My Heart is Full

Today was spent mostly in the guest house, which may sound boring, but was actually a wonderful day.  We spent the morning playing games and our constant laughter filled the air.  Some of the teachers form the Kabul Street school came over and we were able to teach them how to plant the seeds we had brought.  They each seemed so excited to be able to bring this back to their kids at the school because most of these kids rarely get a meal beyond what is provided at the school, let alone healthy fresh vegetables.

As we sat for tea with the teachers we started talking and they started asking us questions about American culture and such.  It is in moments like that that you realize how vastly different our cultures our.  They were baffled by us having pets, let alone loving them as children.  It is difficult for them to wrap their minds around single women over the age of 25, and that not being a negative thing.  Mary is over 60, married, but never had children by choice, but to them that is a very shameful thing.  You realize that the things that our cultures value are very different.

But there are also so many similarities.  They place a high value on education because they know that is the key to making Afghanistan once again a successful, thriving country.  They value family and relationships, often more than we do.  They value hard work and not settling for the way things have always been. And it is in those similarities that all of our differences fade away and we are just women and men joining together to make the world a better, more peaceful and safer place to be for those we care about.

We head home tomorrow, and while I miss my loved ones at home, I will also miss these amazing people once I have left.  I never feel ready to go, but I know that God has these people in His hands.  I hope and pray that I will see them again, and if I don't I hope my time spent here made a difference in their lives.  They are beloved and I am a better person for having met them.

Cause You Never Know When You're Going to Ride a Camel

No really, you never know.

Barek Aub is a village about an hour north east of Kabul.  We began working there in 2007, starting with building a well, funding the building of a school and clinic and then homes for widows.  My first trip there in 2009 Barek Aub looked like this

Now it looks like this

Upon pulling into Barek Aub on Saturday I was immediately struck by how much the town has grown in the last 18 months.  The clinic used to be the furthest building south, now there are many, many homes south of the clinic as well as a new girls school built by UNICEF.  There are many more homes and even new solar-powered streetlights.  Barek Aub has definitely moved from a village to a town with plenty of room to grow. 

The first thing we did in Barek Aub was to visit with some of the CW workers and thank them for the work that they do.  These women are one of the biggest reasons that Barek Aub is thriving.  Each of them visits 50-75 different homes each Monday to share health lessons and and build community with the women there. Because of them, the families in Barek Aub are healthier and happier.  We then visited the literacy class and gave those women gifts to encourage them to continue to learn to read and write. 

We then headed over to the new girls school.  UNICEF did an amazing job building this school, it is absolutely beautiful!!  It is so wonderful to know that the girls in Barek Aub are receiving a great education in a great building.  We delivered gift bags of clothing, food, school supplies and toys to each of the girls.  They always get so excited to see us, probably because we bring them gifts many times, but just to see their absolute joy is wonderful. Because of the rain on Saturday we decided to return on Sunday.

Today we again headed out to Barek Aub, but the scenery was much different. Yesterday was incredibly rainy while today was a beautiful, warm day full of amazing sunshine.  We started the day at the boys school.  Part of the goal of this trip was to introduce the seed project.  We wanted to distribute seeds and teach people in Barek Aub and Kabul on how to grow them so that they would have a more well-rounded diet.  We took pea, bean and squash seeds as well as seed pots to each classroom and taught them how to plant them and what they look like when they harvest them.  We did the same at the girls school.  The students and teachers were so very thankful for this lesson.  They said that this will help them to become more self-sufficient and to lead healthier lives, which will benefit their entire community and the country of Afghanistan.  

Because the drive to and from Barek Aub takes a little while, the conversations are always interesting.  Today one of the staff members asked us on the way out if we wanted to ride a camel, to which we responded, "of course." He said that if we saw a camel during our drive we would go ride it, and I'm quite sure he never thought that we would see one.  But on the ride home Hillary spotted two off the side of the road, and we immediately turned around.  We did some negotiating on price with the Kuchi (nomad) people and 6 of us rode the camel, Layla, around the field. Like I said you just never know when you're going to ride a camel.

Beauty in the Broken

As you turn off the main road to start heading up the mountain it's like taking a step back into a more simple, laid-back life. Shepherds with their herds of goats and sheep and farmers working vineyards by hand is all you see between the clay boundary walls of homes. Everything becomes greener and more lush as the hustle and bustle of Kabul city life drains away and you head up towards the city of Istalif.

Istalif is much like Estes Park: Up in the foothills, lots of trees and beautiful landscapes, with a river running through it.  It was once the crowning glory of Afghanistan, where people would go on holiday to rest and enjoy some time away.  Today it is well on its way to being that once again.

We visited the clinic there, which sits up on top of a hill, nestled in a large grove of trees. We toured the clinic and learned about everything they do there.  The clinic is more like a miniature hospital: They have a female doctor who lives on site and is available 24 hours for delivering babies (about 20 babies a month are born in the clinic), a vaccination center (Polio is almost eradicated!), lab testing, pharmacy, leischmeniasis (a disease caused by a fly) clinic and a dentist. They also have an ambulance that can transport people to the hospital in Kabul if their injuries or medical needs are too much for the clinic to handle. The clinic has made such a difference in the lives of the people living in the mountain villiages and they are so thankful to have such great medical care near by.

We had the opportunity to sit and eat kabobs down by the river. It was like a little picnic and a little slice of heaven.  And when you follow such a nice lunch up with shopping, it doesn't get much better.

Joy Made Visible

There are always certain days during the trip that you know will live with you forever, yesterday was one of those days.

Yesterday we were able to go to the Kabul school.  This school is for street kids who need to get the basic skills before they can move on to education in the public schools.  There are currently 222 students at the school in 6 different classes. We spent the day going into the various classes teaching them english and songs. One of the highlights was watching Megan, one of my team members. She is a PE teacher and she spent hours, in the sun, foot juggling soccer balls, kicking balls with kids and playing volleyball. In Afghanistan girls are discouraged from playing sports.  For part of the day I was teamed up with her to help teach the class.

When I started playing with the girls and throwing the ball for them to kick, they were at first reluctant.  But all it took was one brave girl and they all wanted to play.  Each time I would throw the ball to them and they would kick it they would instantly all start to giggle, and the pure joy at being able to play with a ball was visible. Later, after we had been playing ball for a few hours, the boys all went inside and we were left with the girls in the courtyard.  I had one little girl come over and sit next to me and all she wanted to do was cuddle.  She never said a word, but would not leave my side for anything.

Other little girls would bring me flowers and she would take them and put them in my hair. It wasn't the most beautiful hairstyle, but will always be one of my favorites.  As I sat there with her, I wondered how often she gets loved on and hugged at home.

I never did learn her name, or really anything about her, but she will forever live in my heart. 

We've arrived!

Well, we have finally made it to Kabul.  After a great day of team bonding yesterday, today we woke up ready and excited to finally go to Afghanistan.  The flight was uneventful and the transition into Kabul was seamless. We met up with some of the staff in the airport lobby, and then loaded up the cars for our drive to the guest house.

As always the traffic in Kabul is an adventure all in itself.  Today the traffic was a bit light but there were still plenty of donkeys, people and other cars to dodge on the road. We arrived at the guest house to warm welcomes from the rest of the staff. We were able to spend some great time with the staff, telling stories and getting to know one another before a delicious dinner.  We spent the time after dinner planning for the Kabul school tomorrow and sorting gifts.

Thank you for all your prayers.  Everything seems to be calm and back to normal, and I'm excited to see what the week holds.

Sometimes stuff happens

As you may have heard, there was a bombing in Kabul yesterday.  First and foremost, everyone connected with Sozo is fine.  Second, we were not there when it happened, and are in fact still not there.  I'm sitting in a hotel room in Dubai.

When we landed in Dubai yesterday we heard from the Sozo national director about the bombing.  We had always planned to do some sight-seeing in Dubai (more on that in a bit), spend the night and take the noon flight to Kabul. It has been decided that we will spend another night in Dubai and see what today brings in Afghanistan.  Things change rapidly over there from good to bad to great, so the wait and see approach is usually the best. Please know that if the staff feels it is too dangerous for us to be there we will head back to the US, but I hope that we will be able to continue on to Kabul and encourage the women there in the midst of tragedy.

A little bit of fun info: Last night I got to go up in the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa! It was so cool to be able to see Dubai at night from that high, it was beautiful!!  I hope to post pictures soon.

Please continue to pray for us and Afghanistan.

All my love.

On being blown away

One of the weirdest things about going to Afghanistan is raising the money to go.  In case you didn't know, plane flights half-way around the world are very expensive, and so raising the money to go is very daunting.  It is humbling and odd to go to your friends and family and ask them to support such a crazy adventure.  But the flip side of asking people for money, is the generosity that I experience in the process.  It constantly blows me away.  And it in this amazing generosity that God does so much work.

You see, I'm inclined to say no for people, which can manifest itself in so many ways, but usually I just don't ask.  And by not asking I have realized that I rob people of the opportunity of giving and supporting me in something that they would never be able to do, or even want to do, but something that they would be more than happy to give money towards.

And I think that's one of the biggest lessons I've learned from these trips.  I've learned that it's not fair for me to say no for people.  They are perfectly capable of doing that themselves, which they have every right to do, but I have to at least give them the opportunity.  And so often people say yes, and I am blown away.

So thank you to everyone that gives and prays and supports crazy adventures.  Adventures they would never be able to go on themselves, but believe in whole-heartedly.  Adventures that seem so insane that you'll never understand it, but know that it changes the world in ways you can't begin to imagine.  Adventures that bring more hope and peace to the world.  Adventures like this one.

And thank you God for always showing me how big and powerful You are and that You do in fact care about all the little details. Thank you for blowing me away.