Orphanage Trip

I recently had an opportunity to visit a local orphanage, to help distribute humanitarian supplies (and candy). It's definitely one of the more meaningful experiences of my time here, if only because we could directly see the impact of the work.

 

Green Arrow Marks The Spot... I think

Getting there was half the fun. The drive to the facility was a lot longer than the 20 minutes they projected during the mission briefing. I can't confirm whether the picture below showing the route Google calculated for me is the actual path we took, both for security reasons and because I frankly have no idea what roads we were on. For that matter, I'm not entirely sure that little green arrow in the top picture is in the right place, but I'm pretty sure it's close. 

Anyway, I definitely got to see quite a lot of Kabul. Both guys in the drive team were from Boston, so listening to them talk felt like I was in a weird remake of Good Will Hunting. How ya like them apples?

We went sorta this way... I think

The city scenery was sad and grim. Kabul is not a pretty city. Plus, the air quality was really bad that day and everything was surrounded by a stronger brown haze than usual. There's a lot of rubble, dust and dirt everywhere, as if a big construction project had been interrupted and all the heavy equipment went off to work on a new project. Except there's no project, no equipment. This is what war and corruption does to a place.

 

I saw a few guys sitting on the sidewalk with sewing machines, mending people's shoes. Lots of street vendors selling nuts and other things I couldn't identify from the small windows in our armored SUV. There were lots of bicycles and lots of people walking around. Some women were completely veiled while others just wore head scarves (well, clothes too of course. You know what I mean). 

Pretty much everyone looked small and thin. If I didn't already know I was in a foreign country, this trip definitely hammered that message home. I was a little bit surprised to see so many produce stands, selling citrus fruits, veggies, etc. How do they get oranges in December around here? We also passed a few butcher shops, displaying their products in a way that doesn't appeal to me personally but must be quite popular here.

In contrast to the city, the orphanage was almost pleasant. As you can see from the top Google image, it's a bit outside the congestion of the city. The facility is nestled right up against a mountain range, and if the air quality had been better it could have almost been pretty. The kids were adorable and excited to see us. We handed out blankets and candy, then played some soccer with them, listened to a group of girls sing a song and watched nervously as the boys made a human pyramid 3-layers high. They gave us some tea and cookies, an unexpected treat (and since the DFAC closed before we got back, that ended up being our lunch for the day). The HQ for the Afghan scouting program is here, so a big number of the kids (boys and girls) were wearing their scout uniforms.

 

One of my favorite moments was when a group of girl scouts did a martial arts demonstration. It's fantastic to see these young ladies learning the discipline and self-confidence associated with something like karate. Girl power, Afghan-style.

 

I made some balloon animals for the smaller kids, which didn't work out quite as well as I'd hoped. I think I only blew up two before the kids all grabbed the uninflated balloons. There was nothing I could do to avoid it. I was both a- and be- mused as I watched them try to blow up the balloons themselves. Eventually some of them figured out that my balloon pump was the best way to do it, so they wandered back and let me do my thing. Next time I'll have some balloons pre-inflated and some animals pre-made, so they'll understand better how it's supposed to work.

I'm looking forward to going back again next month... and the month after that... until it's time to go home.

PS: Several photos of me were taken... but I haven't received them yet. I'll post them when they arrive.