Besides visiting family and friends in Kabul, there is a lot of work to be done at the center where I’m interning. The Center for Conflict and Peace Studies (CAPS) focuses mainly on security issues in Afghanistan and our work is best defined as think-tank-like. Our center is only one of hundreds based here in Kabul. There is so much international work currently being undertaken in Afghanistan—you are easily able to spot foreigners in the downtown area anytime of the day.

In fact, the foreign community is very big here in Kabul. My colleague first described Kabul as an international city and now that I’ve been to most parts of Kabul, I can’t agree more. There are also ongoing activities for the foreign community. With very strict gender roles here in Kabul, it is very difficult for women to find a place for exercise/extra-curricular activities. So I was really ecstatic when I heard about the ultimate Frisbee meet.

Ultimate frisbee team

I was invited to the ultimate Frisbee meeting in a local high school near the downtown area last week. When I arrived, half of the field was taken up by the soccer-playing Afghans and the other half was saved for ultimate Frisbee. The game was great and I very much enjoyed getting some fresh air and exercise. It almost felt as if I was back in California, playing with friends and family.

Besides my work at CAPS, I’m also volunteering for an NGO, Trust in Education (TIE), spear-headed by Budd MacKenzie with the collaboration of my father. Both of these experiences have provided me great opportunities in terms of research, field work, and allowing me to help rebuild Afghanistan on a grass-roots level. Whereas my work with CAPS is mostly theoretical, with conference attendance here and there, my work with TIE (www.trustineducation.org) is very hands-on and practical. TIE’s main goal is to provide a blend of education and economic services to Afghans. Thus far, TIE has helped a village about 15 miles away from Kabul called Lalandar, where my dad is originally from. TIE’s work in Lalandar includes opening a school for boys and girls, providing the local villagers with micro-credit loans and providing other social services, especially for women.

A couple of weeks ago I was able to visit three literacy courses offered by TIE, and a few courses TIE is helping support in a girls’ school in the village of Tangi Saidan, about 30 minutes away from central Kabul. As I stood before the first literacy course full of girls and women of all ages, the youngest of them being 9 and the eldest in her 40s, I felt much honored to be in the presence of such determined and astute set of women. The oldest woman, Bibi Waro, was disabled—I think the story was that she had lost one of her legs by a bomb that struck her home in the soviet era. She was so keen on learning—even something as simple as reading—that she started coming to the literacy course taught by Farzana every day. In fact, her reading skills had improved tremendously; she even read us a poem she had written about Afghanistan.

As we went ahead to the village of Tangi Saidan, the scenery was absolutely beautiful. We were surrounded by majestic mountains, clean and clear air and fields of greeneries. The air was the best I have ever breathed and I immediately felt at ease once in the village. The girls’ school is headed by Sayyid Saifur-Rahman, a long-time friend of my father’s. He showed us around the school and took us to the art course taught by Aqila. Some of the girls from the class introduced themselves and afterwards started doing free-hand drawings for us. The sight was so beautiful and I couldn’t resist but go around the class to talk to the girls one-on-one. The youngest girl that I encountered was six years old! Many of the girls walked to the school, and one even told me she walked two hours with her sister every morning to come to the school! Their determination and resolve simply humbled and baffled me. These young girls are hungry for knowledge, and it is important to provide them such opportunities especially after the turmoil their country has been through for far too long.

 

The village of Tangi Saidan.

Besides the wonderful work many organizations here are doing, one cannot avoid the chaos this country is still in. Last Monday’s suicide attack was a big reminder. At least 40 innocent civilians were killed, including officials from the Indian embassy. I had to go to the site of the carnage that same day to compile a suicide profile for CAPS. Just arriving on the scene was very surreal—I had always heard about suicide bombings and even had written about them, but there’s nothing compared to actually going to a specific sight where such a heinous crime was carried out.

When I talked to the locals there, mostly shop-owners, they were all grieving the day’s attack as they recounted their stories. It was very difficult to ignore the pain and tears in their eyes as they spoke—many of them were frustrated by the lack of coordination among the police. At one point one of the eyewitnesses started crying, and I just stood there watching him, unable to do anything. I have no clue how you can comfort someone who has seen severed body parts hanging from trees, laying on the streets and blood splattered all over the white-washed buildings surrounding the Indian embassy. And, I’m sure that wasn’t his first such experience, I’m sure that same shop owner had been living in Kabul throughout the 30 brutal years of war preceding the current one.

Suicide bombing at the Indian Embassy

That night it was very difficult for me to sleep. I kept on waking up and thinking about the attack. I felt very blessed to be alive and starkly realized that when living back in California I was taking too many things for granted. Simply going out to get groceries and coming back alive is a great blessing we have. Many people that were killed that day were ordinary Afghans caught in traffic, lining up for visas near the Indian embassy, or people shopping in and around that area. And just like that so many of them lost their lives. Please keep them in your thoughts.