"Reality continues to ruin my life."
-Bill Watterson, Calvin and HobbesUS cartoonist (1958 - )
This morning was a little scary. I have to say that it was the first time that the reality of where I am sunk in. It is really easy to get into a mode of routine and forget where you are. Needless to say, we are all fine and, as they say in the Navy, we will continue on smartly.
Traversa from A*W*A*C* blog would describe these kind of days as “snow days.” Whenever something bad happened, and you were confined to the base for the day, it was comparable to when you were a kid and you could not get to school because of the snow. We took advantage of our snow day and decided to take care of our other jobs. Those of you that have been reading my blog since its inception know that about 2 months ago my job sort of changed after getting here. Aside from moving to a different base we also were integrated into the larger staff that is making plans to build a lot more new clinics throughout Afghanistan. We had some meetings on this topic and assigned some work. It was a pretty productive day.
My favorite 8th grade class from Gaffney, South Carolina sent me a big box with some interesting looking stuffed animals. I will try and get them to Betsy so she can forward them to the children in the refugee camp. It really shocked me when she said that some of the kids she encountered had never had their own toy before.
Someone from Summerville, Massachusetts also sent us a care package. One of the nurses said that Apples to Apples is a really fun game. I look forward to playing it.
I received an email from someone from the Volunteer Communty Relations (VCR) group. I wanted to share it with all of you. I posted some of their pics on my slide show up top.
-Bill Watterson, Calvin and HobbesUS cartoonist (1958 - )
This morning was a little scary. I have to say that it was the first time that the reality of where I am sunk in. It is really easy to get into a mode of routine and forget where you are. Needless to say, we are all fine and, as they say in the Navy, we will continue on smartly.
Traversa from A*W*A*C* blog would describe these kind of days as “snow days.” Whenever something bad happened, and you were confined to the base for the day, it was comparable to when you were a kid and you could not get to school because of the snow. We took advantage of our snow day and decided to take care of our other jobs. Those of you that have been reading my blog since its inception know that about 2 months ago my job sort of changed after getting here. Aside from moving to a different base we also were integrated into the larger staff that is making plans to build a lot more new clinics throughout Afghanistan. We had some meetings on this topic and assigned some work. It was a pretty productive day.
My favorite 8th grade class from Gaffney, South Carolina sent me a big box with some interesting looking stuffed animals. I will try and get them to Betsy so she can forward them to the children in the refugee camp. It really shocked me when she said that some of the kids she encountered had never had their own toy before.
Someone from Summerville, Massachusetts also sent us a care package. One of the nurses said that Apples to Apples is a really fun game. I look forward to playing it.
I received an email from someone from the Volunteer Communty Relations (VCR) group. I wanted to share it with all of you. I posted some of their pics on my slide show up top.
"This was a special Thanksgiving holiday for the VCR because we spent it on a humanitarian mission. We visited an extremely poor community as you can see by the mud huts and ruble in the background. Some of the people had no material possessions to speak of except for the clothes on their back. There were 56 families in the village and we gave each one three large bags of clothing, blankets and toys. We spent time with about 200 children blowing bubbles and playing with balloons. The people were so friendly and happy…just look at the smiles on their faces!
Although these Afghans don’t know anything about Thanksgiving, I know they spent the day being extremely thankful for the generosity of the Americans who made this program possible through their donations. In fact one of the teachers gave us a post card that said “we prayed….we asked God for helping this people (SIC) …he sent you! Thanks Sanolro, Gislene BYTC Students Kabul, Nov 2007”. She said they had been praying for help because they have nothing and they need clothes and blankets for winter. She said we were the answer to her prayers! It truly is a great feeling to know we are making a difference.
If you would like to make a donation of new or gently used winter clothing, blankets, school supplies or toys please send them to me and I will make sure they get to the Afghan people. A couple things we are running low on include bubbles and balloons and since winter is rapidly approaching we can also use blankets and winter clothing. We used these for entertaining the children especially in more confined spaces like this village where there is not a lot of room for organized games. If you send it SAM (Space Available Mail) it only takes a couple days longer and it is half the price of priority mail (contrary to what the post office will tell you, it usually only takes 10-12 days).
Thanks for your support! "
VCR Program
Pool House
CSTC-A CJ5
APO AE 09356
Although these Afghans don’t know anything about Thanksgiving, I know they spent the day being extremely thankful for the generosity of the Americans who made this program possible through their donations. In fact one of the teachers gave us a post card that said “we prayed….we asked God for helping this people (SIC) …he sent you! Thanks Sanolro, Gislene BYTC Students Kabul, Nov 2007”. She said they had been praying for help because they have nothing and they need clothes and blankets for winter. She said we were the answer to her prayers! It truly is a great feeling to know we are making a difference.
If you would like to make a donation of new or gently used winter clothing, blankets, school supplies or toys please send them to me and I will make sure they get to the Afghan people. A couple things we are running low on include bubbles and balloons and since winter is rapidly approaching we can also use blankets and winter clothing. We used these for entertaining the children especially in more confined spaces like this village where there is not a lot of room for organized games. If you send it SAM (Space Available Mail) it only takes a couple days longer and it is half the price of priority mail (contrary to what the post office will tell you, it usually only takes 10-12 days).
Thanks for your support! "
VCR Program
Pool House
CSTC-A CJ5
APO AE 09356
Thanks for reading.
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