Kabul, Afghanistan 2008 Humanitarian Effort: March 2008

Sunday, March 16, 2008

March 16 eve of departure

As I pack my bags and check off my long list I feel the emotions of joy to be returning to serve the women and children I've grown to love so much and at the same time I feel the sadness of leaving my dear family, friends and puppies. These emotions remind me of what Afghanistan is like. At one moment you can be feeling the joy of helping a child and then turn to look and see another childs pain and suffering as he wades through a canal of polluted water looking for something he can salvage to sell to pay for his food for the day. And you cry for him and wish you could help every suffering child. Then there is the sweet smell of the beautiful fragrant Afghan roses but, as you turn your head you see the rubble of a bombed out home, a place where a family at one time laughed and cried and nurtured each other and enjoyed their own beautiful flower garden. Afghan's love flowers and kite flying and birds and music. They are loving people who have touched my heart deeply and I am grateful to go back again and serve them and experience their beautiful culture. It is a country full of extremes. Innocent children, war lords, beautiful and amazing women who hang on to hope against all odds, terrorist networks, joyful children flying kites and running free and opium growing everywhere to sell across the world to those full of greed and making a living off of anothers pain and addictions.

I will miss my family deeply and I always pray I will return to them! I also know this is the work my Father in Heaven wants me to be part of. It heals my heart everytime I am able to be a friend, offer a listening ear, a warm hug, a gentle word, a sweet smile with the resillient women and loving innocent children of Afghanistan. It is music to my ears when I arrive and hear the children greet me with "Ah, Salam Alakeum, Hala Diana Jon". it is the sweetest sound and fills my heart with joy and love.

I want to thank everyone who helps to make this work possible! It takes the support of many to be able do this work and I am so grateful I am the recipient of your kindness and that I get to carry it forward to a far off country to share with so many loving resillient women and children looking for hope.

Thank you so much to everyone for all you have done to make it possible to bring hope to the women and children of Afghanistan.

I will write as soon as I can and let you all know how Lynda and I are doing and try to give you a taste of our wonderful adventures!!

With Love and gratitude,
Diana

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The Women of Afghanistan

Friday, April 4, 2008

I’ve been home for a few days now trying to get back into the swing of things and get my body clock back to PST which is 12 ½ hours behind Kabul time!! I had finally adjusted to Kabul time just before I left!!

I am still waking up at 3 and 4 AM lying there in the dark in my warm comfortable bed and thinking about Kabul and everyone we know and love there. There is something about the people and the country and how they draw me in that leaves me feeling like I always want to go back. Of course, I know, that as you serve someone you grow to love them more and that is part of what pulls me back every year. I laid there in my warm bed this morning next to my loving husband thinking about all the women I have met since 2002 in Afghanistan and how their stories have touched my heart in such a way that I will always want to help them and honor them.

Before the tragic events of 9/11 I could not tell you where Afghanistan was nor did I know anything about their culture or how they had been at war for many years. I was surviving my own war for most of my life and had finally come to a place in my life where there was peace, love and safety in my home with my new husband of 3 years. In 1992 my boys and I fled from the heinous abuse we had suffered for so many years. We left behind many years of suffering in our pink Mary Kay car with a suitcase full of clothing. It took a few years to find my loving and supportive husband, Scott and create the loving home environment we had together. Scott and I had just finished building our first home together. The beautiful California yard and decorating of our dream home was nearly complete when the tragic events of 9/11 happened in our country. It was these very tragic terrorist attacks in our country that led me to become aware of the lives the women in Afghanistan had been living for so many years and I felt compelled to help. I was at a place in my life where I could do something and I was impelled from within to reach out to theses women and children. As a child I wanted to help others and dreamt of serving children in third world countries and once I became a survivor myself I wanted to support shelters for abused women and children. After reading many stories about the women and children of Afghanistan and deciding I needed to do something I had a dream. In this dream, it looked like to me that thousands of Afghan women in there blue burqas had their arms raised in the air and they were pounding on my door and pleading with me to help them. When I awoke from this dream I had a literal physical pain in my heart and I knew that I must do something to help. I carried that pain in my heart for many months while fund raising to help the women until I arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan in May 2002. Since then the women continue to touch my life with their resilient spirits and heart breaking stories. I honor them and respect them and I am grateful to them for the example of hope that they are to me. That no matter how tragic or horrible their circumstances are they continue to put one foot in front of the other and pull each other up and hope for a better future for themselves and their children.

They have always treated me with such love and kindness as if I were a long lost sister or dear friend they were grateful to have back in their life.

Fatima is a teacher at the House of Flowers orphanage. She is a beautiful young woman and has a grace about her that is lovely and charming. Her voice is sweet and loving and I have watched her teach and interact with the children for years now. She has been such a strong, consistant loving influence in their lives and has taught them to think for themselves and use their imagination and reach out to others. She has helped instill a confidence and kind peaceful spirit in these children that I don’t see in the children in the other orphanages. I heard her story for the first time on this trip and I felt badly that I had not known it before. I have spent many hours with her side by side playing and creating with the children and I never knew she was the sole provider for her family. Fatima’s widowed mother is elderly and not able to work and her younger sister lost her hearing from the bombing that went on in the city. Fatima was schooled in Pakistan and she speaks English very well. She works with the children everyday to improve and practice their English. She takes a one hour bus ride everyday to get to work and back home again. The children love and adore her and she is not only a teacher to them but, a beautiful mother figure as well. Whenever I am there she makes me feel welcomed and loved and there is an intimate closeness we share like sisters even though we only see each other once a year. Her dream is to go to college someday.

Soraya Hakim is an educated and strong, resilient woman who works diligently to serve the many thousands of orphans in her country. She and her husband were the last to leave their country after the Taliban took control. They had dedicated their home to over 700 orphans and provided vocational training, education, medical treatment and one hot meal a day to these children for many years. When I met her in LA back in December of 2001 she was still supporting the school on $6000.00 a year. Money she "begged" from family and Afghan friends here in the states. That is when I knew I could not follow through with my dream of building an orphanage and a school that I needed to help support her in her efforts. I remember the story she told of having to sell everything in her parents beautiful family home in order to survive. How the last thing she could not let go of was her fathers large collection of National Geographic’s. How her father and mother had instilled in her and her siblings a life full of discovery, education and music. Her Father had them listen to classical music while growing up and sent them abroad for higher education. Soraya was schooled in England and went back to her country to dedicate herself to serving the people. In 2003 Soraya went back again even though her entire family including her beautiful grandchildren were here in the states. She took her invalid husband with her and she became the President of all the government run orphanages in Afghanistan. 27 orphanages over 2 million orphans in the country and she called me and said “Diana, you now have two million orphans to help” She has energy like I have not seen before and she is dedicated to doing the best she can for the children of her country. With limited resources and help she asks everyone to pitch in and provide hope to the children. I admire her drive and her determined attitude. She taught me a lesson on this trip without even knowing it, as I watched her with Gul Pari’s mother she wanted to empower her, not in able her, as she told her to stop telling her sad stories and focus on what she could do for her children. I saw the pain in Soraya’s face as she listened to Gul Pari’s mother cry and we watched the girls cry and instead of caving into the sadness she tried to help this woman have hope and see she had a way of changing her destiny if she would just let go of the pain and try to focus on what she could do for herself. I came away with more admiration for her than I have ever had. I have always loved Soraya and have put up with her indomitable general like spirit for many years, when others refused to. And I am grateful I have. She is a force to be reckoned with and has done so much for the children there. I could not believe the change in the two orphanages in Kabul that has taken place over the years. She is responsible for never giving up on these kids and putting up with a difficult task of creating a better life for them with very limited resources and support. She is there without any family as her husband needed better care in the states so she took him back a few years ago to be close to their children. She is pulled at from many people who work for her in the orphanages and she has to answer to a powerful ministry. She sees the suffering of so many people everyday remebering how her country use to be and yet she keeps putting one foot in front of the other and goes forward in hope that she can make a difference. She has made a difference. I have seen it in the children who are left at the orphanages there lives are better than they were when I was first introduced to them in 2002.

Zarghoon is a woman I have run into over the years. I first met her in 2002 when we first visited Alloadine, the girls’ orphanage. She was there serving the children living in deplorable circumstances. She is an educated woman with a successful husband and she dedicates her time to the children of her country. She was the first woman to be on the air on the Afghan TV after the Taliban were ousted. Zarghoona does not have to work but, she is at the orphanage everyday teaching and serving the children. She is a beautiful, spirited woman with a kind way about her and has always treated me with graciousness and given me gifts every time I come. She has taught the girls how to sew, knit, cook and she is a wonderful mentor for them. The girls at her side prepared a very delicious Afghan lunch for Lynda and I one afternoon. The table was set beautifully and the food was very good! We ate with Soraya, the administrators of the orphanages and some teachers as the girls served us. Zarghoona sat for only a minute as she was helping and overseeing everything. Then she came back with lovely hand made pillow cases for Lynda and I. I told her the sweet yellow table cloth and napkins she gave me a few years ago Lynda and I used for our tea party when we had some children over for Eid. She smiled and thanked me and went back to work. Soraya told me Zarghoon’s husband wants her to retire and be home more but, she is so dedicated to these children I can’t imagine she will stop serving them.

The women who serve us at our guest house are kind, friendly, trustworthy women and I always wish I could speak to them and hear their stories but, we just smile at each other and wish each other good day as we pass by. They watch us westerners in amazement with our lap tops and photos and camera equipment and toys and gifts all over our rooms and yet they never ask for anything. One day one of them was trying to tell us something in sign language and I think we figured out she was having back aches from all the chores she does. These woman squat to clean and wash and I can’t imagine the back aches they must get from there work everyday. Ginna said to me one day that they must have the strongest quads in this country for all the squatting they do! I gave some Ibuprofene to the woman and we tried to explain she could take two a day. They show up early in the morning in their burqa’s and hang them up to work a full day as they clean and wash and serve us at the guest house and then in the afternoon they leave in their buqa’s as they walk out the compound gate to go home and serve and clean for their families. They always seem sad when we leave and happy when we return. I am sad to say I don’t know much about them except that they are fortunate to have work and that they work hard and that they are kind to us and I trust them and we are more than happy to tip them when we leave, something we found out is not part of their culture.

Suraya Parlika is a woman I have the greatest amount of love and respect for. It has been a privilege to know her and call her my friend. I first met her in 2003 and I was impressed with her energetic, fun, gentle yet, strong spirit. I watched her as our dear Casi Kushell taught the women in Suraya’s organization the protocol for the trauma relief therapy they were using with the children that year. Suraya said when Casi was done she felt relief from her pains and trauma and it made me feel even closer to her as we listened to her life story. She has always been an advocate for women and chose not to ever marry or have children so she could serve the women and children of Afghanistan. Suraya was the only girl in her family and her parents supported her in having a good education.

She was imprisoned for years and tortured for teaching women that they have rights and freedoms and she never gave the names of other women who worked with her and so she was tortured even more. Electric shock and beatings were her life for years until she was freed. Her life has been threatened many times. She has had her office broken into and everything stolen many times and they have had to start all over again. She has been shot at and keeps moving forward undaunted by these threats. She continues to open many vocational and literacy programs for women and girls. We have visited many of the centers and we see little girls as young as six sitting next to older grandmotherly looking woman learning how to read and write from teachers who have just finished high school. So many women love and respect Suraya and look to her as their mentor. She was one of the 100 women nominated for a Nobel Peace prize back in 2005 and I was fortunate to travel with her to NY and watch her speak at the UN and visit ground zero with her. I will never forget the feeling I had as I stood next to this true hero and thought how I could not get over the fact that I was standing next to her at the very place where the horrible events that happened in my country led me to want to help the women of Afghanistan and caused me to have a dream about them pleading with me to help them. I remember how I began to cry standing there on that dark cold night next to the empty space where the twin towers once stood and Suraya not knowing exactly why I was crying put her arms around me and asked me not to cry and said lets leave this place it is to sad for you. Only if she knew my emotions of sadness for the loss of thousands of people who were killed in my country on 9/11 were also laced with the joy of being able to serve her and the women of her country and filled with gratitude for knowing such a heroic woman. It is amazing how out of the ashes something beautiful and powerful can happen. I’ve seen this many times in my life.

Suraya’s father passed away while we were in Kabul on Thursday evening. It was a sad and difficult time for her and Lynda and I felt inadequate as we wanted to help but, there was really nothing we could do other than show her our love for her. I will never forget meeting her father years ago and the spunky, happy upbeat spirit he had. In his 90’s he walked like that of a teenager and had a cute sense of humor and you could see the pride he had for his daughter. He told Lynda and I that AAWU, Suraya’s organization, was the enemy of his gardens for he had sold much of his property off to help her keep her work going and to support her efforts in empowering the women of her country. I knew he was proud to be able to do this for her and that he said it in a loving teasing way and he was happy to support her in her courageous efforts. He was Suraya’s only family left in Kabul and I know she will miss him terribly. I pray the women she has served will support her in this loss and help keep her strong. Lynda and I asked our driver what we should say to her when he dropped us off at her place to see her and he told us an Afghan saying in Dari, which meant, put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward and thinking about the future. This was what I have seen of these women every day as they struggle in such a desperate economy and oppressive life. Never giving up always reaching out to others along the way is what comes naturally to them and I love and respect them for their resilient, gracious examples.

Diana

Hope For Afghanistan Projects Funded March 2008

March 28, 2008

ThaiMaskan Boys’ Orphanage, 6 month Automobile repair and mechanic vocational program

AAWU, Women’s Vocational and Literacy training for one year for 300 women and girls

Allaudine Girls’ Orphanage, New school uniforms including shoes, scarves and back packs. Sports equipment, soccer balls ping pong paddles for tables we bought for them in 2005, Volley ball nets and balls, bad mitten sets, Hula Hoops, jump ropes and many extra ping pong balls.

House of Flowers Funding for expenses to keep orphanage and Montessori school running through 2008

Funding for House of Flowers “Seeds of Hope Project” An out reach project to continue helping the refugees created and implemented by the House of Flowers children

Funding for House of Flowers micro business craft project which the children will design, make and sell children’s fabric maps to play with using match box cars or printed cars

Funding for Najma to continue her needed medical attention for her heart problems

Complete School Uniform for Ariana a street child

Cash donation to Gul Pari’s widowed mother
Cash donations to many street widows and children

Total donated for 2008 Humanitarian projects

Force for Good grant $10,000.00
Haskins Foundation for Zion grant $20,000.00
Hope for Afghanistan Private donors $15,906.00

Total $45,906.00

Cash donations $540.00

www.aaoh.org

Flavia and the Dream maker, Allaodine toys, Gul Pari's mother

Friday March 28, 2008

I'm exhausted!!!!! I just got back from a very busy and emotional day!!

First we went to H of F with a guest here who is a professional photographer and 76 years old!! She is wonderful and went with us to take some pix of me reading Flavia's story to the children. She loved the orphanage and the children. They were adorable with her and she got some lovely pix!! The children hung on every word from Flavia’s story and Akmad our driver translated for me. They loved the story and I know it gave them many wonderful things to think about and they told me the best part was when Uncle Jack was talking to Flavia about her dreams!! Thank you Falvia for this beautiful gift of hope you gave them!! I loved being able to read it to them. I had to hold back the tears as I remembered our conversation and how you shared how your Uncle was a true hero and saved many young men in the war!!

We stayed for lunch and then I was off to the girls’ orphanage to meet Soraya Hakim and deliver the sports toys we bought for the girls and then go meet Gul Pari's mother. Soraya has softened!!! She was loving with me and complimentary and I was really surprised she actually showed up to go with me to Gul Pari's home. But, she said she would not forgive herself if anything happened to me!! And I told her she would have to deal with my husband if anything did happen to me!! While Soraya said her prayers in her office I handed out the toys to the girls. They were very happy and excited and I got lots of hugs and kisses from girls I have known since 2002. Gul Pari looked beautiful and was so excited to take me to meet her Mom. Soraya wanted to stop at her new apartment she built on her family property. It is very nice a small one bedroom place but over looking her family garden and home. She rents the large home out to USAID I bet she gets a lot from them most NGOs pay big bucks for guest houses!!! Gul Pari was very impressed with Soraya’s home. She is such a sweet girl and so shy. As soon as we got in the car she emptied her pockets with pine nuts and shelled them for me on the drive to her home. She refused to eat any and wanted me to have all of them. She told me her house was very poor. She held my hand and kissed it and kept looking at me lovingly as we drove along the dusty dirty roads filled with cars, people, horse drawn carts, ice cream carts that had music playing. Her Mother lives with her Aunt way out past The House of Flowers in a very poor part of town.

When we pulled and Gul Pari opened the gate to the compound and invited Soraya and I inside her little sister ran into my arms. Soraya’s driver waited in the car for us it is not appropriate for a strange man to enter a woman’s home and see her. The younger sister also lives at the orphanage and was visiting their mother. Gul Pari lead us alongside her Aunts home to a mud room in the back that could not be bigger than 6 x 6 it was pathetic and unimaginable that someone could live like this their whole life!! The mother and older sister welcomed me with a big long hug and we sat down on the old rugs and pillows on the cement floor. It was dark inside no pictures or anything on the walls they had two built in cupboards covered with fabric curtains. There was a cement corner uncovered where they drained the water from the tea pot and I don't wan to think of what else goes down that drain!! The mother was very frail and skinny she looked young. The oldest daughter is engaged to her cousin. The only boy lives at Thia Maskan orphanage. This was the first time Soraya had ever visited any of the children's homes. It was very emotional and difficult to sit there and watch all of them crying while the mother told Soraya her story. The younger sister clung next to me with her head on my shoulder snuggled in very close and tears running down her cheecks. Gul Pari was sitting next to Soraya and she cried the whole time and kept covering her face. Soraya listened and I just watched and finally asked her to translate. The husband was killed by some enemies when they were young and living in Pakistan. She pulled up her skirt and exposed her leg and thigh and showed us a horrible scar from a gun shot. She is very sick with arthritis, asthma and has a broken collar bone that never healed properly. Soraya was firm with her and told her she needed to stop telling such sad stories and making her children cry. That she needed to find work and take care of herself.

Soraya was obviously upset to see the girls crying and she told me it was not right for this mother to do this to these girls all the time. There was no hope in this household of women.

Gul Pari wants to come to the states and I guess one of the reasons I was brought there was to see if I would agree to bring her home with me. The mother asked Soraya to beg me to take her home with me. Soraya told the older daughter she should get a job and take care of her mother and the daughter said it was not right for Afghan women to work. It’s a heart renching situation and if Soraya had not been there I would have probably fallen into their sadness and felt like I should do something more than give them the $200.00 (from my dear friend Laurie Tidwell) that I did. Soraya did not want to stay long and we left she had put off her trip to Paughman to be with her family and it was dangerous to drive on the road there at night. I tried to get pix but, Gul Pari could not pull herself together. My heart was breaking for her and the little sister. Soraya asked them if they wanted to move back and live with their Mother and they said no they were happy at the orphanage. I watched Soraya's face as she listened to the mother and it was full of pain and I thought how difficult this must be for her every day to hear the stories and see the suffering everywhere. I would have fallen apart if it had not been for the fact that I had a dinner appointment at H of F children. We said goodbye to the mother and Gul Pari and the little sister pleaded with me to stay.

Gul Pari followed us out to the gate and the aunt came out to meet us. She looked worse than Gul Pari's mother!!!

I tried to get a picture of Gul Pari and her family but, it is a sad picture full of pain. It seemed like she did not want a picture of her with her mother. I’m sure there must be some feelings of anger towards her for giving up and not taking care of her children.

Gul Pari thanked me for coming and I hugged her goodbye. She did give me a smile before I left when I asked her not to cry and told her that we were going to make sure she and the other girls at Allaodine received vocational training so they could improve their lives. I felt awful leaving her behind but, there is nothing else I can do for her at this point.

Soraya and her driver dropped me off at H of F where I could not wait to feel the joy and happiness of the children there. Soraya told me she loved me and thanked me for taking her to Gul Pari’s home that it was good for her to see how they really live. She said we had good memories as friends over the years and she thought so much about it last night and felt bad we had not been closer the last few years. She kissed me goodbye and thanked me again for all we have done for her country.

As I stood outside the gate of the H of F compound I could hear the laughter and the hope from the children inside who were playing in the yard I could not wait for them to open the gate and see their loving and happy faces. It helped take some of the pain away from being with Gul Pari and her mother. I had a wonderful and exhausting time playing with the children outside running playing tag, hide and seek, laughing and giggling with the girls, learning a few new Afghan games, then they pushed me on the swing and laughed as I swung higher and higher and they invited me to slide down which might not have been a good idea for this 47 almost 48 year old body!! The slide was very slick and short and as I saw myself come to the bottom I pulled my feet put to stop myself and I think I jolted both of my knees! Dr. Ianatullah told the children they were to hard on me and needed to give me some rest!! . They were very sweet and said lets go inside and rest. I took some pix of them with their fabric maps they made that are so darling!!

We went inside and printed lots of pix with the portable printer. It has been such a hit with everyone!!! Thank you again Melinda!! We played and laughed and then as it became dark we got out the glow sticks I had brought for them. They were so excited as I dumped them out of the containers on the desk. Dr< Ianatullah explained to them what they were as I told him. They had never seen them before. We handed one to each child and then showed them how to break them so the liquid inside would glow. Then we turned out the lights!!!! The room lit up and they screamed with excitement!! They shook them and made them spin in circles on their arms and wrists and put them on their heads and in their mouths to make their teeth light up they were so impressed and wanted to know when the light inside them would turn off!! One of the children broke hers open and realized the liquid would make her hands and anything she put it on light up so then they all wanted to have the glow liquid on their clothes and paint their faces with it. The whole room began to light up as they shook them and liquid flew everywhere!! The girls took me into their room where little Yosmeen was painting her face in the dark in front of the mirror!! She looked like she had war paint on!! It was so funny and all the girls rubbed there hands on my scarf and clothes to make me light up and then Ziba put a green dot on my forehead. We had so much fun laughing and playing with these dollar toys I had brought from home!! Razia asked if my daughter’s would come with me to Afghanistan and I told them I did not think so. They opened their lockers under their bed and pulled out a letter and some pix of two young women and then a pix of me and my Mom fell out with my darling granddaughter Ashby. They asked me if the girls were my daughters and I said no these are friends of my Mothers and they sent you many sweaters and warm things for the winter and then I read the letter to them. They said is this your mother as they pointed to the pix? Razia showed me a card she had in her locker from my Mom and she handed it to me as soon as I saw the card I knew it was from my mom and I read it to her. She said they would write thank you notes for the girls and my mom. The boys kept coming to the door of the girl’s room and saying hala Diana come, come and see. The girls lead me by my hand into the next room where we had started playing with the glow sticks and the boys turned out the lights and I could not believe my eyes!!! The whole floor looked like we were standing in the stars because it was lit up with tiny dots from the glow liquid everywhere in many different colors!! The children said it was like Jack’s stars from Flavia’s story and they said we are standing in heaven in the stars!! Ah, it was a magical moment with them!! And it filled my heart with joy!! The House of Flowers is full of hope unlike any other place I have seen in this country!!

My sweet driver had come before we opened the glow sticks and Fahim came from his family home even though it was his day off and they played and had a blast with the children. We all had a lovely dinner with the children and then it was time to go. Akmad our drive was adorable with them and he had them laughing and giggling with joy as he played with them.

I hated to leave and the girls asked me to stay until 1 AM!! But, I told them I would be back on Sunday before I leave to say goodbye.

They are such special and blessed children.

Diana

Sock puppets, Henna, and an up do for Hala Diana Jon at the House of Flowers

Thursday March 27, 2008

6:30 AM

I have always brought craft projects to do with the children and this year I thought sock puppets might be a fun project to do with them. Whatever I bring has to be light weight so I can bring it in my suitcases without being charged for over weight luggage which I have paid for to many years in the past!! I bought a kit that had the supplies to make 4 or 5 puppets and a book with pictures of many characters, lions, red riding hood, snakes, rabbits, birds with feathers, pink flamingos, skunks, elephants, dogs, cats, princesses. Then I asked the women in my church f they would donate the supplies for the project and I bought the rest of the items we still needed.

Lynda and I and our driver, Ahmad arrived at H of F and we were greeted warmly and enthusiastically by the children and their teachers. They were busy with school and I asked if we could do some craft projects with them. They sat in a half circle around the floor and I showed them the book of many different sock puppet ideas and they were so excited!! It was darling how they looked through the cute characters and got so excited to make one. I told them they could copy theses or make their own puppet design. As we were looking through the book I was trying to decide how 20 plus children were going to share one book with designs. So, I decide the best thing to do was to tear the pages out of the book! I asked Fatima what she thought and we all agreed it would be the best so I told the children this is not something you would normally do with a book but, today we needed to. The adults and I laughed as I said never do this at home!! Do as I say not what I do!! And I began to gently tear out the pages and give the children the picture of the character they wanted so they could get started.

Ahmad and Lynda helped me take all the items out of the large suitcase and organize them along the wall on the carpet, many colored socks, ribbons, thread, needles, buttons, yarn for hair,costume jewelry, beads, bells, pipe cleaners, fake fur, googly eyes, felt in every color, sparkles, jewels and glue. The children came up to the many items to chose from with their picture and with the help of the adult they selected all the needed items to make their puppet and then sat on the floor next to each other and started to create. A room full of animals, princesses, birds, and more came to life!! They had so much fun!! Ahmad our driver made a snake with a multi colored sock before anyone else could even get started!! It was very cute and he then began helping the children with theirs. They came to Lynda, Fatima and I to help them with sewing and some cutting, but they did most of the creating themselves. They can all sew and are very talented artist. I had to have them thread the needles for me and they thought that was cute. They are so sweet and helpful. I loved being surrounded by them as we created their puppets. As each one was completed they wanted to show me and I took a few seconds of video of them with their new puppet!! Little Mutjba who is new to the H of F and the youngest did not know where to begin and he knelt in front of me with this sad look on his sweet face and handed me is supplies. I helped him put it together and he lit up when his snake was done!! He is such a cute little boy I think he is around four years old.

The children played and laughed at their creations and then they started to make more just from their own ideas. Ziba wanted me to help her with her Red ridding hood and we did not get to it before she had to leave for school. All the children go to public school fro three hours a day and they go in shifts through out the day depending on what grade they are in and Ziba had to leave at one o clock right after lunch. I promised her I would still be there when she came back from school and that we would finish it together. You should have seen the floor of the classroom!! It looked like a disaster with all the scraps of the supplies everywhere. It was time for lunch and we went upstairs to have lunch. Three of the girls Mariam, Shukria, and Ziba had their school uniforms and their back packs on while they ate so they could leave right away after lunch. They wear black uniforms with white scarves. They looked so cute.

After lunch we went downstairs and I could not believe my eyes!! The room had been completely cleaned up by a couple of the children!! We worked on more puppets with some of the children who returned from school after lunch and then Rameen made himself a black hat and took some of the fake fur and cut a mustache and goatee and glued it them to his face. He held up Razia’s puppet for me to take his picture!! He looked so cute and funny, like a little old man and he was so serious!! He loves to act and is the cutest character. I will never forget the first time I met him in 2003, I gave him one of my business cards and he held it up next to his heart like a badge of honor and asked me to take his picture!! I could eat him up!!!

It was time for hala Lynda and Ahmad to leave. The children said goodbye and thanked them for all of their help. I think Lynda sewed hats and tongues and fixed and repaired the whole time she was there. I was grateful for her and Ahmad’s help!! And, I know hey had fun!!

The girls asked me if I wanted to have Henna on my hands and have my hair done up by them. I was led to a chair and they took off my jewelry and placed it nicely on a shelf and then began to make me over!! All the girls fussed over me and looked at me with such love wanting to be close. Fatima helped them do my hair in an up do and put silver glitter on it and place a strand of cute decorative buttons they had strung in my hair at the top like a tiarra. While I was having my hair done Razia drew beautiful Henna designs on the front and back of my hands. Henna comes in a long tube and is the consistency of very creamy runny frosting in a dark brown color and it dries and leaves rust colored stain on your hands in the design it was painted in. You have to leave it on for an hour until it dries. Razia is a very talented artist and I hope her designs will last until I get home so my husband can see it. She drew a heart and put the letters I LD in it and told me that meant I love Diana. Fatima said I was the bride of H of F and she was my mother and the girls were my sisters and they were getting me ready for my wedding in America. I told them they had to go with me since they were my family!! It was fun to play and pretend with them!! Henna is used for weddings and special parties and I have always wanted to have it done on my hands!! I asked Razia if she was copying a design she had seen or making it up herself. She said it came form her mind. The boys watched with great interest and Wahid took some pix for me. He loves the camera!! It was time for Fatima to leave and catch the bus to go home. I asked her about her family during lunch. She is the sole provider for her elderly mother and her sister who lost her hearing during the wars form the bombs. Many children lost their hearing from the bombs form the Russians invading Afghanistan. I admire her courage and her wonderful loving spirit. And I am so glad she has work and can provide for her family.

I had to keep my hands still so the henna could dry. So, after I had been beautified we went outside with Fahim to play in the back yard. The children have a swing set and a slide. I was very careful not to mess up my design as I watched them play and call my name. They all wanted me to watch them play and swing and kick the soccer ball with Fahim and dig in the dirt and plant onions and branches from a pine tree. The play ground is a hard dark soil. Once my hands were somewhat dry I took lots of pix and then they wanted me to swing with them. The girls kept checking my hands to see if they were completely dry so they could rub the henna off my hands that dried like hard frosting. They each worked on my hands rubbing the henna off to show me the beautiful design that was left!! I love it!!

We played outside for quite awhile and then went in to help Ziba after she returned from school on her puppet. She is so sweet and called me mother the first time she met me last year and drew a beautiful picture for me of snow white and wrote a letter to me that was so sweet. We made little red ridding hood for her as the room became darker and darker while the sun went down. The girls were surrounded around me and asked me why I came to the H of F’s. I told them because I loved them and they said I love you back to me. It was very sweet. They wanted to know if I could sew and I told them years ago I used to make many things for my boys and our house but, not anymore. Shukria was so cute as we were sitting on the floor working on Ziba’s puppet she kept putting puppets on her hand and putting on a little skit for us and then kiss me on both cheeks with the puppet as she said Hodofus (goodbye). The light s finally came on and we went up stairs for another game of Simon says before I had to leave.

It was another wonderful day full of lovely memories with some of my favorite children and the puppets were such a great hit with them!! When I left they had them all displayed on the desk like a bunch of little characters waiting to come to life!!

Diana

Photos and a portable printer brings joy to the children!

Wednesday Morning March 26, 2008

5AM

There’s an ancient saying that when a dove flaps it wings in China, the wind currents shift for thousand of miles across mountains and seas. It’s just a poetic way of saying that everything we do has a ripple affect and that we are all interconnected and have a responsibility to look out for one another and future generations!!

Lynda and I spent Monady mornig at the boys orphanage with Soraya Hakim the general director of the government orphanages. We visited the boys automobile workshop we funded last year. I could not believe the building we saw last year was the same workshop we were looking at that morning!! We spoke with two English classes
which was fun and it helped the boys practice their English. They asked us many questions about the states and about our lives. We made arrangements with Soraya to meet her at the girls orphanage on Wednesday so we could discuss a vocational program for the older girls I want to fund and to discuss Gul Pari and her situation and if it would be possible for me to go with her to meet her mother possibly on Friday since it is the Muslim holiday. The boys’ orphanage
has had many improvements since I first saw it in 2003. But, they still did not have proper pluming and working toilets.

Ahmad our driver waited for Lynda and I while we were in meetings with Soraya out near the car and when we went out to get into the car to leave he was curled up in the passenger seat sound a sleep. He is a young man about 18 and he is going to school to get his BA in business and is a straight A student and a very sweet young man. He is Zalami’s nephew. Zalmai has been our driver for the last three years and he has a new job so, he arranged for Ahmad to be our driver. Ahmad is one of a few drivers who actually has his license!! He looked so sweet and innocent curled up in the seat I hated to wake him.

When he and Lynda dropped me off at House of Flowers the cell phone rang and it was Gul Pari. She has been calling the past couple of days and Lynda has had to tell her we were in meetings and to call later. Lynda handed me the phone and I heard her say Mother, this is Gul Pari and she burst into tears. It broke my heart and I said Gul Pari, honey don’t cry I will be at Alloadine on Wednesday to see you please don’t cry. She was so upset she couldn’t talk. I assured her again I would see her on Wednesday and we said good bye to each other as she was still crying. I broke down in tears. It was more than my heart could take to hear her sobbing and knowing she is hanging on to hope that I will be able to help her, Ahmad wanted to know what was wrong and if I was OK Lynda tried to explain while I gathered myself together and said good bye. I tried to think of what I could do in this moment for the children at House of Flowers.

A wonderful woman from the US donated a very nice Epson portable printer to me so I could print the photos I take of the children right on the spot!! Over the 6 years of coming here I have taken their photos and printed them at home and then brought them back the next year so, this was very exciting for the children to have the photo in their hand immediately! Immediate gratification!!! I brought the printer with me to the House of Flowers on Monday afternoon. I had taken many photos of the children during my visit on Easter Sunday. When I walked in to the class room the children and Fatima stood up with beaming smiles on their faces and called out “A Salam Alakeum Hala Diana Jon” and warmly gave me hugs and three Afghan kisses. That’s a lot of kisses from 30 children and two teachers!! I love it!!! I asked them if I could show them something I brought to share with them. They all exclaimed. “Bali, yes” and I looked around for my bags because as soon as I walk into the House they are graciously taken from my hands so I don’t have to carry them. I let the children carry the printer to the desk and open the case it was in. Every child and the teachers were gathered around the desk as close as they could to see this new invention. The printer was very gently and respectfully removed from its case and placed on the table by a couple of the boys. All eyes were on this new machine!! I told them how to open the top and pop up the LCD screen and open the door where the memory card is placed and then I took the card from my camera and let one of them put it in the printer and then magically after the push of one sweet little finger it was lit up and ready to work. They placed the paper in and we were ready to start printing!! The LCD screen is a good size so you can see the photos on the card and they watched me scroll through the photos and I told them they could print the photos they wanted. As they watched the first photo come out their eyes were lit up and smiles were stretched across their faces and they jumped with joy!! It was such a great gift for them to have their pictures immediately and watch it magically print!!. Melinda, who donated the printer told me she always felt so bad, as she took photos of children on her many humanitarian trips and they never got a copy so, she started traveling with one a few years ago and decided to start donating them to humanitarian orgs like us. Thank you Melinda, you gave them a wonderful gift and brought great joy to them!! Now they do not have to wait a year for their pix anymore!! Most children living in third world countries never get photos of themselves and they treasure them so much!! As the children were scrolling through the photos Gita asked if she could have a picture of me, I thought it was very sweet and then all the children jumped up and down and said they wanted a picture of “Hala Diana Jon” It was so sweet but, unexpected I thought they would want pix of themselves!! So, they spent the afternoon printing photos of hala Diana!!! I pulled out the camera and took photos of them and they wanted to hold up their new photo they had just printed so it would be in the picture!! It was time for Fatima and the other teacher to leave and Fatima said she was very sad to have to go. They both said the printer was such a good idea and thanked me for brining it. They wanted to know when I would be back.

I planned to stay with the children until 7 Pm when Ahmad was finished with school. We read GO Dog GO, written by Dr, Sues. This book just happens to be my sweet little 18 month old grand daughter’s favorite book. Razia translated for me and the kids loved it!! I love reading to them. I always try to bring new books for their library each year and I have shipped many books to them.

Fahim, Omar Farough arrived and Dr. Ianatullah. I visited with Dr. Ianatullah while the children played and I told him Fatima got me thinking about how maybe the children could make some of the fabric maps like the darling one from Nicole and Bryce Allen and I could try to sell them in the states for them. He thought it was a good idea and said they should have a logo and that the children could make them very quickly because they are such good artist. I think we could really get people in the US to buy them for their children knowing they were hand made by children from Afghanistan. I’m excited about the possibility. Maybe each one should come with a story about the House of Flowers and a pic of them, too.

As we sat and talked it became dark outside and Dr.Ianatullah apologized for the fact that they had no electricity. It comes on around 6:30 pm until 10:30. I guess they have solar panels but, he told me they were being repaired. The lights came on and the kids yelled with excitement and gently took my hands to guide me upstairs with them where the lights worked. We sat on the floor and played games and they showed me tricks they knew and Gita read my palm for me. It was cute to watch them try to translate to me that she was a palm reader. Gita is around 7 yeas old. She told me I had a beautiful life and would live a long time. Then Nadia asked if I could teach them a game. Oh boy, I told them I was to old and I had not played games in a very long time that I couldn’t remember any games. Ha, that did not get me out of it!! They insisted I was very young looking and could not be old and they asked me how old I was. Almost 48!! I remembered Simon says and they were very excited to learn how to play. I was Simon and Dr. Ianatullah translated. It was cute and they loved the new game! After playing for a while my driver showed up. Sad faces looked at me and wanted to know when I would be back and why I could not stay for dinner. I told them I had to go home and eat dinner with Lynda. Then I said Simon says goodbye and they all said good bye hala Diana jon.

Dr. Ianatullah, Fahim, Omar Farough and Nick Mohammad walked me downstairs with the light of a phone and then into the dark room where the camera’s and printer and my purse were. The children had already neatly organized everything for me and all I had to do was place everything in my carry on bag. These four kind gracious men all walked me to the front door carrying my bags and as I was saying goodbye they asked me if they could take one more minute of my time. So, we stood in the door way with my driver as they told me about Omar Farough’s little girl Najma who we helped a few years a go get to India with her parents for a heart surgery that saved her life. It was now time to see if she needed another surgery which the Doctor’s told us a she grew it would be necessary. I looked into the eyes of these men and thought to myself how amazing it was that I felt nothing but admiration and respect for these four men and all they do for the children at House of Flowers and how I have watched them so tenderly interact with the children over the years and that I was standing in the dark with them and felt compassion for Omar and his sweet baby girl. I asked them to e mail Mostafa about the situation and cc me and that I would discuss it with Lynda and not to worry that we would probably be able to help with the finances for Najma to get back to India for the needed test since it could not be done here. They thanked me for my kindness and I told them we wanted Najma to have a healthy fulfilling life and would do what we could. I could see this was a very hard thing for Omar Farough to ask of me as the father and provider of his family and yet what else could he do. There is no way he could earn the money it would take to get her to India and pay for the test. I’m so grateful we had funds that had not yet been dedicated anywhere and we would be able to help.

“Think of all the hearts beating in the world, at the same time. Think of all the faces and the stories they could tell, at the same time. Think of all the hands reaching for a dream. Think of all dreams that could come true. In this precious life there is no time to borrow. Its time to overcome our fears and join to build a better world that loves and understands There’s a healing music in our hearts beating in this world, at the same time”

These are the lyrics from a favorite song of mine that Barbra Streisand sings, it’s entitled “At the same time”

Diana

Hamid's Lap Top

Tuesday March 25, 2008

6 AM is better than getting up at 3 AM to journal in the pitch black guest room with my husbands reading light clipped in my hair on top of my head, so I can see the key board!! LOL!!Enjoy!

Hamid is a young man I have known since my first trip to Kabul in May of 2002. He was only about 11 years old then (the age of my youngest son at that time). We met him while shopping on Chicken street after our delegation of 20 American’s and 5 Afghan’s had just arrived to Kabul. I will never forget his darling bright smile and his charming way. He helped run his Uncles book store. The books and maps and post cards where covered in dirt and dust and looked as if they had been sitting in the store for years waiting for the wars to end. Hamid spoke English and his hair and clothes were very tidy and clean. He escorted me around the shop and I would ask him how much something was and he would say for you nothing you are my guest. He offered us chi (tea) the typical Afghan hospitality. While looking over the store I noticed a small boy hunched over a very small desk in a corner of the tiny book store. He was drawing a lovely Afghan picture and I asked Hamid about him. He was Hamid’s cousin and loved to draw. His art work was in piles on top of some of the books. He was quiet gifted for such a young boy. I asked Hamid if I could look through the drawings and he said of course why not and we flipped through the drawings together. By this time Hamid’s uncle the father of the artist had come into the store and greeted me. I told him I would like to buy some of the drawings and they said oh, no we will give them to you as a gift. I looked at the child artist and he smiled this shy smile and I noticed he had very bad teeth. I said if he will sign his drawings for me I will buy them. I explained that every artist must sign his work so people would know who drew it and then his name could become famous. They smiled with wide eyed wonderment and asked me which drawings I wanted. I selected one that had a beautiful women on it over looking her husbands grave with tears running down her face. It was touching and I could not resist. I insisted they let me pay for all the drawings I selected it as I told them every artist must be paid for his work. I gave Hamid my business card and thanked Him and his cousin the artist and his Uncle and our delegation was on our way.

Every time I saw Hamid on this trip he wanted to give me gifts and I could not get over the difference in him and his cousins and the poor little urchin street boys who had torn old ratty clothes and were filthy and begged for bakshsih (money). I took pictures of the three one day and then of three street boys standing near them and it was such a huge contrast. It broke my heart for the street children yet, I was happy to see Hamid and his family had been able to come through the many years of war in Afghanistan without ending up on the streets. One day Hamid presented me with a bag of lovely Afghan candy and looked at me longingly. Each year I have come back I have reconnected with him and he has always been very kind and helpful to me never asking for anything only acting concerned that I was happy and comfortable in his country. He had my business card I had given him in 2002 and showed it to me each year!
I always took pix of him and his cousins and brought them copies back each year and he told me he had them up on his walls in his home. I noticed on my second trip to Kabul that Hamids cousin had his drawings displayed nicely on the walls of the store with his signature on them and he was now selling them to westerners and other foreigners who came to the book store to shop!!

In 2007 I had decided that I wanted to do something a little more significant for a few of the street girls I knew and felt close to so I put small photo albums together of all the pix I had taken of them over the years and put two hundred dollars behind the pix in the album. I placed the albums in a cute gift bag along with head bands, candy, jump ropes and bracelets and wondered how I would let them know the money was in there without causing a mob seen on the streets. I decided to ask Hamid if he would give the gifts to the girls and tell them the money was in the photo album for them. He seemed very happy to do this for me. The next day I was in his family book store I was attacked with hugs and kisses from these girls thanking me for helping them and their mothers with the $200.00. I knew I could trust Hamid with the money and I was right.

Once I returned back home to the states I started to receive early morning phone calls from Hamid!! My cell number is on my business card that all the street children and Hamid had but, I never expected one of them to actually call me from Kabul!!

These phone calls came weekly for quite some time and he would let the street girls say a quick hello and they would all ask when are you coming back and tell me they missed me. Hamid started calling me mother and would e mail me the sweetest emails by now he is about 16 years old. In one e mail he asked me if I would bring him a lap top so he could use it in school. His dream is to go to college and become a doctor. How could I refuse!! I first thought I would just buy one for him. Then my husband gently reminded me how much money we spend every year for my humanitarian trips and how much we already give to the projects we support in Kabul and so I decided to see if I could find someone who would donate a lap top to Hamid. I called Make it work a local computer business that came to our home and office and repaired all our tech problems on our computers. I asked for the owner and told him Hamids story and he immediately said he would be thrilled to donate a refurbished lap top to Hamid!! I was so excited and touched that he would do this!!!

So here we are on Easter Sunday 2008 and Lynda and I are walking to Chicken Street to the book store to see Hamid and present him with his gift!! Make it work also gave him a very nice red and black computer bag that has their company logo on it. As soon as Hamid saw us his eyes lit up and his smile was so huge! He was just beaming!!! I gave him the computer bag with the lap top and he graciously thanked me and told me he had sent an email to thank the owner of Make it Work. Lynda took a pix of me presenting it to him and then I took a few pix of him with his new gift!! Before I left home I had loaded all the photos I have taken of him over the years and told him to look at his picture file!! He was so happy and I was thrilled for him!! Giving is such a joy!! Thank you Make it Work you just made a very giving young mans dream come true. He wants to serve the people of his country by becoming a doctor and I know he will!!

Ariana was there when we presented Hamid's lap top to him and she told me she did not have a uniform for school so Lynda and I reached in our pockets and gave her enough for two uniforms! She beamed with happiness! Ariana was the very first street child I met in 2002 and I see her every time I come back to Kabul. She sells books on the streets to earn money for her and her family.

I can’t wait to write about the wonderful time the kids and I had on Monday with the Epson portable printer, that was donated by a very nice women, in the states and how the children of House of Flowers had so much fun printing their photos I had just taken of them. It is the greatest gift and so much fun!! Thank you Melinda!!

Stay tuned!! Lynda and I are off to spend the day at House of Flowers to make sock puppets with the children and read stories to them and of course take lots of photos!!

Diana

Monday March 24 House of Flowers

4:30 AM

The House of Flowers

I spent early Sunday afternoon with the children at the House of Flowers. Most of them have returned from being gone for the Afghan New Year visiting extended family. Fahim greeted me outside the compound and carried my bags which were full of presents for the children and all my camera and video equipment. I am treated with such graciousness every time I arrive here. The stairway to the door is covered with the children’s beautiful art work Traditional Afghan paintings and signs welcoming each guest who enters the House of Flowers. The children’s shoes are lined up along the steps and everywhere you look they have paintings, drawings, photos and handy crafts they have made. As I slipped out of my shoes and entered one of my favorite places in the world I could hear the children in their class room. Fahim motioned for me to go into see them and when I stepped in the room their beautiful teacher Fatima stood up and greeted me with such warmth. Fatima is a lovely, warm and bright young woman who has been with the children for many years now. She is very loving and patient with them and has created an environment where they are aloud to express their creativity and expand their ideas. It was so good to see her again. Fatima also has a lovely sweet voice. After our warm greeting each child greeted me with hugs and three Afghan kisses, Oh, how wonderful it is to see them again. They are growing and look so healthy and happy. There are a few new children who have come to live at the House of Flowers and they are darling and greeted me as if they had always known me. I was offered a place to sit at the head of the room where they have a traditional flat pillow on the floor with a large soft pillow behind it to rest your back. The class room is filled with art work and is always very organized. As I was walking over to the pillows to sit down they were very excited to show me the drawings they had made from the art book I brought them on Friday. They had cut out their drawings of princesses, birds, flowers, horses, dogs and a picture of prince charming and had them taped on a border on the wall it was a sweet little scene and they were very proud of it. Fatima commented on how easy it was for them to make the drawings with the books step by step instruction. I was so happy to see how much they enjoyed the drawing book! I sat down and we visited and I showed them family photos and they asked about everyone and wanted to know the names of all our children and grandchildren and wanted to know when KoKo Preston (my son)was coming back they miss him very much!! They loved the photos of the pups and asked if I could bring them next time!! Fatima kept saying how beautiful the three Yorkie’s and Cookies hair was. The children are so full of wonderment and love to learn and have such sweet expressions. They are practicing their English and it is so wonderful to be able to communicate with them. The older children help the smaller ones and are very patient with them. I asked if they wanted to watch some short videos I had on my lap top of my family and our garden and the pups. They answered yes, with great excitement. It was so cute to watch their expressions and hear them laugh and compliment our family and our garden. Afghan’s love flowers and gardens and I knew they would enjoy seeing our lovely California yard. They laughed at the video of the pups and asked again if I could bring them next time. They thought our 4 grand children were beautiful. I was wondering if maybe I might be boring them with all the videos and asked if they wanted to keep watching and Fatima had them raise their hand if they did and the majority ruled!! It was really cute!!

After the videos I presented them with some gifts brought from home. Fatima had Razia the oldest girl read a card from Nicole and Bryce, two sweet children from my church, out loud and then translate it. They passed the photos around and one of the boys ran and got the photos of Nicole and Bryce that I had brought with me last year and was holding it up with a big smile on his face! With the help of their sweet parents Nicole and Bryce Allen had made the cutest fabric city and had printed and laminated many cars and different types of automobiles, tractors, snowmobiles, rockets, race cars, fire trucks, trains, school buses you name it they had it. I had Fahim hold up the fabric map for them to see and they were in awe and became so excited and were so grateful for the gift from their friends in CA. As soon as Fahim laid the fabric map on the floor it was like The House of Flowers had magically become a very busy little city with farmers, bus drivers, firemen, Astronauts, helicopters, and many cars driving around the darling hand drawn town. The children were making all the sounds of the automobiles. It was so cute to hear and watch them play!! The girls were just as excited about it as the boys and were right next to them driving race cars and cool cars and tractors!! They had many questions about the different type of transportation. They had never seen snowmobiles before and they did not know the sound that a tractor made. So I tried to teach them and they mimicked it right away and went on playing. I think they could have palyed with this for hours. I gave Fatima the beautiful bows Amanda and Nicole had made for the girls and Fatima had each one of them take turns kneeling next to her as she put the bows in their hair!! It was so sweet they were thrilled and you could tell they felt like little princesses with their new gifts!! Fatima had each of them say thank you to the Nicole as I video taped it on my flip video camera. Nazi said “I am Beautiful” it was so precious.

I had many more gifts for them. Beautiful books donated by very lovely and talented children’s Authors and illustrator’s. The children were thrilled when I showed them the books from Flavia Weeden and expressed how beautiful her art work was. I promised I would read Flavia and the Dream Maker to them on another visit this week. I can’t wait Flavia and the Dream Maker is one of my most favorite children’s books. And it has become even more special to me since I had the blessed opportunity to spend an enchanted afternoon with Flavia before I left for Kabul. Flavia wrote a special message to the children and signed it for them. I told them a little about her and showed them her picture in the back of the book and they were so excited to feel like an author and artist of a lovely children’s book is their new friend!! Thank you Flavia you have become a mentor to these children in Afghanistan!! I will try to video tape Fatima and I reading the books to the children. The children are so grateful for everything they receive and it is so fun to bring them gifts because they are full of wonderment and excitement over everything new. The appreciate the art works and the gifts of others in a way I do not see in other children it is wonderful!!

By this time it was time for lunch.
So, while some of the children were helping to get lunch set up the older children invited me into another room to tell me about their bank!! The House of Flowers has a bank and today the President, cashier, and the other bankers were holding a “Good Luck” drawing for everyone who had an account with the bank. I was invited to open an account with the House of Flowers bank. Nadia told me it took 100 Afghani’s to open an account. Luckily I just happened to have some Afghani’s in my pocket. So, I gave her my Afghan currency and Razia the Bank President opened the Bank vault, a medium size tin box with a lock on it and opened an account for me. It was all very official like a real bank!! They had their ledgers for all the customers and kept perfect and very tidy records. The money was placed in a cash bag along with everyone else’s money that had been deposited and Razia asked me a few questions as she filled out me new bank card that looked very official!! She wanted to know my father’s name and wrote it in her ledger and on my card and the card had my account number on it and they asked if I could provide hem with a very tiny photo of me to put on my new bank account card and then they would laminate it for me. The children all showed me their bank card’s, I was very impressed with how they were so professional in dealing with me and my funds!! They shook my hand when we were done and thanked me for my business. It was so cute. Fatima told me they earn a little Afghani for running the bank.

Lunch was ready! I was invited to sit next to Fatima on the cushion on the floor while the children all gathered around the large special table cloth they place on the floor and use to eat on. The lunch was prepared by Hala (Auntie) …..she is the cook who also joined us. The children are very kind to her and treat her with respect as do the rest of the staff. Everyone is respected and treated with kindness at the House of Flowers. I have watched the children teach her how to read and write and it is touching to see.

During lunch I asked the children if they knew that today was a special day in America and Europe and other parts of the world where Christians lived. They did not know it was Easter and I told them it was a special day we honored Jesus. I asked them if they remembered Mostafa teaching them about Jesus and Christmas and they did. I told them we went to church on Easter Sunday which was held once a year an we honored Jesus for the kind and charitable man he was. And then I told them that the girls usually got new dresses to wear and that we had Easter egg hunts and special candy the children got in baskets from the Easter bunny. They were listening to every word as Fatima translated. Their eyes became big as I pulled out of my bag two bags of Easter candy I had brought from home for them. I had a bag of pastel M&M’s and a bag of Hershey’s solid chocolates wrapped in pastel colors. They loved the colors and thought the candy was beautiful. I opened the bags and passé them around and they were so cute each of them only took one M&M and one chocolate egg. I told them how parents put the chocolates in plastic eggs and hide them for their children to find while carrying their Ester basket. Then I told them when I was a little girl I use to play a game with my M&M;s to make them last longer because they are my favorite candies. I took two M&M;s and showed hen how my friends and I use to tap the side of the hard candy shell together until one M&M broke and then that was the one we would eat first. It was so cute the bag of M&M’s was quickly passed around and they each took one more and began to tap the sides until they had a winner!! I love how kids get great pleasure in the smallest things!! They loved the new M&M game. I also showed them the M&M characters on the bag and told them how they were animated and sang and danced on TV. It so fun to share tings with them they have never seen!! After having a few chocolates and I mean a few. I think they each ate one chocolate egg and two M&M’s and saved the bags for later. They treasure everything and want it to last. I told them I would ship some plastic eggs for them so they could hide then for each other. So, if any of you sweet mom’s and grandmas want to gather Easter candy and small toys to fill the eggs with I will ship them when I get back to them. I have the plastic eggs

I also brought some really great medium size toy animals for them to play with dinosaurs, elephants, zebra’s, tiger’s, hippos and rhinos. They were so excited to watch me pull each one out of the bag and place them on the floor for them. They thanked me over and over and then they began to play with them. They put them on their shoulders and carried them like pet birds and asked me to take their pix. I love how imaginative they are in their play and how they share. I haven ever seen them argue over anything. They share with each other and are so loving and nurturing with each other. This is why I always feel like I have entered into a little oasis of peace every time I visit them. Many more pictures were taken and I gave them the rest of the gifts I had for them. Head bands for the girls and the new crayolla play dough set with stamps and tools to make shapes.

They had their “Good Luck” drawing for the bank and everyone sat around in a circle and the bankers stood at the desk with many gifts displayed and numbers in a box to draw from. Three children stood and sang twinkle, twinkle little star before the drawing (the entertainment part) in English and the drawing began. Twelve winners were drawn one at a time and then they got to pick a gift. The numbers drawn matched the last two digits on your bank ID card if you won. Each time a winner was announced everyone clapped and the winner ran up excitedly to the front. They had different people take turns drawing the numbers and I was invited to draw one time. Then a number was called and I thought I understood it was the number seven and I looked at my ID card and saw that the last two numbers on my account were 70!! So Fatima said Hala Diana you won!!! It was so cute how they all clapped and kept saying you are so lucky to win your first time!! I told them 7 was my lucky number because I had seven children and they laughed! I was presented with a beautiful set of hand made jewelry that the children had made and it presented in a lovely red girt box!! I was so excited and thanked them!!! I think I might have to transfer my funds from home to the House of Flowers bank!!

What a wonderful afternoon!! I am always sad when it is time to leave! The children wanted to know when I would be back and gave me lots of hugs and kisses and thanked me for all the gifts. I asked Fatima if she would have the children write a letter for a friend of mine who I trying to collect a million letters from children all over the world. He wants them to write how they would change the world. She was excited to have them do this assignment and I also asked if they could write thank you notes to a few friends of House of Flowers back home and gave them Patty’s picture and she said they would be happy to.

Then I was on my way to the guest house and to meet my dear young friend Hamid and deliver his lap top to him that Make it Work donated.

Sunday March 22, 2008 3:30 AM

Girls Orphanage

Our driver drove Lynda, Suraya and her translator Samay and me, to Allaodine, the Girls’ government run orphanage. Our hope was to meet with the Director to discuss the possibility of us sponsoring the older girls into a vocational program which would provide skills for them to earn an income. We drove inside the guarded gate and could see that ISAF (International Assitance Security Forces) was there visiting, I should say, we couldn’t miss them….there were about 4 or 5 tan Humvy’s and large tanks with machine guns on top and ISAF soldiers playing and hanging out with the children. They were there to bring aid to the orphanage along with bright yellow caps and backpacks for all the kids. We drove past the armored tanks and drove up to the main office to meet with the Director. As soon as I stepped out of the car I heard my name called and I was greeted with hugs and kisses from the girls whom I’ve known since 2002. As I was saying hello to the girls outside I saw this flash of turquoise blue bolting towards me out of the corner of my eye and then I felt her arms around my neck and her head on my shoulder. It was my beautiful Gul Pari. She sobbed in my arms and kept hugging me so tightly and kissing me. It was a very emotional moment. Her best friend whose, English, is as good as any American told me that Gul Pari cried for me all the time and prayed I would come back and that she misses me “to much”. The girl who was translating is so adorable I remember her very clearly yet, I was never able to have a conversation with her until now. Her name is Zima and she told me Gul Pari is her best friend and that Gul Pari is to shy and she thinks it’s not good for her to be so shy. She asked me if I thought she was right. She said isn’t it better to be more open? I told her I was very shy when I was a girl and it was OK that Gul Pari would grow out of it in time. Gul Pari can speak English but, she was to shy and would only whisper to me in English with her hand over her mouth. Zima said to me with bright eyes “I can not believe you were shy, this, is impossible”!! She is so charming and I told her she could be a translator!! Samay was there with us and he told her, her English was better than his. Gul Pari invited us in to the orphanage office to meet with the Director. I could not get over how much the girls have grown Gul Pari is almost as tall as me now. She has grown into such a beautiful young woman. She was always gorgeous as a child and stood out because of her longing eyes and her desire to be close to me. Every time I would visit over the years she would always attach herself to me. We walked inside the orphanage holding hands and she told me she waited for me for so long to come back. I did not go to Allaodine in 2007 because I was told by the General Director that many of the girls had been placed into their extended families homes or married off and I did not think my heart could take it if I went and found out who was gone and we were not able to provide help to this orphanage any more because of the corruption going on with the staff. Then I was not there since I did not feel it was safe then due to security issues. (Of course now it is much worse yet, here I am.) So, I have not seen Gul Pari since 2005. Three years this poor child hung on to the hope that I would return.
I hope we can create a successful vocational program for these girls that will empower them with skills to take care of them selves. As much as I would love to take her out of there and bring her to the states and let her be my daughter it is nearly impossible to make that happen. She wants me to bring her home with me she begged me in her e mail to please bring her to the states to live with me forever. I can’t imagine the pain she must be feeling and yet, I can’t give her false hope. The best I can do for her now is to help her with a better education. I am so afraid she will be married off soon and never have a chance at a decent life.

There is a new Director at Alloadine now and she is someone I recognize from years before. We were not able to meet with her because she was very busy and it was just as well because we really need to discuss this with the General Director anyway as much as I do not like dealing with her because she is so difficult I will have to if I want to help these girls that are left have some kind of hope for their future.

Gul Pari had me come to her dorm room and meet her teacher and other girls kept coming in to say hello. I took some photos and showed them my family photos. When Gul Pari saw the picture of me and Scott she kissed it and said this is my father and smiled so brightly. Other girls were passing it around and the photo disappeared. This has happened many times when I have been there and showed them my family photos. These poor children want so much to attach themselves to someone that they will take your family photos with out asking. I don’t mind except I was hoping to give it to Gul Pari. I told her I would bring back the other family photos for her to keep before I leave.

Lynda was visiting with the ISAF soldiers and some of them were from her part of the states and she found out they, like many of our troops, come here to reach out to the children and be mentors for them and bring aid when they can. Some of the soldiers wanted their pix taken with the children and she kindly obliged. I walked outside with the girls and Samay and Gul Pari asked me to give her our cell phone number and asked me to come and take her to her home to meet her mother. Her Mother is a widow and is unable to care for her so she has been living in the orphanage for many years. I don’t know if it is possible for me to do this but, I will check with the General Director and see if I can take her and meet her mother and her little brother. I would probably need her friend to come with us and translate for me. Gul Pari said she would speak with me in English when we are alone.

I can’t imagine what this child has lived through and I want so much to help her however I can. If only I could just bring her home with me and take away her pain but, it is this very pain that could make her a strong woman and I pray she will have some kind of future filled with hope.

Gul Pari had to go back for class and so we said good bye. I told her I would come back.

She kept looking back at me as she walked back to the building. I smiled and acted strong and yet, my heart was breaking for this child and I just wanted to cry.

I turned my attention to one of the soldiers sitting in his armed hummer I introduced myself and thanked him for what they were doing for the children and for his service to our country and we talked about how they love coming here and being with the kids and I told him I have been coming to Kabul since 2002 and he acted as if he could not believe I would do this and thanked me, for my service. Then Lynda walked over with Suraya Parlika. Lynda being more soldier savvy than I realized he was a Captain. His name is Chancy McCleud. Suraya asked me if she could meet the captain and so we introduced her to him and it seems that ISAF has an outreach program to help empower women so it was a good connection. They exchanged contact information and hopefully something will come of it to provide more support to Suraya’s projects.

It turned out to be a good visit and we thanked them and said good bye.

We went to Suraya’s office for lunch. Her cook Shukria, was not working today. When we first arrived I noticed her face was very swollen and she looked like she was in so much pain. Lynda and I asked about her afterwards and found out she has very bad teeth problems and went to the doctor for help. We offered to help her financially if we could and we’ll follow up on that. Tobakai prepared our lunch after working up in Paughman all day. She is such a fun woman to be around and I can tell she is very smart and competent at anything she puts her mind to. She made us a nice lunch of Kabuli Palow (rice with raisins, currents and shredded carrots) my favorite Afghan dish and subzy (spinach) another one of my favorites and a very tasty dark meat that I kept eating much to my stomachs regrets a few hours later while we were out shopping!! I have been pretty lucky this time so far that I have not had much of a stomach problem but, I am suffering with a terrible sore throat and a cough that I know is from the fire burning in my room at night to keep warm and the terrible cigarette smoke from a really nice guy staying at the guest house who is a chain smoker and even if he closes his door we breathe it like he was sitting next to us while we are in the dinning room where we eat and get our wireless internet connection. The other problem affecting my throat is the terrible pollution and diesel fumes we are constantly breathing. I decided this morning to start on an antibiotic I brought from home. My head is also very congested and my eyes have been burning since I arrived. I tell you if the Taliban don’t get you or the lack of work and food the air will kill you!!! Afghanistan has a very high rate of respiratory problems.

I really can’t complain because, I get to go home to my comfortable and blessed life in SB with my dear family and husband and adorable pups!! I am missing them all very much by now!!

After lunch we did some retail therapy and had a really nice time. Samay is such a charming young man and he entertained us in the shops pretending he was the shop keeper and helping us count our money and get good prices. I found the most beautiful gold earrings!! But, I ended up buying gifts for the family. I bought some darling traditional Afghan outfits for the grand kids. I may have to go back later for the earrings as my anniversary gift!!!

I saw Hamid my dear young friend from the book store who has been calling me weekly since I left last year. I told him I would stop by his family book store on Sunday. I have his lap top that Make-it-Work donated after I told them about him and his desire to go to college. He wants to become a doctor. He is a very bright and charming young man. I’ve known him since he was about 11. He is one of the fortunate children whose family has always been able to take good care of him and he has worked most of his life.

I look forward to our meeting and delivering his lap top!!

After shopping we came to the guest house for a break and Suraya told us about how she wants to start an aids awareness program in Afghanistan. It is not something that is being addressed because of the strict Muslim beliefs and she thinks it needs to be. I asked her if it was much of a problem here and she said yes, and that as they continue to ignore it, it will of course get worse. She is always putting programs together to empower the women of this country. I am amazed at her stamina. When ever we are out with her while she is working she is always five steps ahead of us and she is much shorter than us and wears heels and a long skirt with not much leg room!! She has an indomitable spirit!!

During our shopping trip she was very attentive and made sure we found everything we were looking for. She is a warm and loving woman and it is a pleasure to know her. I felt like I had three personal shoppers with us as we had her, Tobakai and Samay all helping us. It was a very nice afternoon and surprisingly we did not get accosted by the beggars on the streets!! I was really surprised and relieved!!

Suraya needed to check her e mail (someone stole her generator from her office just recently) so she and Samay checked it at our guest house in the internet room which is a room outside that looks like it use to be a hot house for flowers. They played darts and visited while I was in the main part of the house checking my e mails and Yan came in to get some coffee and asked how our day was. I told him about Gul Pari and he got all teary eyed. It was very sweet to see. He reminded me, that it was the first day of school for the kids as they have to take the winter months off because they have no way of keeping the children warm during the bitter cold. They always start school right after the Afghan New Year and then take part of the summer off due to the hot season.

After a nice chat with Yan I went out to the internet room and threw a few darts with Samay and then they had to leave. We thanked them for another wonderful day and we plan to see them on Monday and hopefully interview some of the women in her programs we have funded. We privately gave Suraya the funds for another one year vocational and literacy program for 300 women and girls that she runs. That felt wonderful to be able to do again!!

My visit at the House of Flowers the other day was very short only enough time to give them the funding we brought for the orphanage and Montessori school. I saw three of the girls Razia, Nadia and Shukria. They look wonderful and it was so good to be able to give them a big hug and a kiss and look into their eyes!! They look very happy. I gave them some posters I had made up of group photos of the children there and a lovely book I had printed for them to teach them how to draw and some art sets. We also opened one of the many boxes together that I had shipped over for them. It had books donated by the Montessori School in Goleta and some darling jeans and tops and socks. I am so amazed how everything seems to get here in one piece. Hamid’s lap top was there also waiting for me. I had shipped it to them because I knew I would not be able to carry it and all my stuff with me on the flight. It was so good to see it made it all the way across the world!! I hope to go back today and spend some time with the children and do some craft projects and read some of the books I brought for them. All the other children were visiting extended family for the New Year and will be back today so they can be in school.

This evening we are going to the Italian Embassy to attend the Easter Mass. Even though I am not Catholic I wanted to be a part of some Easter service so I asked Rosemary an American friend who lives here if she knew where I could go and it just so happened that she had plans to attend this mass so she invited us to go with her. I’m looking forward to it. I will think of my dear sweet grandma Saavedra who was Catholic and use to take me to mass when I was a little girl. I have a beautiful Rosary that a friend gave me as a nice gift to remember my grandmother, wish I had it with me. I am grateful for this Easter holiday to celebrate the atonement and the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. I feel his love for us and am grateful for his perfect example of love and charity. It is a time of joy and rebirth and I am hoping it will be a time of hope and peace for all of us across the world.

Many blessings,

Diana

4 AM Saturday Morning March 22, 2008

Lake Qargha

My heart is full and the tears have come in floods through out the night as I think back on the most wonderful and painful day I had.

Our dear friend Suraya, her lovely assistant, Tobakai, and Samay, Suraya’s translator and her driver gave Lynda and I the most joyous experience taking us to Lake Qargha for an Afghan picnic. I could not believe my eyes when we drove up the hill past the many young Afghan police in dark green uniforms holding their guns scattered all over the golf course at the base of the dam behind the lake. Up through the new entrance we drove under a huge monumental sign that welcomed us to Lake Qargha. It felt as if I had stepped back into a time I had been told about by many Afghans how they made the happy pilgrimage to this beautiful lake set at the base of the jagged mountains scattered with snow. There were pine trees along the road and life and music everywhere! The lake was filled with a light sea foam green water and people were scattered all over the hills and were along the beach walking, talking, sitting on Afghan carpets under the most ornate and colorful canopies’ I’ve ever seen. Joyful and playful children were everywhere dressed in their best attire, bold bright colors with gold jewelry dripping and sparkling in the sun everywhere, kites flying, soccer balls being joyfully kicked around by innocent little boys. There was a joyful feeling in the air I have never experienced in Kabul as I heard the sound of laughter everywhere. The Afghans were truly happy celebrating this day with passion and love. There were food venders alongside the road cooking kabobs and many other kinds of Afghan food which filled the unusually clean air with their aroma. Music was playing and as we drove past the lake and up the hill to get a closer view I saw a carnival on the right side with rides filled with men laughing. One of the rides was one of those large yellow banana shaped rides that swung back and forth in the air and went higher and higher then to my left I could see fast boats racing in the lake filled with men and many yellow, blue, white, red and green paddle boats built to look like dancing swans, filled with men!! The beautiful guest houses with a lake view were painted in bright blues and reds and turquoise. There were women and children everywhere!!! We stopped our car and got out to be part of this happiness and joy and it just filled my heart to see the Afghans celebrating and looking truly happy. Samay, Suraya’s sweet young translator had never been to Lake Qargha and we were the fortunate recipients of his wide eyed joy as he saw it all for the first time. He could not wipe the happy expression off his face and he kept saying “I live in Kabul and have never seen Lake Qargha” and it brought me so much joy to look into his eyes and experience his pure happiness to see it for the first time!!

I love the Afghans they have experienced so much pain and suffering for so many years yet, they have never given up and hold their family traditions close to their hearts and they keep a resilient spirit of hope for many more happy days like this. I know we hear it said all the time but, the human spirit truly is incredibly resilient and I am proud to know these lovely gracious people who teach me so much every time I come here and who help heal my heart with every experience. As I looked into their eyes and felt their joy it touched me so and I could see the joy in Suraya and Tobakai and it shows in one of my new favorite photos of the four of us women in front of the colorful guest houses standing side by side as sisters who know and have experienced so many good and bad times yet, keep putting one foot in front of each other and never give in to fear and take in the moments of joy and pain and learn from them and happily reach out to those in need.

I wish I could explain the feelings I felt this day watching the happiness fill the air and the beauty of the sights around me. It felt magical!

As we walked closer to the lake to take photos and meet the people we were asked by a TV crew if they could film us and interview Suraya and Tobakai about the wonderful celebration of the Afghan New Year. Suraya was interviewed first with the lake behind her. She is one of the most courageous women I know and she answered the questions in her amazingly strong yet, loving way. Tabakai was interviewed as she sat on the cement bench and I was so happy they selected these women to represent the spirit that was being felt this day. The crew asked us all to sit and let them film us with the lake behind us.

We then walked alongside a grassy hill looking over the lake where families were sitting on carpets eating and children were playing a game where a young woman dressed in a beautiful pastel airy dress flowing from her petite figure as she was blind folded trying to find the other children. She looked so graceful and lovely as she held her arms out like a ballerina and gently danced across the grass feeling the air and following the sound of the children. A large family invited us to take photos and talked with us as if we were neighbors stopping by to say hello. Young girls dressed in dark blue velvet dresses with gold trim posed with the lake as their back ground for us to take photos. They laughed and giggled so innocently and were very sweet and thanked us. Young men were tenderly caring for their baby girls with their beautiful young wives and it touched my heart to watch them show such love and tenderness. I was filming the lake and a few boys came up and asked if I wanted to buy gum from them and Lynda bailed me out with her dollar bills she remembered to bring. Suraya kept asking us if this was good and if we were happy. I adore her and I was so happy to see their happiness for a few hours how could I feel anything but, joy!! I thanked her for brining us and sharing this wonderful day with us. Every time I looked at Samay he had this wide eyed grin on his face!! He took my video camera and asked if he could film for awhile. I of course could not say anything but, yes!! I went over to another family and asked if I could take their photos and the men declined and asked me not to take pictures of their wives but, the young children came to me carrying babies and surrounded me as I knelt on the grass and snapped photos of them. It was a very sweet moment being surrounded by these precious children while they were laughing and posing for me. One little girl in white brought three babies one at a time fro me to take their photos she was so cute with her pony tail on top of her head spilling over like a fountain. I followed her to the top of the hillside and her grandmother dressed in a beautiful purple outfit who had been watching me stood up and insisted that I join her family in their picnic. I could not resist and stepped out of my shoes and onto their carpet to be greeted by her with warm strong hugs and three Afghan kisses on my cheeks. She sat me down and offered me a plate of boo-lan-ee and a bowl of yogurt to dip it in. Her daughters were dressed in beautiful Afghan outfits with their arms and hands decorated in beautiful sparkling jewelry and decorative henna. I watched them roll out the dough and cook it on a little red stove sitting Indian style on the carpet. She was so excited to invite me to join them and Samay soon came over with the video camera and she had him translate how much she loved the American people and was grateful to have me join her family in their celebration. She was like a kind Aunt and insisted I eat. All I wanted to do was take in the beautiful sight going on around me. I sat next to one of her daughter in law’s who was tending to two of the cutest baby girls dressed in traditional Afghan dresses one in green and red with a green scarf on her head that had gold coins sewn to the hem of it that framed the babies face and her coaled eyes. The other baby was dressed in white and she was very animated and smiled and laughed at me as I cooed at her and took her photos! The young mother was absolutely beautiful and shy and kind. She kept motioning to the plate they gave me as if to say eat!! Suraya, Tobakai, and Lynda made their way to the family and the women stood up and pulled them onto their carpet to join the celebration and had plates filled with Boo-lan-nee before they could even sit down. The woman was here with her sister and all their children their young handsome sons were darling and had on nice suits and translated for her as much as they could. She was proud of her beautiful family and treated us as if we were part of them. It struck me as I sat there with my new friends that in my country one would never be kindly pulled onto another’s picnic blanket and treated so graciously. This is one of the reasons I love these people so much. They have no attachments to things. They value friendship and family above all and they are curious and warm and not shy to express their desire to know you. I felt my shoulder and neck softly being hugged by the little girl dressed in white as she motioned to my camera. I understood she wanted to see the photos I had taken and we laughed together as I scrolled through them with her. I looked up to hear Samay say “Diana this is beautiful look at you with her” he had my video camera and was joyfully filming this sweet moment between this little child and I.

It could not have been a more perfect afternoon at Lake Qargha.

After sitting and talking with our new friends for nearly an hour we decided it was time to make our way down the road and back to the city. After many hugs and kisses we said good bye to our new friends and walked back to the car. As we drove down the road past the food venders very slowly because it was so congested with people everywhere and cars were still coming filled with families to join the happy day I felt this feeling of happiness that was so overwhelming. I was just so happy to see so many Afghan’s really enjoying them selves and experiencing such a day filled with joy! I was happy to see so many women and girls dressed so beautifully and uncovered and being treated with kindness by the men they were with. We stopped so I could take one last minute of video and a young man with his friends walked by me and he said in English “Go get your husband”. As if to tell me I had no right to be out in public without a man at my side. If he only knew I wanted to tell him to go find his mommy!! We drove back under the large monument looking sign on the dam saying good bye to us and made our way back down the hill past the police in their dark green uniforms and by the many army tanks and machine guns that scattered the hill side and I thought to myself if only it could always be as it was at the lake that day!! We drove further down the road closer to town and past by the many refugees in their tents and children without shoes and dirty dried up sad faces trying to stop the car to ask for money. A woman with a blind young boy was walking alongside the street as we passed by slowly Lynda and I could not bare it and she pulled out her dollar bills and asked the driver to give them to the woman as he held out the money a very dirty and severely dry little hand reached in and snatched the money out of his hand he pulled it back and separated the ones and gave this little girl a dollar and the mother in her burka with the blind son the rest. It only took a few minutes to get back into the reality of this war torn country. It was as if the Lake and being lovingly pulled onto the carpet on the side of the hill of peace and love by our new friends was only a dream. I asked our driver to pull over so I could take a few photos and when I got out of the car I could hardly bare it as three little boys came to me immediately looking at me with such pain in their eyes watching me as I took their photos. The little girl who had tried to snatch all the dollar bills from the car window, came up to me and showed me her dirty bare feet that looked so sore and painful and kept pleading with me to help her. Oh, the pain of these precious children breaks my heart and it is all I can do to not just slip them up in my arms and carry them to a beautiful place like Lake Qargha where they can experience the joy and laughter of the day without worries and eat all the boo-lan-ee they want and get to wear beautiful clothes and feel free from the pain they suffer everyday!! I took a few photos and we left and the joy of the afternoon at the lake felt as if it were escaping me more and more as we kept driving further and further away and closer into Kabul where so many suffer and live day to day just to have bread and tea.

We somberly made it back to our guest house and thanked Suraya for the wonderful time we had on our Afghan picnic and then said our goodbyes and made plans to see her in the morning to go with us to Alloadine the girls’ orphanage where we hope to find a way to give the older girls some vocational training. I have not been there since 2005 and it will be hard for me to go back as so many of the girls I have known since 2002 have been married off or placed back with extended families. There is one girl, Gul Pari, (Gul means flower) who found someone who would let her e mail me before I left for Kabul not knowing I had plans to come back. Her e mails were filled with pleas for help and memories of our tender moments and she called me mother and said she remembered my kind loving way with her and how she always thinks of me and hopes I will never forget her. Oh, dear beautiful Gul Pari, if only, she knew I think of her everyday and pray for her safety and happiness and hope somehow I can help her change her future!

Lynda and I went into the compound of our guest house and as I was sadly thinking about the refugee camp I walked down the path to our room and looked up to noticed the blossoms on the Apricot trees in the yard they had changed from white to pink. They looked so lovely and graceful and free as the breeze gently blew many of them to the ground. It made me think of the young girls of this country being blown to the hard brown soil with no hope for a chance to feel soft and beautiful and free.

May we each remember these precious girls and do all we can to change their future and give them hope for a beautiful life filled with joy and peace.

As I finish writing this entry I hear the beautiful song “Somewhere over the rainbow, dreams really do come true” playing in my ears from my I pod. I believe this with all my heart as I think of my life filled with so many years of pain and how now I have a blessed life filled with love and joy and am able to share it with those in need. I am grateful and love our Father in Heaven for blessing me with all that he has and pray I can be an instrument in his hands to bring joy and peace to his children.

Diana

March 20 It's the Afghan New Year today. Happy Fawrooz!!

March 20, 2008

A day at the guest house

Our first day was spent at the guest house because it is Nawrooz, the Afghan New Year. We did not want to pull our driver away from his time with his family as the Afghans have little to celebrate here and it seemed it would be selfish of us to ask him to drive us around so, we just laid low here working on line and catching up on our rest. I read the Kabul paper (yes, it’s written in English) the news here is not good and is actually down right heart breaking and depressing.

I read stories of the rise of violence against women, a rise in self immolation and suicide in women and many more girls younger than 16 being forced to marry old men and then the horrible food crisis and many lives lost due to one of the worst winters. Afghans spend 60% of their income on bread. Bread and tea are the main food staples here.

There is a flyer sitting on our dining room table that is in color and shows cartoon looking character’s and pictures of what land mines look like. These are distributed everywhere to warn the people especially the children. As I looked at the flyer I noticed a “dead” land mine sitting in the window above our heads and behind it I could see the white blossoms on the trees outside as always there are extremes and contrast here.. It is chilling to think a child must have this frightening thing to worry about a long with all the other difficult things they live with each day here. Afghanistan has more land mines than any other country in the world. While I was taking photos of school children one day a few years ago, I noticed through my camera lens the land mine warnings on the back of the children’s school books and it just broke my heart to see this. I was grateful to have my camera to block the tears flowing as I thought as a mother how horrible it would be to worry about all the dangers a child faces living in this country.

I am grateful we can offer the support we do and always wish it was more!

We are eager to get out tomorrow and see the children at House of Flowers and the lovely staff there. Suraya Parlika will pick us up and take us and then we will have a picnic with her at Lake Gharga a beautiful area north of here but, still in Kabul. She assures us it is safe. I’ve been there before many times and it is beautiful. It will be interesting to see how high the lake is now each year it continues to rise.

My first year here in 2002 we had a lovely picnic there with our 25 delegates and many Afghan friends we met here. The lake was almost dry but, we still enjoyed ourselves. The Afghans threw many carpets and pillows on the ground and had an Afghan band come and play for us and the food was wonderfully cooked by an Afghan chef. We walked around the lake and the homes and resorts that use to be beautiful at one time and heard stories of people who lived and worked there and then we were invited to play a friendly game of poker with Afghani’s ( the Afghan currency is called Afghani’s and at that time the exchange was 100 Afghani’s to a dollar so we all felt rich wit our large wad of cash) we laughed and played and took many pictures of ourselves with our new friends and then they wanted us Westerners to hold the AK40’s that were being carried by the guards and have our pictures taken that was a little unnerving but, something I must say I had not done before. It was a lovely day at Lake Gharga and is a great memory for me.

Tonight we are on our own for dinner as we let our cook go home to be with his family. He was very happy to leave. So, maybe we will have toast tonight and herbal tea, a fitting Afghan meal!! At 9:30 PM I'm just now getting hungry as we had a big lunch today. An oversized hamburger topped with a skewer with green olives to garnish it just like in a resturant with french fries (food I NEVER eat at home) oh, it tasted so good!! They try to cook western food for us to appeal to our taste buds!! The french fries are the yummiest I've ever had!! And I found a new spicy hot sauce I like!! It was nice to see our cute cook so happy for the time off.

May we keep the people of this country in our hearts and prayers and do all we can to help restore hope to them.

Diana

March 19, 2008 Kabul, Afghanistan

It’s about 11PM here and as tired as I am I don’t want to go to sleep yet. I feel like I am in a dream and can’t believe we are here again after 30 plus hours of traveling, my mind and body are exhausted.

I arrived in hot, Dubai, at 10 PM on Tuesday evening and after picking up my luggage (which I was very happy to see had made it) I took a taxi to Terminal 2. It takes nearly a half hour to get there and sometimes I wonder if the cab driver is kidnapping me! When he dropped me off in front of the terminal it was busy with hundreds of Muslim men and I was told I needed to walk down the street to find the departure entrance. Fortunately I was able to get a cart for my heavy bags or I would have never made it trying to pull them and my three carry on bags. I was actually happy for the late evening walk outdoors just to stretch my legs after being cramped up for 15 hours! As I was walking in the dark against traffic I remembered the long nights here before waiting to catch the morning flight to Kabul and wondered how I would stay awake for the next 9 hours!! The terminal is under construction and so they have temporary walls up everywhere with one a long side the women’s restroom door which made the area to narrow for my bags to fit through on the cart so I had to push them right up against the drinking fountain then remove them in front of the door then pull the cart back so I get could through then pull it back next to me and load the luggage then I opened the women’s restroom door to find a cleaning lady had left her cart (unfortunately she had not cleaned the bathroom before I arrived phew) inside the door so I then had to maneuver my cart with all my heavy bags around the cleaning cart inside the ladies room all this just to brush my teeth and freshe up!! Then after I felt a little more human like I made my way back out to unload the cart and move around the drinking fountain and load the suitcases on again!! It was a feat and probably funny to watch. Not one of the Muslim men sitting next to the prayer room which was next to the women’s restroom offered to help as they watched me struggle with this obstacle course!! They just sat in their chairs with their shoes kicked off and their feet up talking!! I pushed my luggage to the opposite side of the room where there was a new area with tables and some friendly young men selling fresh squeezed orange juice at the food bar.

I always meet the most interesting people on these trips!! I was sitting at the table watching the time and waiting to meet Lynda who was flying in from Rome via Indiana and hoping to get the wireless connection to work on my lap top but, it was not a go. I asked a friendly looking young man if he spoke English and he said “I try to some times” in his British accent, He was from London. Ha! I asked him if he was able to get on line and he said that he wasn’t having any success. So, we opted for visiting and asking each other the usual questions, when you meet someone in the airport. Where are you going, what do you do? He was off to Kandahar he is in securities, which means, he is a body guard. He works on the base there and trains Afghans and I think that he protects the high ranked officers when they go off base? He said he is unusual as he does not drive the stereo typical SUV and wear obvious body guard attire when he works. He drives an old un marked car and dresses like a civilian. He and his father have trained many actors in films to do fighting scenes!! (Preston you would have loved talking with him!!) They worked on the film Alexander the Great in Morroco and when Lynda arrived he showed us his photos on his lap top. They were wonderful. The actors were in full costume working out the stunts for the fighting scenes. This young man named Mickey, is engaged and he travels 2 months out of three and also works in Irag often with the military there. He was trained for this work by his father who has been in the business for many years. He said he will have to figure out a better schedule for when he is married. He offered to help Lynda and I in any way he could while we are here. Lynda made it to the terminal around 2:30 AM but, her luggage did not! She will hopefully get it tomorrow or the next day. She bought a T shirt in Dubai and some new socks. Oh, the joy of traveling!! The worst thing of it all is the airlines she traveled on charged her over $350.00 Euro for her small carry on (do the exchange and you get over a $500.00 dollar bill) because it was to heavy to take on the plane and it ended up being a third bag!! It’s no bigger than a big lunch box!! And here I am with three carry on bags and the big one weighs almost as much as my large suitcases and no one said a thing to me!!!

Our flight to Kabul from Dubai was interesting!! Just before we were to land Lynda got up to use the restroom and noticed the Co Pilot was standing in the galley and the cock pit was open and no one was flying the plane!! The Captain was in the restroom!! Hmmm!!! Can you say auto pilot? Here we are in the middle of the ragged and dangerous mountain terrain flying at about 6000 feet and no one is in the cockpit and the door is wide open!! I was so glad she told me!! We just laughed!! What else is there to do? Ah, Kabul!! At least we had comfortable seats and were not in the back with all the men who stare!! We were up front in the large comfy leather first row seats in business class. (I pay extra to fly business class on the last leg of this trip so I don’t have to be cattle in the back with so many men glaring at us!!)

We arrived safely and Suraya Parlika was waiting for us with her new driver and a new translator. They all three took such good care of us every step of the way as soon as we arrived. I think if they could fill out our customs paper work they would do that, too. They are so kind and gracious and it is such a relief to always see Suraya when we arrive. The airport is always changing they have state of the art camera’s that take your photo when you arrive and check in with customs!! They are moving into the 21st century in some ways!! Ha!!

After very little trouble making our way out of the airport Suraya took us to her office for a very nice Afghan lunch made by her sweet cook Shukria. Lynda and I were so tired we could hardly keep our eyes open let alone try to make nice conversation. It is the worst feeling to be so excited to see someone and not be able to function mentally or physically!! Tobakai, Suraya’s right hand woman noticed my eyes slamming shut and she lovingly said “Diana Jon, you are falling asleep” and then laughed. I felt so bad but, we could not help it!! Suraya understood and after we ate and visited for a while we made our way to the guest house. A long the way I noticed the area seemed like a ghost town and no one was on the roads, having no traffic to fight is not something I have experienced here before!! The traffic is always terrible in Kabul and there are usually as many people on the streets as cars. But, it was so quiet that I asked why and they said it is because of the Afghan New Year everyone has gone to visit family and are up in the mountains having picnics. Suraya is going to take us on an Afghan picnic to Lake Gharga a beautiful area not to far away on Friday. We won’t get much work done the next two days but, it will be nice to have the down time to organize ourselves.

Everyone at the guest house was ready for us and they greeted us with the usual friendly greeting and Afghan kisses from the women who work and serve us here. They were all smiles to see us and had our room’s ready and clean and smelling lovely and had even added chairs and tables in each room and a little pot bellied wood burning stove to keep us warm at night!! They light the fires by soaking card board with diesel and then throw in some small pieces of cedar and then some short logs and there you have it your own private fireplace!! The rusty old stove has a pipe that sends the smoke out a whole in the bedroom window. Lynda’s pipe is being held together with medical tape!! Ha!! After a much needed nap we had dinner in the dinning room which is in the main part of the guest house. It was a lovely dinner with curry chicken and sticky rice a yummy crisp green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. We ate with another guest who is a journalist from Holland. He is very nice and lit the fire in the fireplace for us when I mentioned I was cold. We watched as the fire popped and crackled and the embers jumped out onto the carpet which is covered with many burn marks. So, during dinner as the fire was warming my back we would stamp out the embers jumping out and burning them selves into the carpet!! “Ah, Kabul” Never boring always entertaining!!!! Yan, our dinner companion told us it is very quiet on the streets no foreigners are going out because of security, the threat of kidnapping and suicide bombers. I silently asked myself again am I in a dream and why do I do this? I feel calm, though and we will of course be very careful about our whereabouts! It felt wonderful to get online for a minute and then a shower and off to bed and a quick phone call to hear my husbands voice half way across the world!! I must get some sleep now.

Tomorrow we will go to the House of Flowers to see the children!! One of the main reasons I come here!! Speaking of flowers the trees at our guest house are in full bloom with white blossoms. They were a lovely welcome surprise against this gray and dusty back drop of Kabul!! The rose garden is finely manicured and leaves are covering the stems and you can see tiny buds on some! But, the miniature deer is not here anymore they moved him somewhere in the mountains. I will miss watching him play in the yard like last year.

By the way I am typing this with my husbands reading light clipped on top of my head in my hair so I can see because there is no power at this time of night!! If anyone saw me they would certainly laugh!!

March 20 Thursday morning.

The birds are chirping and the Mullah’s have woken us with their early morning call to prayer!! I slept comfortably in spite of having wild dreams about wars and women trying to protect them selves. In the dream I was trying to protect a young innocent girl from being seen by the Taliban because she was wearing white. The dream started out with us in the back of an SUV hanging from a cliff where we could see the valleys filled with grey clouds of smoke from the bombs going off everywhere. Suraya Parlika was with us and it sounded as if bombs and gun shots were going off all around us!! After getting out of the SUV (don’t ask me how) and crawling across the difficult terrain (with this young woman under me trying to hold myself up as not to smash her because I had to protect her from the Taliban my arms in the dream ached from exhaustion while crawling push up style) we found a ledge to hide out on which was suppose to be the “women’s place” for safety that everyone knew about. There were a bunch of very scared young men there and they pleaded with us to let them stay. The strange thing about the dream was I was not afraid at all!!! I felt very calm and just did what I had to do to protect myself and this young woman. Hmmm

OK, this wild dream must have been influenced by meeting a body guard late at night listening to his stories in Dubai about serving in Iraq and hearing Yan’s story during dinner about how when he was staying in the Mostafa Hotel he found himself under fire by the owner of the Hotel who had gotten himself drunk and in a fight with someone and took out his gun he carried and took shots at the hotel. Yan heard the gun fire and took cover under the bed. The owner shattered the front windows of the hotel and came inside taking pot shots down the hall way near Yan’s room. Yan took pics of the shattered windows the next day and the owner was very angry and wanted his memory card and Yan told him he would only use it for his personal archives and then he quickly packed his bags and found a new place to stay.

I’m off to get online and add this to my blog and have breakfast which will probably be eggs I cook myself in the kitchen and oatmeal I brought from home and a cup of herbal tea.

Be sure to scroll down to see photos of previous years here.

More later….

Diana