Jim and Dawn's Excellent Adventures, Afghanistan, Politics and Life in General

AUAF

2008-11-28T04:35:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

The American University of Afghanistan (AUAF), the former AISK campus, decided to have a costume party for the students a few weeks after Halloween for fun. It was complete with dinner and prizes for the best costumes. Jim and I were at the university for a talk about higher education and happened to catch the end of the event.

In addition, to the students enjoying an evening of fun, we were surprized to find out that the old AISK elementary school finally had been completely rennovated including the gymnasium which was turned into the new AUAF library.

A few days after the costume party, Jim and I were invited to the Grand Opening of the AUAF Library on November 10, 2008. Funding for the library came from USAID and writer Ann Marlowe whose articles on Afghanistan can be found on the web. The library is named after her late mother Bernice Nachman Marlowe.

More information about the library opening can be found at: http://www.auaf.edu.af/news_20081110.html

Check in to the left, Jim by the Science Books to the right.

Best to all,

Dawn and Jim

MY TRIP TO BAKU

2008-11-12T02:53:00.000-08:00

Our friend Davidson, who just moved to Azerbaijan, said he would take one of Marnie’s 20 dogs off our hands if someone would bring the dog to Baku. Through a series of confusing follies, I was nominated at the last minute to fly with the Beanie the giant dog. Beanie is a mongrelized Kuchi (nomad) dog that bears a resemblance to an oversized Golden Retriever. He has an easy-going disposition, especially when he is sedated through use of ‘professional’ tranquilizers.

The trip preperations required getting up at 4:00 AM; stuffing Beanie into a crate the size of a Volkswagon; and going to the vet’s office at Tigger House to pick up Dr. Abbas, our local dog-transporting expert. Everything at the airport was pre-arranged, but that did not stop them from giving us the usual “we cannot ship freight to Azerbaijan” and “we don’t allow dogs to fly on airplanes”. This was followed by the obligatory appeal for “sheereenee” (sweets), the Dari euphemism for a bribe.

The way to avoid bribing someone in Kabul is to talk endlessly about the subject until they finally give up because they have other work to do and more people to talk to about sweets.

After getting on the plane, I saw Beanie’s big pink manly crate get loaded into the rear cargo compartment. I crossed my fingers in hopes that the cargo compartment was pressurized as promised. The flight left at 7:30 AM, right on schedule. I enjoyed one of Ariana’s signature breakfasts of tea, an omlete and na’an on the brief and uneventful flight to Baku. While I was flying, Davidson was calling Dawn in Kabul.

Davidson told Dawn, “I’m at the airport and everyone here tells me that there is no flight coming from Kabul today.” Dawn assured him that while it might not be published, there was an Ariana flight going to Moscow that was supposed to be stopping for some reason, maybe refueling in Baku. Davidson was still worried; but, Dawn told him that Jim called right before the plane took off and unless they were hijacked or going to a completely different location he should be expecting them shortly.

The plane landed at 10:30 AM local time. Azerbaijan is ½ hour ahead of Kabul time (ahead? yes). Afghan time is set so that you can travel to any neighboring country in any direction and still set your clock ahead.

A total of four passengers got off the plane including me. This was more than the local authorities were prepared to accommodate because, after all, nobody flies from Kabul to Baku. All the passport control booths were empty. There was a visa office, but they said that we must go through passport control before getting a visa. Finally, a half an hour later a young Russian-looking woman showed up in one of the passport control booths. She said we had to get a visa before going through passport control.
Eventually, someone came and asked the four of us who brought the dog. It seems that Uncle Wasee did not follow the instruction to give Beanie a very light meal the night before, so by now, Beanie’s crate was getting pretty ripe. It suddenly became important for them to get me and the dog out of the airport as soon as possible.

I paid $131 for a one-day visa and after wheeling the dog through the “nothing to declare” line, I met Davidson in time to meet the next challenge. The beautiful pink dog crate was too big to fit in his car. We finally put the dog and crate sideways in a taxi and followed it in the Davidson’s car to his company’s office. When we got there, the taxi driver wanted more money than the pre-arranged price. Even though I did not completely understand the language, there was something being said about the dog stinking up his car.

My day in Baku gave me a sense of the oil boom town situated on a peninsula in the Caspian Sea. The streets are paved and there are clean sidewalks with curbs and gutters. It looks like a European city and is radically different from Kabul. Traffic is heavy and Azeri drivers seem to have a love affair with their horns. They lean on them constantly. Otherwise, the driving situation is more civil than in Afghanistan. I was coming down with a cold, so I took a long nap and got up for dinner. We went out to a Chinese restaurant. I had an Efes (Turkish) beer with dinner. It was such a nice treat after being in Kabul (where alcohol is still primarily illegal) that the beer alone almost made the trip worth it.

The flight back to Kabul was scheduled for 4:45 AM because nearly all flights in and out of Baku are red-eyes. Davidson said that we should be at the airport no later than 2:30 AM. I thought that was odd until we got there. The airport is busy in the middle of the night. Of course, nobody knew anything about a flight to Kabul. We were told repeatedly, “There is no flight to Kabul”. “Ariana does not fly here”. “If there was a flight to Kabul, it would leave out of Terminal 1”. “If there was a flight to Kabul, it would leave out of Terminal 2”.

As it happened, the Ariana agent in Kabul who printed my ticket had printed the wrong date and put a sticker over the date with the correct one. Needless to say, the sticker came off and the security people would not let me go through to the departure area. Finally we found someone who made some phone calls and there was, in fact, an Ariana flight scheduled to leave for Kabul. We waited until almost 5:00 AM and an airport agent finally came and escorted me to the boarding area where the lone Ariana ticket agent was sitting on the floor filling out a manifest by hand. There were two other crazies flying from Baku to Kabul as well. I said “Shab-bakhai, chitur-asti?” (Good morning, how are you?). It was a great relief to finally find someone who speaks Farsi!

On the plane, all the flight attendants recognized me and inquired about my trip and how the dog was doing. At Kabul airport, it was the same, every uniformed employee I saw had to stop, shake my hand, and ask about the dog. I was finally home!

In the Bunker

2008-11-09T07:32:00.000-08:00

Dear Family and Friends:

Oct. 12, 2008

Going to bed early due to the electricity going out and Jim’s early morning trip to Azerbaijan to deliver Beanie the dog to Davidson resulted in a guaranteed chaotic night to follow the day. It is two hours later and the hum of planes overhead signal either a night mission or someone important enough to travel at night either leaving or coming to Kabul. The engine frequency shakes the windows a little less strongly than a minor earthquake.

Prior to that, the sound of howling dogs discussing something loudly for an hour was enough to make me wonder why I was trying to sleep at all. The alarm still is set to ring at 3:30 a.m. and the newest addition to the menagerie, a small tabby kitten named Varsesh (Sports), is running around the room tearing up paper. The picture is of Varsesh after his sleepless night of fun.

October 26, 2008

Due to the recent sad events in Kabul, my hair is dark brown and I am considering buying a burqa to cover up in to keep myself and my Afghan friends safe when we travel outside of the compound. Jim is putting on his pakol (Massoud’s famous hat) and taking off his sun glasses.

We are gearing up to hunker down in our small world while we work.

Animals with Passports

For anyone thinking about transporting an animal in and out of Afghanistan here are a few tips. Getting a dog ready to leave Kabul is at least a two day ordeal that requires multiple trips to the airport and discussions with cargo supervisors on the phone who first say in Dari that the plane is too small for the dog, which really makes me wonder about taking people and baggage anywhere. After at least 9 phone calls in two languages and a trip in person to the cargo building at the airport, the staff who is eating lunch when we visit, finally agrees that it might be possible to take a dog in the airplane that goes to Moscow and stops briefly in Baku. I try unsuccessfully to ask repeatedly if the cargo is pressurized with oxygen for the dog to breath.

The instructions for the dog’s imminent travel are as follows:
1) Buy a ticket to travel with the dog
2) Find the dog’s passport (Yes, it appears that now furry creatures have to have them too)
3) Get a special, $30 document, ensuring the dogs health status complete with official looking stamps guaranteed to let the dog in multiple countries
4) Weigh the crate and the dog and go back to the airport with the airline ticket and the weights to pay $3 a kilo for the transport
5) Make arrangements with the veterinarian from Tigger House to have drugs to help the dog sleep while traveling and to help transport the dog to the airport at 4:00 a.m. the following day.

While this sounds simple enough, all of this was done as a fill-in plan because the original person scheduled to take the dog could not find his passport and then went AWOL which resulted in Jim’s 24 hour trip to Baku while I am working at PARSA and conducting two-days of training for a civil society project. Jim’s story will follow in the next blog.

Helping the Orphans in Kabul,

but Embarrassed on the US side

The reason that Memorandums of Understanding and work is done through organizations outside of the military is to keep oversight of 'volunteer' military projects continuing through military command changes which happen here quite frequently. Depending upon the country some assignments are as short as 90 days.

A US camp whose name I will not mention is trying to do good work in Afghanistan by reconstructing and providing infrastructure improvements at the Kabul orphanages. Unfortunately, the protocol for doing such work has not been followed, contractors have not been overseen and payments for work have not been made. This has the effect of hurting rather than helping the US reputation for all involved.

Issues since June:

1) No permissions were granted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MOLSA) who oversees the orphanages for the work

Generally a Memorandum of Understanding should be filed with the correct governmental agencies for reconstruction which would include the Ministry of Economy (like getting a building permit)

Can you imagine someone working on a government building in the US without a building permit?

2) A roof that was repaired at one of the orphanages has already blown off

3) The Ministry of Economy reported that the current paint job is substandard and wanted to know why PARSA was doing such bad work

PARSA wrote a letter explaining that we were not involved with this work at all which was then delivered to MOLSA who then asked why is this ‘camp’ working at the orphanages, we thought you were overseeing and monitoring the work

4) PARSA reputation has been jeopardized as many people and ministries think we are involved due to the many MOUs we do have with organizations from various countries and groups that are doing good infrastructure and the Healthy Afghan Child Program work

5) An agreement made by the ‘camp’ with a US contractor to clean septic tanks at the orphanage was never paid by the ‘camp’ and eventually a British group picked up the tab to pay the July invoice due from the US camp through their work with PARSA in October

For every activity that is done poorly in this country, the effect multiplies. With 650 orphans at the two Kabul orphanages, plus over 300 staff and teachers, ministry staff, etc. just imagine how many people know about the US glitches.

New Eid clothes for 650 orphans in Kabul !

If military groups want to donate funds for good causes,

it would be a good idea to follow protocol,

oversee contractors and pay the bills on time.

Nov. 8

Somehow my October blog writing has lasted through almost a month of Afghan life. This morning there is still no electricity at Marastoon where we are usually fortunate enough to have it due to Red Crescents position as part of the government. My frustration with the situation is high as it is impossible to conduct modern business without electricity. Seven years after 9/11 most households and regular businesses only get electricity in Kabul every third night for about 3 hours and this is the capital city.

It is as if there are two worlds in Kabul, one for the international and the wealthy who have electricity 24 hours a day from generators when there is not city power, 24 hour internet, 24 hour heat and all the resources needed. The other world is more diverse with some who have nothing to the middle class who manage to work around the electricity issues by buying wood and heating households and water with bukharis (wood stoves), using small generators or batteries for limited electric power and taking two to three times the time to get the same job done as those who have everything.

This is often forgotten by those who have their bills all paid and everything at their demand. Even something as simple as a request for a phone call instead of an Email sometimes garner blank looks, until I explain, “We live outside the bubble and don’t always have Internet. Please call us so we don’t miss our appointment if something changes.” Without the recognition that the diversity in these parallel worlds cause many seemingly simple things to be fairly difficult for those who do not have the same tools and resources, there will always be a disconnect between the haves and the have-nots.

Stay safe and love a lot,

Jim and Dawn Reporting Live From Kabul

AFGHAN CALENDARS

2008-10-14T05:35:00.000-07:00

There are many misunderstandings concerning time between Afghans and foreigners, especially westerners. Afghans may show up to an appointment or social event on a different day than their foreign counterparts expect. Foreigners have difficulty understanding why most Afghans do not know their birth date. There is more to the confusion than the difference between Afghans’ and westerners’ concepts of time. The systems that Afghans use to keep track of days, weeks, months, and years are different from the systems used by the western world.

There are three calendars that Afghans use; the Gregorian (western) calendar, the Solar Hejri calendar, and the lunar Hejri calendar. The Gregorian calendar is used in business, especially business conducted with foreigners. Government offices often use the Gregorian calendar. However, the solar Hejri calendar is more widely used than the Gregorian calendar. Secular holidays in Afghanistan are based on the solar Hejri calendar. The lunar Hejri calendar is used to keep track of religious holidays. This essay will explore the days, months, and years that are tracked by the various calendars.

Days of the Week
The Afghan week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday. This week is derived from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic story of Genesis in which God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day. However, Afghans, and most other Moslems selected different days than their Christian counterparts. The first six days are identified by numerical modifiers; Shanbe (“day”), Yak Shanbe (“day one”), Du Shanbe (“day two”), Seh Shanbe (“day three”), Chahar Shanbe (“day four”), and Panj Shanbe (“day five”) – (شنبه٫ ١شنبه٫ ٢شنبه٫ ٣شنبه٫ ٤شنبه٫ ٥شنبه). The Sabbath, and seventh day of the week is Jumma (جمعه). Each day begins and ends at sunset. If you make plans to meet an Afghan on Friday night (جمعه شاب), remember that Friday begins at sunset on Thursday, so they might show up on Thursday night.

Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the one used throughout most of the world. In Afghanistan, the Gregorian calendar is used in business, but is less often used than the Solar Hejri Calendar. The Gregorian Calendar is primarily used for business associated with foreigners. The Gregorian Calendar was instituted by Pope Gregory III on AD 24 February 1582. It was a modification to the Julian Calendar which was in use prior to that.

Like the Julian Calendar that preceded it, the Gregorian Calendar starts with year 1 at the presumptive beginning of the Common Era (Christian Era) or CE. The CE is also known by its Latin name, Anno Domini, or AD. Years that preceded the CE are counted backward from 1 BCE (or BC) to 2 BCE, 3BCE, 4 BCE, etc.

The Julian Calendar was designed to approximate the tropical (solar) year, which is a little over 365 ¼ days long. The Julian Calendar had the 12 months totaling 365 days with an additional leap day added to February every four years (without exception). Because the tropical year is about 11 minutes longer than 365 ¼ days, the calendar drifted out of phase with the tropical year. By 1583, the equinoxes and solstices came 10 days late relative to the calendar.

When the Gregorian Calendar was instituted, 10 days were removed to bring it into alignment with the tropical year and the leap year algorithm was adjusted. Now there is one leap year every four years with the exception of years divisible by 100. However, years divisible by 400 remain as leap years. The additional leap day is added to February, the second month.

Solar Hejri (Persian) Calendar
In Afghanistan, the Solar Hejri Calendar is used for business and national, non-religious holidays. The year starts on the Spring Equinox, which usually corresponds to 21 March in the Gregorian Calendar (except for Gregorian leap years). Year 1 of the Solar Hejri Calendar corresponds to AD 621 of the Gregorian Calendar which is the year that the Prophet Mohammed made his pilgrimage from Mecca to Madina. The Solar Hejri Calendar has leap years arranged in a fashion similar to the Gregorian Calendar. However, the leap year day is added to the end of the year as the 30th of Hut (٣٠ حوت).

This solar calendar is derived from previous calendars used by Chinese-Uigars in the 13th Century (Gregorian AD) and the Surya Siddhanta from 4th Century India. Months are derived from the latter and are familiar to westerners as the signs of the Zodiac.

The current Solar Hejri year (Gregorian 2008-2009) is 1387. Converting dates between Persian and Gregorian calendars is not straightforward because one must consider whether the date is before or after the Persian New Year and whether the year is a Gregorian or a Solar Hejri leap year. This is one of the reasons (not the only one) that Afghans find it difficult to tell a westerner what their birthday is.

An example of date confusion occurred this year (Gregorian 2008, Solar Hejri 1387) when the national holiday memorializing Ahmad Shah Masoud’s assassination was observed. The assassination occurred on 9 September 2001 and is celebrated on the same solar day each year. However, 2008 is a leap year and has an extra day in February. Because of this, the Solar Hejri anniversary fell on 8 September. The U.N. Offices in Afghanistan mistakenly stayed open on 8 September and closed on 9 September, causing great confusion. It turns out that 1387 is also a Hejri Solar leap year, but the leap day does not come until 30 Hoot, the last day of the year.

Hejri Lunar Calendar
The Hejri Lunar Calendar, also called the Hejri Calendar is a lunar calendar that does not correspond to the tropical year. It is used in Afghanistan and the rest of the Moslem world for religious holidays. The calendar consists of 12 months corresponding to lunar cycles. The Hejri Calendar is about 11 days shorter than the solar calendars. Therefore, the months drift with respect to the seasons and the solar dates. Year 1 of the Hejri Calendar begins on Gregorian AD 621, similar to the Solar Hejri Calendar. However, because the Hejri lunar years are shorter, the current year is 1429 instead of 1387.

The months have equal lengths of between 29 and 30 days based on the lunar cycle. However, there is uncertainty regarding the exact days to be declared as holidays because the holidays are based on the visibility of the lunar phase rather than the exact astronomical phase. Thus, a holiday can be delayed because the sky is too cloudy.

A web site with a printable Gregorian, Solar Hijri, and Lunar Hijri Calendar can be found at:

http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/afghancalendar/afghanCalendar1387_A3std_history_DA_EN_AF_US.pdf

Summer 2008 Adventures

2008-09-19T00:56:00.001-07:00

Sept. 5, 2008/Sept. 16, 2008

Dear Family and Friends:

Jim and I arrived back in Afghanistan last Saturday morning after another strange ride on Ariana Afghan Airlines from Istanbul, Turkey to Kabul. The flight left at 11:00 p.m. then made a stop not on our ticket in Ankara for one hour. Then at 2:30 a.m. Istanbul time, 4:00 a.m. Kabul time all the lights in the plane were turned on to wake us up. After a short discussion with a flight attendant it became clear that even though the plane was not due to land in Kabul until 7:30 a.m. that it was breakfast time. One of the attendants said, ‘Doesn’t everyone eat breakfast at 4 o’clock?’

We arrived in Kabul bleary-eyed from lack of sleep to be greeted at the airport by a taxi driver who recognized us from past trips. Amazingly even though he had not seen us for six months, he started to recount where we lived in Kabul, where we lived in the US and who some of my friends were at the airport and what they were doing now.

For those of you who read the latest PARSA newsletter, you will know that we had a few sad experiences before we left on our trip. The city crew was called in to get rid of wild pack dogs at Afghan Red Crescent. Unfortunately, PARSA was not warned and a disabled dog that was half mine and Jim’s named Laghman (limping man) and Brownie were poisoned over the period of a week.

Balu (bear in Urdu) was adopted before we left on our trip and Xena (either Princess Warrior or stairs/ladder in Farsi) was adopted when we got back. This has resulted in our new puppy training schedule of early morning feedings and house training. The puppies have a pen next to Shrek the donkey, about 40 sheep and 5 goats where they are happily tearing apart an old pillow underneath an apple tree.

Norway

Norway was an interesting mix of the 33 International Geological Congress where Jim presented his paper on the Geology of Kabul after recovering from a bout of dehydrating fevers brought along from Kabul. We arrived in Norway with the clothes on our backs and luggage lost somewhere between Kabul, Moscow Airport and Copenhagen Airport. On the second day, a young man from Iran on the train questioned me about my outfit as I was wearing the long Kabul garb I left Afghanistan in minus the chador, not quite the European look. “Ah,” he said, “I wondered why you looked like that.”

On the third day we waited for the luggage to arrive again while Jim got sicker and eventually we had to go to one of Oslo’s medical clinics where he got wonderful medical care including tests and doctor’s attention for $60.00 which is less than most meals in Norway. After Kabul, the prices of food in Oslo caused sever sticker shock especially since a 25% tax is put on everything eaten out.

Thankfully, Jim started to get better and we spent more time at the Congress, events and sightseeing. We met the Mayor of Oslo whose picture I would include here if my camera had not disappeared the last day of our trip in Turkey. We saw Porgy and Bess performed by a South African troupe, danced to a heavy metal band in one of Oslo’s most famous clubs to the song “I’m Too Sexy …” which was very funny as people of all ages attending the geology congress from all over the world joined in and then we took the tour to see the Viking ships.

Finland and the Archipelago

In order to see the Archipelago, we took a flight to Finland and hopped a ship for a one night cruise. We hung over the rails staring at islands in the endless twilight, ate gourmet food which is a real treat after Kabul and made a new Finnish/Swedish friend Jannie pronounced Yannie who called Jim ‘Yim’ and wanted to know what we knew about U.S. politics and his favorite musician Bon Jovi.

Vikings on the Boat and Mango Dessert

Sweden

With a 24 hour pass for transportation, museums and other amusements we took off at high speed to see Stockholm. Fun included visiting Scanda which has typical Swedish buildings from various time periods, living history and a zoo where we got to see reindeer, bear and other native animals. While in Stockholm, we enjoyed a festival that included art and music.

We left Stockholm on the train for Aseda to see cousins Ingrid, Ingmar and family. It was wonderful to be in the clean countryside where we were treated to mushroom picking, daily walks and Ingrid’s great cooking. We had the chance to have a family lunch with more cousins, see below, and to do a short slide presentation on Afghanistan.

Daisy Andersson (Grandpa Oscars 1st Cousin)
and Charlotte and Fredrick’s new daughter Elin

Mushroom Picking Ingemar and Jim

We also had a beautiful picture full of cousins to put here that was lost when my camera disappeared. Hopefully, we can send another out to family soon complements of our extended Swedish family.

Denmark

In Copenhagen, the city famous for the little mermaid we had a great two-star hotel seemingly close to the red light district where we shared a bathroom with other guests. When Jim first warned me not to talk to the naked people in the hall, I thought he was joking. Then I ran into two young men draped in towels running to and from the shower.

After a city bus and harbor tour, we ended up springing for unlimited movies and Internet in our room while I wrote a proposal on a one-day deadline for a civil society Afghan organization that I work with and Jim tried to get over a cold. In the meanwhile, I found out the civil society proposal I wrote in Norway for International Relief and Development was funded with work to start Sept. 1.

Russia

We started our tour in St. Petersburg, formerly Leningrad, before that Petrograd. As we toured we realized that for most names of streets, museums and everything else there were name variations depending upon the time period.

Russian Orthodox Church

The history of Russia was amazing, the czar’s stories of intrigue and opulence quite like a soap opera and keeping up with it all was impossible. After visiting the castles filled with gilt gold, artwork and intricate gardens it was easy to see why the people rose up against the government.

St. Petersburg Jazz Philharmonic Club

After St. Petersburg we took an overnight train to Vladimir. The female conductor chewed us out several time for transgressions, such as; using the wrong pillow and walking in the corridor with bare feet. Of course with the language barrier, we just nodded and tried to figure out what to do next. We drove part of the Golden Ring from Vladimir to Lavra ending in Moscow which gave us an appreciation for the Russian countryside.

Towns Inbetween and Russian Icon

In Moscow, we saw Lenin preserved at the Kremlin, he looked like a figure in a wax museum. Other activities included center seats at the Moscow circus, gorgeous artwork and the surprisingly good tour of the Moscow subways amazing architecture and art.

Garden of Eden and Moscow Subway Tile

Turkey

Our two days in Turkey were a whirl of belly dancers and the Grand Bazaar where Jim got new shoes and knock-off designer underwear. We had a great time boat riding in the Bosporus Straits which is between the European and Asian side of Turkey. Zigzagging across the city, we saw malls, mosques and rug salesmen at every street corner who actively tried to talk us into their shops. In most parts of the city the streets are quite narrow and full of people, wheelbarrows, bicycles, cars and trucks. One lunch we had was at an outside restaurant in the middle of the street where the staff had to move the menu every time a vehicle went by.

Picture - Bosporus Suspension Bridge

PEACE DAY – Sept. 21, 2008

We met British actor Jude Law and filmmaker Jeremy Gilley on Mon. night at the premier of the film the ‘The Day After Peace’. Jude Law is the ambassador for Gilley's Peace One Day project which started about 10 years ago. Somehow we were lucky enough to get front row center seats at the United Nations Assistance Mission office that only had room for about 40 people. We were surprised to see a few familiar faces from Afghan Red Crescent at PARSA in the documentary.

The first few years Jeremy Gilley worked on the project people laughed at his efforts to promote a day of peace. The UN finally adopted the day, but, did not really support it. Last year, Gilley followed through with an idea from UNICEF to promote a cease fire in Afghanistan in order to vaccinate children in inaccessible areas. Last year efforts to actively work for peace were taken in all UN countries. See more in the film.

Peace Day is held every year on Sept. 21 and is a day to promote a global ceasefire and activities pushing for non-violence.

Here is a link if you’re interested in the documentary: http://www.peaceoneday.org/

Please help the world celebrate peace by taking action to promote it!

Current Afghanistan Outlook

We would like to say that things are getting better in Afghanistan, but for those of us watching the situation on the ground the war against the Taliban is obviously not succeeding. Within the past few months the Taliban have more control even in Kabul city.

“Abdullah Masjidi cannot go home anymore, though his village is only 30 miles from the capital. When he tried to drive there this summer, he was stopped by friendly villagers warning that he looked too Western. "You don't have a beard," he was told. "The Taliban will kill you."”

Chicago Tribune, United States By Kim Barker and Aamer Madhani September 3, 2008

PARSA staff told us recently that the word on the street is if you eat during Ramazan (the holy month where fasting during daylight hours is observed) you will be thrown in jail. A year ago during Ramazan this was not the case. As this is affecting nursing mothers, youth who may be told to fast as young as 13 while they are still growing, the National Army and Afghan Police, we are concerned about health and safety.

We continue to use precautions as we go about our daily lives and work.

Kabul

Sept. 5 - Today is Friday, thankfully a holiday for catch up. It is 11:00 a.m. and so far we have had one small earthquake and somehow in my walk from Marnie’s house to the main PARSA building where we live I have agreed to teach one of the Afghan Red Crescent blind men English twice a week in exchange for Dari lessons. PARSA’s latest newsletter can be seen at http://www.aisk.org/ click on PARSA Newsletter – August 26, 2008 and follow the link. Otherwise, if you would like me to send you the newsletter direct for downloading, please let me know. You can also see pictures of Jim and me teaching English as a Second Language at the American International School of Kabul earlier this summer if you click on Jim Springer’s Photos: AUAf Campus June 2008.

We are glad to be home working and playing with friends celebrating Osman’s third birthday a few days after we got back. Since Osman has lived across the hall from me since he was six months old, I am his auntie (khala) and Jim is his uncle (kaka). He visits us everyday.

Marnie and Saleha (Osman’s Mom)

Osman’s New Bike with Reese and Yasin (Osman’s Dad)

Sept. 19 – Jim is back teaching geology at Kabul Polytechnic University coordinating a faculty exchange between the University of Colorado, Boulder and Kabul University. I am working on the PARSA Gift Shop which is working on new designs and started selling at one of the coffee houses last week, training Dunya in accounting and checking on our orphanage project in Ghor.

If you see the latest PARSA newsletter you will see that orphans and vulnerable children are now coming to PARSA’s doorstep and asking us for help. The Afghan Civil Society organizations that I work with have 3 funded projects for the fall so we are busy designing human rights theater, posters, workshops and video discussion groups for six provinces for UNDP and an eight part baseline survey for 12 provinces for International Relief and Development funded by USAID. Jim and I continue to volunteer for the Hayward Ghazni Sister City Committee. The Women’s Literacy Program is in its 3rd year!

Wishing you all the best,
Love, Dawn and Jim

Bamian

2007-08-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

We flew in a Beechcraft 200 from Kabul to Bamian. The plane went straight west from Kabul over the Koh-e-Paghman (Paghman Mountains) and reached its maximum altitude of 18,500 feet just as it cleared the mountains which were at 17,000 fee. You could almost reach out and touch the peaks. There were glacial lakes, dying glaciers and roof pendants in the mountains. After 35 minutes flying time, the plane touched down on Bamian’s gravel runway at 8,250 feet elevation. The trip over land takes over 10 hours on a road that can barely pass for a jeep trail.

Dead glacier in the Koh-e-Paghman (above)

Roof pendant (right)

Bamian Municipal Airport (below)

The people of Bamian are called "Hazara" and are decended from nomadic tribes who settled the central Afghan highlands during the 12th century AD.