I heard something funny today. Rumor has it that the Afghans in Kabul think that the base I stay on is a prison for bad soldiers. That rumor may be more true than most, at least it's felt that way to me for the past few weeks since I arrived here. I've talked about how I like to get out of my base and travel to others as often as possible, and again today I decided that showing up to a meeting in person was better than doing it via teleconference.
So I attended a change request and status meeting of a Government contractor at ISAF who provides software support for the U.S. Military and NATO. As luck would have it, I was approached by someone in the NATO organization of Civil Engineers and wanted to have my opinion on our organizations synchronizing our reconstruction efforts. (Score Again!) I've already made contact with USAID and am beginning our reconstruction project synchronization with them in the coming weeks. He gave me his card and told me where I could find him on Camp Eggers, also within the Green Village.
Camp Eggers is about a quarter mile walk from ISAF, but still within the safety of the enclosed Green Village/Zone. On my walk to the other camp, I always run into the usual kids selling bracelets, scarves, etc. On today's walk, I ran into a young boy named Bashir. As most all kids do here, he had a pretty good grasp of English, so we talked while I made the 15 minute walk in my hot and heavy body armor. I asked him why he wasn't in school, and he laughed and told me because he was on holiday for Ramadan. I asked him what he wanted to go to school to be, and he told me he wanted to be an Engineer. I replied that he must be very smart and that I was dumb so I had to become a soldier. We both laughed. He handed me a small beaded bracelet and told me it was a gift, and I gave him several packs of gum. I need to get some small inexpensive trinkets that I can give out to the kids when I run into them. It helps deflect the conversation of why I don't want to buy what they are selling. Along the way, I passed an elderly Afghan woman in a black abaya and sitting on a prayer rug who was apparently begging. I don't know her situation, but I turned around and gave her a bottle of water and a soda I had in my cargo pocket, and then I handed her some Afghani money from my wallet. She sincerely thanked me in Dari (a Persian derivative), and I smiled and responded with "Salam" (Peace).
As a general rule, back in the U.S., I don't give money to people who beg or pan handle. However, if they approach me, I will always offer them a meal because I firmly believe that God doesn't want me to let anyone within my means to go hungry. I've probably bought nearly a hundred meals for people over the past several years, and only on a couple occasions has anyone ever turned down my offer of food instead of money. For some reason, I decided that this old woman needed money as well so I broke my rule and gave it to her. I've been blessed in my life and fortunate to have the opportunity to gain a perspective of poverty outside the U.S. It saddens me with what the citizens of my country don't appreciate that they have when compared to the majority of the world.
After my business at Camp Eggers, I made my walk back to the ISAF pick-up point for our shuttle. I had taken a couple juice boxes from the DFAC in an effort to help the woman out a little more, but to no avail. She was gone. Along the way, I joined a mixed group of contractors braving their way through the hoards of child-labor sales men. It struck me funny that that there were two middle school aged girls also out selling scarves. I offered them gum. They asked if I wanted to buy a scarf, and I asked why, if they thought I should wear a hejab? (The scarf that covers a woman's hair in the middle east). They laughed and said, "No, for your wife!". I explained that American women would slap men if they tried to make them wear a hejab. They coyly laughed, and I disengaged the group as I reached my pick-up point.
I belong to a micro lending group online called Kiva (http://www.kiva.org). This is a site that's been featured by Oprah and ABC news, so several years ago I signed up. I've made well over a hundred loans over the past several years. The site operates as a no-interest loan broker between collaborative users and international non-profit organizations who loan out money to people in the developing world with business plans to help lift themselves out of poverty. In the thousands of dollars I've loaned out over the years, I've lost at most $50, basically due to corrupt governments not allowing all the money to be wired back out of the counties. I have yet to experience an individual who has defaulted on their loan and refused to pay it back. American citizens could take a lesson from the integrity of the rest of the world.
We are all strangers in a foreign land, and most of us will never return to this spot in the world after our tour of duty is complete. The people here in Afghanistan don't know us personally and see us as the next wave of occupiers of a region that has been conquered and occupied countless times since time has been recorded. What will differentiate us from the other forces who have imposed their will on these people? Hopefully if we can show compassion and concern for the well being of these people, they can appreciate a brighter future where the street children grow up to engineers, teachers and builders of a great society. It all starts at the local level with basic kindness to our fellow human beings.
When was the last time you displayed a random act of kindness?
More to follow
So I attended a change request and status meeting of a Government contractor at ISAF who provides software support for the U.S. Military and NATO. As luck would have it, I was approached by someone in the NATO organization of Civil Engineers and wanted to have my opinion on our organizations synchronizing our reconstruction efforts. (Score Again!) I've already made contact with USAID and am beginning our reconstruction project synchronization with them in the coming weeks. He gave me his card and told me where I could find him on Camp Eggers, also within the Green Village.
Camp Eggers is about a quarter mile walk from ISAF, but still within the safety of the enclosed Green Village/Zone. On my walk to the other camp, I always run into the usual kids selling bracelets, scarves, etc. On today's walk, I ran into a young boy named Bashir. As most all kids do here, he had a pretty good grasp of English, so we talked while I made the 15 minute walk in my hot and heavy body armor. I asked him why he wasn't in school, and he laughed and told me because he was on holiday for Ramadan. I asked him what he wanted to go to school to be, and he told me he wanted to be an Engineer. I replied that he must be very smart and that I was dumb so I had to become a soldier. We both laughed. He handed me a small beaded bracelet and told me it was a gift, and I gave him several packs of gum. I need to get some small inexpensive trinkets that I can give out to the kids when I run into them. It helps deflect the conversation of why I don't want to buy what they are selling. Along the way, I passed an elderly Afghan woman in a black abaya and sitting on a prayer rug who was apparently begging. I don't know her situation, but I turned around and gave her a bottle of water and a soda I had in my cargo pocket, and then I handed her some Afghani money from my wallet. She sincerely thanked me in Dari (a Persian derivative), and I smiled and responded with "Salam" (Peace).
As a general rule, back in the U.S., I don't give money to people who beg or pan handle. However, if they approach me, I will always offer them a meal because I firmly believe that God doesn't want me to let anyone within my means to go hungry. I've probably bought nearly a hundred meals for people over the past several years, and only on a couple occasions has anyone ever turned down my offer of food instead of money. For some reason, I decided that this old woman needed money as well so I broke my rule and gave it to her. I've been blessed in my life and fortunate to have the opportunity to gain a perspective of poverty outside the U.S. It saddens me with what the citizens of my country don't appreciate that they have when compared to the majority of the world.
After my business at Camp Eggers, I made my walk back to the ISAF pick-up point for our shuttle. I had taken a couple juice boxes from the DFAC in an effort to help the woman out a little more, but to no avail. She was gone. Along the way, I joined a mixed group of contractors braving their way through the hoards of child-labor sales men. It struck me funny that that there were two middle school aged girls also out selling scarves. I offered them gum. They asked if I wanted to buy a scarf, and I asked why, if they thought I should wear a hejab? (The scarf that covers a woman's hair in the middle east). They laughed and said, "No, for your wife!". I explained that American women would slap men if they tried to make them wear a hejab. They coyly laughed, and I disengaged the group as I reached my pick-up point.
I belong to a micro lending group online called Kiva (http://www.kiva.org). This is a site that's been featured by Oprah and ABC news, so several years ago I signed up. I've made well over a hundred loans over the past several years. The site operates as a no-interest loan broker between collaborative users and international non-profit organizations who loan out money to people in the developing world with business plans to help lift themselves out of poverty. In the thousands of dollars I've loaned out over the years, I've lost at most $50, basically due to corrupt governments not allowing all the money to be wired back out of the counties. I have yet to experience an individual who has defaulted on their loan and refused to pay it back. American citizens could take a lesson from the integrity of the rest of the world.
We are all strangers in a foreign land, and most of us will never return to this spot in the world after our tour of duty is complete. The people here in Afghanistan don't know us personally and see us as the next wave of occupiers of a region that has been conquered and occupied countless times since time has been recorded. What will differentiate us from the other forces who have imposed their will on these people? Hopefully if we can show compassion and concern for the well being of these people, they can appreciate a brighter future where the street children grow up to engineers, teachers and builders of a great society. It all starts at the local level with basic kindness to our fellow human beings.
When was the last time you displayed a random act of kindness?
More to follow
I made that walk quite a few times in the week that I was at Eggers and I think it was the most moving time for me. Those kids and especially the little girls made a big impact on me. There was one girl who looked spot on like a younger version of the famous Afghan woman from the cover of an 80's National Geographic. I still wonder about her and those kids every day.
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