6 Months In Kabul: Hard Work

Problog

Hello and welcome to my blog. It is a blog about an Air Force Physician that was reluctantly deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan for 6 months.

I have to admit, I did not exactly volunteer for the deployment, and I was a little anxious about how it would all turn out. I ended up making the best of it, and surprisingly, I actually had a pleasant, life changing, experience.

I decided to keep the blog up and running because I kept on hearing, "Why is it that you only hear the bad news coming from Iraq and Afghanistan." I figured that I was helping spread a positive message about what we are doing over. Even more important, I wanted to continue to spread the word about the plight of the Afghan people, 99.9% of which are the most incredibly friendly people that you will ever meet. The title picture is a great example of that. I have never encountered such genuinely warm and friendly people. It was so strange to see so many people with so little material objects, yet at the same time, filled with so much of the joy that comes with close family ties, abundant friends, and a close knit community. We could definetly learn a lot from them.

You may notice, as you read the blog in its entirety, my arc. I shift from focusing on myself and my personal comforts, to shifting my focus on the Afghan cause. It is very easy to get distracted by the hustle of daily life and the comforts that the U.S. provides. It is really a challenge to awake from that coma and to start to care and think about the welfare of other people unrelated to you. I think it really took me about 4 or 5 months before I really opened my eyes and became personally affected by what I was experiencing. I hope I was able to recreate it.

I have tried to keep the blog squeaky clean so as to not offend anyone (or get me in trouble-I am still in the military). Even though I am a political junky with very strong personal opinions I have been steadfast in keeping this site free of any politics. I was called to do a job and I tried to do it to the best of my ability regardless of my political stance.

I recreated the blog to read more like a book, or should I say blook (get used to the corniness it only gets worse from here) just to make it an easier read. I have removed some names and pictures just to keep it more anonymous. I hope that it helps in making it less about me and more about the cause.

Lastly, in the spirit of the blog, I decided to include the Chipin Widget that I used to raise money for Nazia. If I get any additional money I will send the funds to The Women of Hope Project and someone over in Kabul will discretely give it to her (unless I hear otherwise). You can also contribute directly to the Women of Hope Project website. They are a wonderful cause. If you enjoy this blog then feel free to contribute. I am sure that once you read her story you will be very moved.

So kick back. Get ready to hopefully laugh and definitely cry.
If you like what you read then post a comment. I will be continuously editing this site in an attempt to improve it. Who knows maybe one day it will become a book!

Enjoy. Thanks for reading.

-Shazdoc

Saturday, May 3, 2008

"Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."
-Peter DruckerAmerican (Austrian-born) management writer (1909 - 2005)

I have to say that today the Air Force got their money's worth out of me. I officially worked my butt off and I am now very tired. Let me show you some of my handy work. It is hard to appreciate but everything you see had to be unpacked, put together, moved, etc. and this is just one of the many rooms.

We had some fun with some of the kids around the clinic. I was able to hand out some of our donated supplies. They really appreciated it.

For lunch we gave our interpreters some money and they went out and bought us some naan and lamb kabobs. It was really good.

Seeing all of the kids at the clinic inspired me to open up all of the boxes of donated goods that I have received and create a bunch of little care packages to give out tomorrow to kids. The bags are a mixture of notebooks, pens, markers, candy (a lot of candy), cloths- hats, gloves, and socks. I was able to make about 20 bags. Each bag is enough for an entire family with 3-4 children. My goal, and I am not sure whether or not I can do it, is to deliver them to families that my interpreter refers to as nomads. They officially are the poorest of the poor. The basically are homeless. They live in makeshift tents in empty dirt lots. It will not be safe enough for me to deliver the supplies but my interpreter said that he would be happy to deliver them for me. I will have him take my camera. Here I am putting the bags together.

Thanks for reading.