Good ole Afghanistan Part 2

Here are a couple pictures from the Food and Wood Distribution. It was a beautiful day in Barek Aub!

In the middle are “The Men” of Sozo; Wakil, Walid, and Mohammed Kahn. The two women are my translators Dr. Mary and Latifa. You can see some of the people in Barek Aub getting lined up to go through the distribution, including woman in full blue Burkas.

This is a look at some of the things being passed out including cans of Kerosine, beans, sugar, flour,salt and the big truck on the right is Charcoal.

Here is what it looked like after some families had gone through the line.

Last but not least are a couple pictures from the school dedication where several dignitaries spoke (including the Minister of Refugees of Afghanistan, the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Education who happens to be a woman, Wakil and Jim, my pastor.)

An elder of Barek Aub named Kahar. (far left) He is also Nangina’s father.

Those are just the surface of my experience and pictures. I would be thrilled to share more with anyone who is interested. I ask that you continue to pray for these people, this village, and the country of Afghanistan. This morning I received some devastating news from Wakil that there was a suicide bomber that killed 1 US soldier and wounded 11 people (including civilians and soldiers) right near where I stayed. Wakil was saddened for his people and the soldiers as he attributes his safety to the American Military. He is a strong believer who truly knows what being joyful in times of trials means. I love all of you and am so grateful to share this incredible trip with you. I will be adding more pictures and stories as the days go on. I'll send out a note when I do.

Love,
Katy

Good ole Afghanistan Part 1

Family and friends

Howdy or Salam as my Afghan friends would say. I have decided to create a blog (welcome to the 21st century) as a way to share my joy from my trip to Afghanistan. Well actually, the blog idea came because my original word document was so big that it would have taken until 2010 to send it. First, I want to tell each of you how appreciative I am of your thoughts and prayers while I was away; it was so tangible that I could feel it. THANK YOU.

With that being said, I can't wait any longer to show you some pictures from the trip. I took over 500 so finding a reasonable amount to share was quite a feat! Hold on tight, here comes the fire hose version of my trip.

Here is a picture of Mary and I with our Charters (pronounced Chot-ers) or head wraps on. You can tell that we definitely aren’t in Kansas anymore. After 30 minutes of wearing my Charter, I was already very annoyed simply because I didn’t know how to properly tie it. The women there could snap their fingers and it would magically stay, where as I could have super glued it and it would have still fallen down, thus I'm holding it.

Here is Barek Aub. The IDP (internally displaced peoples) camp I visited.

The yellow building in the background is the school; the others are all houses. To give you an idea of how astounding this is, a year ago there was nothing but a massive tent under which 3000 IDP's lived. When I say nothing, I mean absolutely zero.

Here are just some of the beautiful Barek Aub kids who are guilty of stealing my heart.

The kid in red in the middle of the picture has been a kid we have tracked throughout the past year from several of the previous teams. He was the first kid I saw and it was as if I had met him before, however he looked dramatically different from the pictures at home. When we first saw him he only had one eye due to shrapnel from a bullet hitting the left side of his face. As you can see, he now has a glass eye and looks as if nothing had ever happened.

More kids welcoming us into their village. You can see snow in the background which will lead you to the next picture of the Hindu Kush Mountains that are directly behind Barek Aub located only a mile away.

The climate in Afghanistan is the same as Boulder so you can only imagine how it must have been to live underneath a tent.

Here are the ladies of the Barek Aub community that I got to spend time with. They are called CW’s or Community Workers who are responsible for educating the families in the village about such things as Birth Control, Medical treatment (from wearing a band aid to simple procedures), tooth brushing and hand washing. This has been a HUGE development for the village and has dramatically changed the lives in their community in just months. They were also responsible for me not wanting to come home as I feel in love with the time I got to spend with them!

It is hard to see but the 3rd woman in from the left has two completely different colored eyes. Her left eye is brown and her right eye in green. She was absolutely gorgeous!

Next are two pictures of a little girl in Barek Aub who sang the ABC’s to me. We became great friends despite not being able to talk to each other. Her name is Nangina (pronounces Nan-Gee-na) It goes without saying that she is a heart breaker!

You will see that both her and I have henna on our hands; it’s the reddish paint that you see. In Barek Aub, the woman and children dip their whole palms in henna and then all of their fingers but only up to their first knuckle. In Kabul, the women draw designs like the ones shown on my hands. Henna is viewed at as a way to highlight beauty, kind of like woman wearing make up here. Please also notice the gun that is hanging in the left side of the picture- Welcome to Afghanistan.

Check out Part 2