For today's unbelievable adventure, we went on my first humanitarian mission. The Afghan National Army provided a substantial security detail, three of our interpreters came along, and four American Airmen were there (myself included). Here on the left is me standing at the top of the mountain where we began our mission. Two of the guys on our team have informally adopted a family who lives at least 1,000 feet above the compound at which we work. The drive up there was, we'll use the word harrowing. We drove up the face of a mountain on a dirt path in pickup trucks with three horsepower engines that were full of people...and by full I mean each one had at least 8 people in it. Needless to say, we crawled up that mountain, but as you can see, the view alone was worth the effort, say nothing of what was to come.
We arrived and were swarmed by eager children who were literally spilling out of adobe houses all along the side of the mountain. They approached us like we were holding sticks of gold rather than bags of rice and small American peppermint candies that our families had sent from the States. The houses (which were probably as large as two rooms in a typical American house) had no running water and no electricity. The kids played blissfully in empty oil drums that had been converted into miniature swimming pools (don't think sanitation, think of it as a way to cool down in this brutal dry heat). Here on the left is an Afghan child who received this awesome toy truck from the young son of one of the guys on our team...photo worthy for sure.
I'm up in the air as to whether humanitarian missions in Afghanistan make a lasting difference in the lives of the people who receive our gifts of food, water, clothing and various other nice Western things. To be perfectly honest, I almost think that by providing such items to our Afghan hosts, we aren't really helping them overcome the situation, but rather lessening the burden of their everyday lives and encouraging them to depend on us as part of the solution to their austere living conditions. It's also worth mentioning that the NATO mission in Afghanistan is scheduled to end in 2014, and our American humanitarian missions here are a contribution we make to the NATO mission here by choice...not because someone at NATO told us to do it. Our team is one of very few who take the time to conduct these missions.
Now don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade today's experience for anything in the world, and I do think that person-to-person interaction is extremely valuable. I took my interpreter with me up the side of the mountain, and she and I met with about 20 local women who wanted to have us in for tea and lunch. This in a house with no running water and where the monthly income is probably somewhere around $50 a month for a family of 20. I would have loved to stay there to hear about their lives, but we ran out of time, so that is high on the list for our next visit.
Today was another slice of humble pie for this American. It's difficult to complain about my living conditions on the base (with electricity...namely an overactive air conditioner...and running water just down the way) after seeing the way the Afghans we visited are living. And sure, while their living conditions are far from perfect, there is something very beautiful and reassuring about the simplicity of life in the mountains above Kabul. I don't envy their lifestyle, but I am eager to understand their challenges and to show them that future generations of Afghan women will (hopefully) have opportunities like those my interpreter and I are now enjoying.
Small steps. I will leave my mark here one Afghan woman at a time. Slowly. Lucky for me I have about six months left, and hopefully many more humanitarian adventures in my future.
More photos will be posted in the next 24 hours or so at http://www.flickr.com/photos/roblisameehan.
Wow, this is amazing!
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