Afghanistan

The plane landed on time Saturday in Portland.  Nevertheless, I definitely experienced “bobble head” on the almost 6 hour flight from DC to Portland! Whew! Spring arrived while I was in Aghanistan, but it is unseasonably dry here.  The Willamette River in front of our house is lower than usual.  This eastern Oregon girl, won’t complain though

Left the EQUALS Compound for the Kabul Airport at 3 pm Friday (approx 3 am Friday in Portland, Oregon) with the EQUALS security contractor PILGRIMS including our driver, armed security, and unarmed Afghan airport liasion.  When I was getting in the vehicle at the Compound, I was instructed to stay in the vehicle unless directed to leave it.  I was also given special

I presented the recommendations of the Governance training participants to the Technical Secretariat today in Kabul.  Afghan’s Technical Secretariat for the Water Sector is made of the following representatives: •MEW-Ministry of Energy & Water •MAIL-Ministry of Agriculture & Livestock •MRRD-Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation & Development •NEPA-National Environmental Protection Agency •MUDA-Ministry of Urban Development Affairs •AWSSC-Afghanistan

Tomorrow will be my last day of the Governance training here in Kabul with class ending about 11 am.  I will provide about a half hour of feed back to the Technical Secretariat at 2 pm.  The Technical Secretariat consists of all the in-line water ministries so will give me a chance to interact with

After work today, I headed with Glen to Spinney’s, which is the super market adjacent to the Compound, to purchase an Arabic calendar.  We are not required to take a security guard with us, but they are posted all along the route and radio each other to follow us on the short walk. The Persian New

In preparing to deliver training in Afghanistan, one of my concerns was being a Lutheran-Christian woman teaching Moslem men.  I wondered if I would suffer any prejudice? Or, if the men would direct their questions to the translator, instead of me? I am pleased to report that every man both in and out of  class has treated

On Friday (Holy Day), Elizabeth arranged for Paul, Galeb, Arzi, and I to go out to brunch and shopping at a local women’s artisan market in Kabul.  As usual, the entrance to security approved locations required a wanding, walk through a metal detector and a hand search through my purse.  Apparently, sometimes you are required to show

The streets were filled with hand carts today.  I wonder if the carts are manned by a certain ethic group as most look more Asian that other peoples on the street of Kabul. A step up from the hand carts are the donkey carts hauling bigger loads.                

On our daily “site seeing” trip in the armoured SUV with the driver and Omar our armed body/security guard, I noticed a big blue building signed as an Afghan-Dubai Wedding Center.”  Omar told me that Afghan weddings include over 1,000 guests!  The party is traditionally paid for by both sets of parents, but because his

Glen & I were escorted at 7:15 am through Kabul traffic to the Afghan Water Ministry’s Offices where we arrived a bit before 8 am.  After introductions to the local staff, we met with a basin director and later the Deputy Minister of Water to discuss our planned trainings that will begin on Monday. Between our meeting, Glen told the

Friday is Holy Day in Kabul, Afghanistan so the cooking and cleaning staff at the compound have the day off. We’ll have a brunch at 10 am this morning, but cold meats and cheese later according to the ex pats living here with me. The dining room is adjacent to my living quarters (bedroom with

Safi Airlines required me to arrive at the Dubai airport 3 hours before my flight today leaving at noon–time to do additional reading in preparation for my governance and public administration facilitation! The flight from Dubai to Kabul was a little over 2 hours and now I’m another half hour time zone distant from Portland,

Preparing for deployment for a USAID consulting mission to Afghanistan provides a few additional challenges than the usual international work. These included security briefings, determining and purchasing culturally appropriate clothing, and considerations of appropriate teaching methods. The US State Department/USAID contractor that I am working for is IRD: http://www.ird.org/  My introduction toIRD came through Azad Mohammadi,