begin sorting items that we had brought and that Sozo had been given that we will give to some of the women here.  They are both everyday items like lotion, soap, and shampoo as well as little gifts like hand knitted hats and scarves.

In the middle of the sorting, the school teachers from the Sozo School in Kabul came to visit.  The Sozo School is a school that teaches kids that have to work to help support their families, by begging or selling little trinkets in the street.  If they don't work, there is a good chance that many of their families will not eat.  Because of the need for them to work, most of them have not been educated, so the Sozo School tries to fill the gap.  There are about 170 kids there now, and each class may have kids that are between the ages of 6 and 15, but they are all at the same ability level.  The teachers are all amazing women who have a passion to helping children who may not have any other chance to learn how to read or write.  They hope to give these children a better future.  We enjoyed some time sitting and talking and getting to know one another.  The wonderful thing about women is that no matter where we live we are all the same.  We all understand the fights that happen between sisters, we all understand family and struggle to balance it all.  It becomes so easy to connect with these women when you realize that they are just like you, they just live somewhere else.

The rest of the afternoon was spent bagging all of the stuff we had sorted in the morning. After dinner we all went into the living room to spend some time relaxing.  Wakil came and joined us, and in no time had us all laughing.  At one point I was laughing so hard that I began crying.  We sat around laughing and eating chocolate and having fun.  It was a wonderful ending to an amazing day.

"I pray that Afghanistan will no longer need guns... just fly swatters and chocolate" - Wakil

Kites in Kabul

We made it safely! We had no travel problems and made it to the guest house in Kabul safe and sound and ready for a great breakfast Friday morning.  After a wonderful morning of spending time with members of the long-term team and two wonderful meals, Wakil took us out for a city tour.  Kabul is a beautiful city, full of unexpected sights.

Wakil first took us up to one of the many hills that overlook the city.  Kabul is surrounded by mountains so there are many "foothills" within the city.  The one had the tombs of the king and queen at the top.  There were lots of children running around, and hundreds of boys and men flying kites.  Kite flying is one of the national past times here, and it was outlawed by the Taliban when they were in power.  It was wonderful to see so many kites in the air.

Then we went to the palace.  The palace is one of the normal stops on the city tour, and was once a magnificent building.  It was destroyed in the 70's during one of the civil wars, and now looks like this:

There were lots of kids running around and we inquired one of the guards as to where they had come from, and we found out that they were living there.  The palace had recently been turned into a home for some Internally Displaced People (IDP's) from up north.  There are 312 families living there, which is about 1500-1800 people.  They have a well, and Unicef has put up tents where the children can go to school, but the building doesn't offer much protection from the elements.  Wakil is currently working on ways to get them extra help.

When we found out that so many families were living there, it was a very sobering moment.  Up until then we had had a fairly carefree day, but at that moment we were reminded that this is a country that is still at war, and that even if the fighting all ends today, the people who live here will face challenges for many years to come as they rebuild their country and their lives.  But the hopeful part is that there are organizations like Sozo that can, and are, making a huge difference in the lives of Afghans.  They are bringing hope to people who could easily be hopeless, and we get to be a small part of it.

We're off!

Well, actually we were off about 24 hours ago, but this is the first chance I've had to sit down with internet connection.  We made it from DIA to Washington DC and are now sitting in the departure lounge at the Dubai airport.  We'll go check in for our flight to Kabul in about an hour and land in Afghanistan in about 7.  Then the goal becomes staying awake.

So you know who all of us are, here's a picture of the team before we left DIA:

From left to right they are: Amanda, me, Debbie, Kelly, Cathi, Mary, Karen, Katy, Deb and Cyndy.

  

Purple, Yellow, Raspberry, Pink, Green, Gold, Blue

A couple weeks ago my team and I had our service day.  It's a chance for the team to do serve locally and to spend more time getting to know each other.  For our service day we got to paint the shed out at the community garden.

The community garden is on the outskirts of Lafayette, and people pay for a plot and all we ask is that they donate part of what they grow to a local food bank or to a family that is in need.  The shed has been out there, and is completely usable, but needed a little love just to look better.  

So one Saturday morning, after a stop at the local Starbucks, we all headed over in our painting clothes.  We had visions of lots of color, and spent a good amount of time mixing paint.  We didn't want to paint the whole thing one color, so I think we ended up with about 7.  We painted each surface a different color and then we let one of the artists take over and design all the accents.  And here's what we ended up with....

It's so bright and cheery, and we hope that the gardeners all enjoy it.  But the best part of the day was laughing and playing with my team.  They are amazing women and I am so excited to share this trip with them.

Fun and Games

So one of the goals that my team has while we're in Afghanistan is to honor women.  Women are rarely, if ever, publicly thanked for all that they do, and we want them to know that what they are doing is making a difference.  And that they are loved by people half-a-world away.  So one of the things that we hope to do while over in Afghanistan is throw a party for some of the school teachers.  We hope to have them over for a meal, give them gifts and enjoy an evening together. And this is where you come in...

We want to play a game with them, and we need ideas of what game to play.  The game needs to be fairly simple. For example, one of the ideas that is floating around is Twister, because all we would need to do is learn 8 words (the four colors, hand, food, right, left) and it would be easy to explain.  

So if you have any ideas of games that would be easy to teach, and uses relatively few words, let me know.  Just leave a comment below.

And if you need a good laugh, just imagine 20 women in multiple layers of clothing, all trying desperately to get their left hand on blue....