International Short-Term Trips

May 3 As you know by now, we all made it back safely to our homes in Colorado yesterday.  Thank you for your prayers and thoughts for our safety.

Our time in Afghanistan was remarkable… visiting several schools and clinics; meeting with village elders, medical teams, NGO staff, and government officials; learning local construction techniques; and sharing many cups of tea just about everywhere we went.

We learned the true meaning of the ancient Afghan proverb: Yak roz didi dost, dega roz didi bradar.   The first day you meet you are friends, the next day you meet you are brothers.   The Afghan men we met live that proverb to the fullest every day of their lives and we are now blessed with many Afghan brothers.

We went over there with the hope of having a positive impact on the Afghan people, allowing their lives to impact us, and to bring back the stories of our numerous encounters and experiences.  We felt your support before and continually throughout the trip and I hope these daily updates have helped you engage with us as a vital part of our team.

If you’d like to hear more about the trip, just ask any of us.  But stand back… it may be tough to shut us up.   

Please join with us as we continue to pray for the Afghan people and the ongoing development work throughout Afghanistan.     Blessings, Bob

April 30  We set aside our last full day in Afghanistan to visit the village of Istalif where our host organization has been working since 2002 shortly after the fall of the Taliban. The one-hour drive to Istalif was remarkable because we could see a tremendous amount of new construction that has occurred and continues to take place north of Kabul. Substantial commercial and residential growth is noticeable even since my last trip to Kabul last June!

There is no “work” per se that our teams can do in Istalif, but we send our teams to visit Istalif for a couple other reasons: 1) to encourage and support the staff and volunteers that work so hard to provide emergency and ongoing care at the clinic supported by our host organization and 2) to help short teams like ours capture the vision of what kind of development might be possible in Barek Aub and other younger IDP settlements if provided with enough solid leadership, time, and support.

Istalif is perched on the western shoulder of the Shomali Plain nestled in the foothills of the majestic Koh-e Paghman mountains, much the way Boulder sits in the foothills of the Rockies.  The Istalif River is a moderately large boulder strewn river that runs right through the center of the village and that blesses the entire area with abundant runoff year-round. The stunning beauty of the area is impossible to miss.

Shortly after we arrived we met the clinic director, Dr. John Mohammad. We were then given a tour of the Comprehensive Health Clinic including the emergency area, OBGYN and family planning programs, delivery room, vaccination room, dental care, Leishmaniasis treatment, and tuberculosis program center. The 24-hour clinic also has its own pharmacy, testing lab, and ambulance and the maternity program boasts 15-20 babies delivered in the clinic every month.

Seeing Istalif as an active, healthy, and self-reliant village today, it’s hard to imagine that barely more than 10 years ago the clinic, the hotel, all the crops and vineyards, and virtually all the homes in the area were completely destroyed. Fewer than two dozen people remained in Istalif at that time, but now more than 40,000 people have settled in the village and surrounding district.  Knowing that Istalif has grown from a couple dozen to 40,000 through strong leadership and planning gives hope that Barek Aub, and other IDP settlements like it, will someday thrive as well.

At the conclusion of the tour we headed to the nearby banks of the Istalif River where were joined by the Governor of Istalif District (really, the Governor!) for an incredible lunch of fresh Nan and kebabs right off the grill. After consuming what was surely a record number of kebabs, the team pronounced it The Best Meal Ever! After sharing lunch, tea, and some fascinating conversation, we made a quick trip up the hill on the north bank of the river to the Istalif Bazaar — a dusty collection of tiny wooden storefronts that would look right at home in Gunsmoke, New Mexico — but which is also world renowned for its colorful Afghan pottery.

We then headed back to the guest house to finish the packing process (boo, hiss!) and a final transit briefing before heading out to dinner to give the guest house cooking staff (Naeem!) a well deserved evening off.

Our day was a fruitful one with several hours talking with our host organization’s new executive director and national director, the chance to see the fruits of many years of aid and development work in Istalif, and a chance to meet the Governor of one of the most beautiful province in all of Afghanistan.

Departure day tomorrow is something none of us want to even think about. So I’ll sign off tonight with a request for your prayers for a safe journey home and a smooth transition and re-entry back to life in Colorado. 

Till then… thank you again for all your prayers, thoughts, encouragement, and support. May God bless you and the people of Afghanistan as he has so richly blessed all of us.   Bob

April 29 The stone workers of Afghanistan are masters of rock and stone wall construction – they can build home foundations from rock that are so structurally sound that they need no mortar!  A few weeks ago we asked if we could observe them and get some tips as they constructed a foundation wall.  Our hope is to honor their skill and labor by building a fire pit or other structure at FCC some day using the very techniques they taught us back in Afghanistan.  Today would be the day we’d get our shot.

We arrived at Barek Aub a little after 9:00 and headed to the site of a home being built for one of the village widows, a woman named Nuria.  There was a tremendous amount of granite stone to be moved so we each took turns observing and learning from the stone workers and carrying granite chunks closer to the foundation work so they didn’t have to do anything but fit and place the stones.  The stone workers were a bit apprehensive at first, but slowly warmed to the idea and each of us got the opportunity to learn from them.  Their technique appears simple, but fine work done by talented and highly skilled craftsmen usually does.

After a couple hours of learning and carrying – and enjoying a nice break for tea – we headed to the clinic to meet with a group of 5 elders who are part of the Shura, the local 18-person governing body that includes, by their own requirement, two women.  We were really looking forward to sharing leadership ideas with the elders as we’d done a couple days before with leaders back in Kabul.

We gathered in a meeting room at the clinic and after introductory remarks and greetings, the elders began to describe some ongoing issues they’re having in the village with repairs needed on some of the widows’ homes, repairs to a secondary well, supplies for both schools, additional services and hours at the clinic, and a water diversion project done by a governmental agency that is at risk of causing severe damage to several homes if heavy rains come again.  These are all “normal” growing pains for a village like this, but combined with the lack of viable employment opportunities the need for solutions is urgent.

Our purpose for holding the meeting was to exchange leadership principals, but as we heard these elders instead pouring their hearts out on behalf of their families, James 2:15 came promptly to mind: Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?

We came to talk about leadership, but we decided instead to listen.  And our host organization is already working on solutions to mitigate all of the issues the elders shared with us.  We left the meeting with somber hearts, but we were buoyed by the warmth of our hosts and the ever-growing bond between FCC teams and the people of Barek Aub.

This evening we were extremely fortunate to take part in a real treat – to join troops at Camp Eggers (the ISAF base in Kabul) for their traditional Sunday worship services.  What a fantastic opportunity to meet and worship with troops from all the armed service branches from several different countries, but primarily the good ol’ US of A.  To sit in a big quonset hut with a group of men and women in uniform, serving their country half a world away, and singing their hearts out was an experience none of us will every forget.

After the services we headed back to the guest house for a light dinner, conversation about the day, and adjourned early so the guys could get some much deserved rest.

Every day in Afghanistan is incredible… but today was a big day.  It marked the fulfillment of many of our hopes for this team on this trip.  This team of leaders demonstrated true servant-leadership throughout the week and far exceeded my expectations.

We have one more full day tomorrow with lots planned.  Please pray for us as we hit the road again early in the morning and that we would truly touch the lives of the people we meet on our last day here.  Bob

(Update: Bart recovered quickly and the team is completely intact with no health issues!)

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April 28 Our day started early… up at 5:00 to chat about Nehemiah with the fellas, breakfast at 6:00, and loaded in the vehicles and ready to go by 6:30.  We wanted to get to Barek Aub to distribute some school supplies to the boys at the school during the morning session of classes.  (The women’s team had already distributed school supplies to all the girls the week before.)

“Oh my gosh… is that really it?  I can’t believe I’m actually here!” was pretty much the prevailing sentiment.  Eight of the nine team members had never been to Afghanistan before.  I (Bob) am the only one on the team who’s been to Barek Aub before and had any idea what to expect… but I, too, was blown away by what I saw.  Dozens of new “homes,” improved roadways with proper drainage, a few solar-powered street lights, a couple new markets, and a completed boundary wall surrounding the school were just a few of the changes and improvements I noticed.

Another change became obvious as soon as we set foot inside the school… there were no girls.  They now have a separate school a half-mile south all to themselves.  We were introduced in each classroom and got a chance to greet the boys, ask them a few questions, and let them know that our team and everyone in our village back in America cared about them and were praying for them.  We then got to hand out “goodie bags” of school supplies to the boys in every class before heading over to the girls school.

The girls school was built by another organization, but our host organization is providing the staffing and furnishings in order to create an excellent environment for the girls of Barek Aub to learn and grow.  As you might imagine, a group of nine American men in an Afghan girls school is a major distraction so we quickly greeted one classroom before heading over to the clinic.

The Barek Aub basic health clinic serves the residents of Barek Aub, the neighboring village of Kharouti, the nomadic Kochi tribes that have set up residence in the area, as well as a number of villages from nearby Qarabagh district – roughly 11,000 people!  That’s an amazing patient load for “our” little clinic, but it’s gratifying to know that so many people now have access to emergency medical care, vaccinations and immunizations, pre-natal care and mid-wife services, and general health care services where none existed before.

From the clinic we headed to the main well site where our host told the entire story of Barek Aub from its beginning in April 2007 when the first few families were deposited there, to the present with more than 3,000 people living there and more being added all the time. It’s an amazing story, but even more incredible to hear it told by the very person who first spotted this group of people stuck living in the middle of nowhere and decided to take action and do something about it.

We had hoped to meet with the elders of Barek Aub before leaving today to discuss principals of leadership in their culture and ours, but we ran out of time for today.  Stay tuned for more on that, too. 

Then it was back to the guest house for a late lunch, some discussion about the day’s events, and then a quick stop at Rauf’s Carpet Store and the Shah Mohammad Book Store, which was chronicled in The Bookseller of Kabul.

The team was pretty tired after such an early morning and a very long day, so evening discussion was kept to a minimum so everyone could get to bed.  Before I do, too, I’d like to thank you for your prayers and support for the work being done in Barek Aub and elsewhere in Afghanistan.

Real progress is being made and the proof is on the faces of all the children in Barek Aub.  Thank you!    Bob

 April 27 Friday is the Muslim Holy Day (like our Sunday in the US) so schools and clinics are closed and the staff at the guest house is given the day off.  Our teams also typically take the day “off” to rest and prepare for the rest of the week.

Today after breakfast, we hung out around the table for a while chatting about some of our favorite authors and speakers, and other common ground.  Our team is incredibly diverse in terms of our backgrounds and life paths so it’s more than a little surprising to see how we’ve all arrived in Afghanistan at the same time with many of the same interests and goals.

We also continued to discuss some really sensitive issues that came up during our morning devotional chat.  I’m not going to share what was discussed (that will stay between us guys), but I will tell you that I’m really moved by the way this team has pulled together as a band of brothers.  They are genuinely concerned for each other, sharing closely guarded thoughts and concerns, and praying for and supporting one another and the team.  I am deeply honored to be a part of this group of men.

Today we are missing our friends and family who gather in that old Walbertsons building in Lafayette. So we gathered around the dining room table with a few ex-pat friends to sing, pray and share what was on our hearts. We worshiped together for two solid hours – which sounds like an eternity but the time flew by – it was a fantastic morning.

After lunch we headed out to shop for some gifts and souvenirs only to find Rauf’s Carpet Store – the definitive Afghan carpet merchant and good friend to FCC teams – closed! In fact most of the shops on Chicken Street were closed probably due to the Victory Day celebrations in the city. (Victory Day is to Afghans as Independence Day is to Americans.)

Rather than head directly back to the guest house we made our way to the Intercontinental Hotel for a spot of afternoon tea.  You may remember the Intercontinental was attacked last June while an FCC team (mine!) was in Kabul.  Damage to the hotel has been completely repaired and it is actually undergoing a complete renovation with gorgeous white marble everywhere.  It was great to see that magnificent hotel not only under repair, but getting ready to reopen better than ever.  The Intercontinental Hotel is a shining example of Afghan resilience, determination, and indomitable spirit!

Unfortunately our afternoon trip was minus one team member.  Bart fell victim today to a case of the “Kabul diet” and decided riding around the bumpy roads of Kabul in an SUV would be unpleasant… for everyone.  Please pray for a quick recovery for Bart.  This team has grown pretty tight and we’re not the same without him!

That’s it for now.  We’re heading out very early in the morning on a special assignment that I can’t wait to tell you about… tomorrow. 

Thank you (again!) for the emails, words of encouragement, and prayers for effectiveness and safety.  We serve a great God and we continually see his handiwork throughout this marvelous country and its people.

April 26 Sometimes I can’t see what I want to.  Something like that ran through my mind as we stood on “prayer hill” this afternoon looking around at the city of Kabul below us. In the East, gray skies were hovering low in front of a bleak mountain range. As you looked south, the clouds grew darker, with streaks of lightning striking behind the hills. To the west, shadows of the 20,000 foot mountain peaks were hiding in the late afternoon haze. But to the north, clear blue skies dominated and beautiful, golden light cascaded over the valley.

We were only on top of the hill for a few minutes, but the perspective was impressive. Inside the circle of mountains and hills, we could see the homes and streets crisscrossing in a dusty grid all around us. For the eight of us who have never been here before, this moment of vision was welcome and awesome. For these few days, this is our city.

Earlier in the day however, things weren’t quite as clear. What I thought would be our agenda for the day was suddenly thrown for a slight loop. We loaded up and ran out for a quick, “last minute” appointment before our morning meeting.

If you’ve ever tried to do something quickly with nine people in a foreign country in a second language, you can probably see where this is going. Our twenty-minute adventure took almost two hours. Not what we had planned. But, we rolled with it, joining our original meeting already in progress that we had hoped to be a part of from the beginning.

Now, going back to the view from the mountaintop, I find it amazing how God threads things together for me, preparing me for challenges and battles I can’t see coming. I make my plans and set my agenda, but then things come undone somewhere along the way.  All of the pieces from my life, insignificant or not, end up coloring my present. In an amazing masterpiece, God creates using the broken, boring and bland elements I overlook or ignore.

Our plan for the meeting was to share ideas and principles about leadership, with some specific points along the way. Dan had planned to talk about Jesus washing his disciple’s feet as a biblical example of this. However, when he ended up in front of this group of Afgans and Americans, he started talking about Nehemiah. It was totally off the cuff. Then another team member shared about his business. Then we talked about Shine and how dozens of leaders came together with Flatirons and pulled off an incredible party. There were practical tips and ideas to close. And in the end, it was amazing.

As we debriefed the meeting in the afternoon, we started listing the ways God had prepared us for it. There were a couple very obvious and practical ones. Like Dan’s decision six months ago to lead the team in a study of Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Dan’s knowledge of the story allowed him to share quickly and easily about the essential details and how that could pertain to leadership for our teams.

And there was the day before when we toured a few locations around Kabul and personally witnessed the destruction that war brought to this city. The broken buildings were vivid examples of what it must have been like for Nehemiah to return to his home city and find the walls and gates in ruins.

There were subtle notes too. The team being delayed six weeks put a different mix of people in play, the stress from the delayed morning throwing us of our “gameplan,” and the stories from each of our lives highlighted the wisdom and wounds we bring. It was a perfect storm for a bunch of people who at our very core really need to trust Jesus every moment.

As I walked into the morning’s meeting that so many of us were looking forward to, what seemed to start as a disaster ended better than I had hoped. It didn’t go as we planned, but it went well. And from the feedback, I’m confident that God took the stories from Nehemiah and our lives and touched people in great ways.

We thanked God that the meeting, and as a team, we really came together in the afternoon encouraged with what God has in store for the rest of the week.   Bart

April 25 We began our day by heading to the largest school for girls in Afghanistan with more than 12,000 students and 300 teachers. That makes the school sound huge, but it is anything but. The kids attend in three shifts and many classes are held in a number of large tents.  Tents!

Although a government-operated school, supplies are scarce and the facilities are negligible, but they are blessed with more than 300 teachers who receive meager wages (as low as $100/mo) and yet are inspiring these kids to greatness.

Located in eastern Kabul, many of the students (about 90% of them girls based on our observations) come from extremely poor communities in the surrounding region that includes at least one IDP camp that we visited briefly on our way back to the guest house.

Yesterday we unpacked, sorted, inventoried, and repacked more than 200 blankets and dozens of coats, sweatshirts, gloves, and hats that we got to deliver today to the school to be distributed to the students and teachers most in need.

We then got a tour of the school and the kids, just like the street kids we visited yesterday, were extremely engaging, incredibly bright, and full of hope. When you see so many hundreds of girls filling the seats, it’s hard to believe that the previous entire generation of girls had been prohibited from attending any school at all. And the faces in the pictures below show just how much these girls are capitalizing on their new opportunity.

After finishing the tour we drove past the IDP camp that I mentioned earlier which is just down the hill from the school and is home to many of the school’s students. An IDP camp is similar to a “refugee camp” except the residents are Afghans, not refugees from somewhere else. For a description the living conditions in an Afghan IDP camp you can read about a couple of my previous visits in June 2010 and June 2011. We did not have time to stop and distribute any supplies at the camp, but we wanted the team members to have a chance to see first-hand what conditions had been like for the people now living in Barek Aub.

We returned to the guest house for a lunch break and then went on a Kabul “city tour” orientation including visiting a number of landmarks from Kabul’s past – ruins of the Darul Aman and Chilsatoon palaces, and the tomb of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.

After a long and exhausting day, we retreated once again to the guest house where we shared dinner with some friends living in Kabul. We also spent some time sharing thoughts about our week so far – the highs and the lows – before calling it a night for some much needed rest.

We continue to be amazed at the spirit and drive of the incredible Afghan people – especially the kids! It is truly an honor to be invited to join them in their restoration efforts. Please continue to pray for strength and wisdom for us as well as for the Afghan people.  Bob

April 24 As we often do after dinner, tonight I asked the team to share their personal highlight of the trip so far. The response was immediate and unanimous… “The school!”

There are more than 200 kids enrolled in a school for “street kids” that our host organization has been supporting since early in 2009. The students are often the family bread winners – young children who have had to make the cruel choice between attending elementary school or working on the streets to make money so their family can eat.

This special school helps the kids get off the street and develop the skills necessary to re-enter and compete within the public school system. In exchange for their agreement to participate in 4 hours of classes every day on subjects ranging from the three R’s to interpersonal skills and personal hygiene, the school provides each child with a hot, nourishing meal – which is often the only meal these kids get that day.

We were given the opportunity to spend a little time with the kids in their classrooms asking them about their goals and dreams, quizzing them on their A-B-C’s, and even entertaining them with some hand-drawn cartoons (thanks Dan!). After that we were given a special treat… serving them their lunch!

What hits you immediately when you see these kids is their patience, discipline, eagerness to learn, and world-class smiles. (Remember, these are kids who have lived a considerable portion of their young lives eking out a living on the streets of Kabul!)  They sit patiently in their seats, stand immediately when you enter the room, listen carefully, jump at the chance to answer any and all questions, and grin from ear to ear the entire time.

Not a single one of the nine “tough guy” leadership types on our team left the school with an unmelted heart and more than one had a little something caught in their throat when they talked about their encounters many hours later. If these kids are any indication of the quality of the next generation that will lead their country, the future of Afghanistan is very bright.

Nothing else I can write here will provide any more insight into the lives of these very special kids than a few photos that Bart captured today, so I’m going to let them tell the rest of the story.

Many prayers were answered in bulk today by some little children rescued from the streets of Kabul and who are healing and growing because of the support of people like you. May God richly bless each and every one of them. Bob

April 23 Although each team member goes through significant training and is well briefed on what to expect when we hit the ground, your first sight of Afghanistan always gives pause.  Much of the country was obscured by clouds during our flight so it wasn’t until we were on final approach into the Kabul airport and dropped below the cloud ceiling that our team got its first glimpse of this country of stark contrasts… majestic 20,000-foot snow covered mountain ranges towering above barren, brown plains with occasional threads of green where life sustaining water flows from the hills.  There was a bit more green than usual this time due to heavier than average winter snowfall and recent spring showers.  But it’s still a landscape that hits you like no other… and that first view is one no one ever forgets.

Kyle and Dan get their first glimpse of life in Afghanistan.

After filling out the requisite entry forms and snagging our bags, we were warmly greeted by several of our hosts, a sight I never get tired of.  Then it was off to the guest house for a reunion of sorts – another all-female team from FCC is finishing up their work in Kabul and they will be staying one more night in the same guest house before departing tomorrow.  It’s funny… we see many of them every week at FCC yet seeing them halfway around the world in this foreign land is a true joy that soothes our travel weary souls!  Our two teams were able to spend some time together briefly sharing some stories about their adventures the previous week and our hopes for our time there, then we all shared a traditional Afghan dinner together.

Two teams with a rare opportunity to break bread together in Afghanistan!

After dinner the women split to hold a final departure briefing (at least I think that’s what we heard them doing) while we got a rare opportunity to spend time with our host organization’s Afghan national director and new executive director.  These two men, one Afghan and one American, have a 20-year history that is woven together with one common thread – they both love and are passionate about Afghanistan and her people and are dedicated to bringing hope and restoration to this troubled land.

After a wonderful time and long day, it was time to hit the sack and gather our strength for our first full day on the ground in Afghanistan.

You’ll get tired of me saying this, but I’m going to say it again anyway… thank you and bless you for your prayers and support.  Many wonderful and positive things are being accomplished here and you are here with us in our hearts and minds every step of the way.    Bob

PS.  I also want to thank the many of you that have sent personal notes of encouragement.  I hope you’ll understand if I don’t get a chance to reply to all of you… but don’t stop – please keep those cards and letters coming!

April 22 Just a short update to let you all know that we’ve made it safely to Dubai.  We’re overnighting at a local hotel and will be on our way to Kabul at noon tomorrow.

Our flight out of Denver arrived in Washington DC a few minutes early, which helped scale back our planned all out sprint from gate D21 to C1 at Dulles to a more manageable pace.  We actually arrived at our departure gate just as they began boarding… not too soon, not too late.  (pant, pant)  Nice.  And the next flight from Washington DC to Dubai, although about 8 time zones too long, was smooth and uneventful.

We also arrived a little early in Dubai (love the trade winds at 35,000 feet) so after a brief cab ride to the hotel we walked down to Dubai Creek (it’s the main river through Dubai) where we jumped on a river boat and got a fish’s eye view of the city’s bustling international marine trade area.  Then another cab ride to the Dubai Mall where we grabbed a bite to eat at the Food Court.  (Yep, we’re 7,000 miles from home and we ate in a shopping mall food court… are we a bunch of guys or what?!)  Then it was a short stroll to catch a few photos of the Burj Kalifa (tallest building in the world) before heading back to the hotel for some shuteye.

With our 4-hour “tourist” portion of the trip behind us, we’re hitting the sack for a few hours now and are looking forward to our arrival in Kabul tomorrow when we can begin to focus on the real reason for this trip.  Each and every one of the men on this team are excited to begin to put our months of training to good use.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support — we know we would not have made it this far without it.    Bob

At DIA and itchin’ to go… and not just from our beards.

Bart, Kyle, Steve, Mike, and Dan waiting in the long lines at Passport Control in Dubai.

April 24   We are back!!  A band on 9 weary, dusty, sleep deprived women landed in Denver earlier today. Our return trip was not without minor hiccups – but that is almost par for the course.  As we reflected on the past 11 days there are many highlights…. But I wanted to share a few:  endless laughter, sharing parts of everyone’s life story, kids that could rip your heart out and bring a big smile to your face, wonderful new Afghan friends, sorting, playing soccer with the school kids, sharing hand prints from our kids with theirs, teaching fun songs to kids, starting seed projects in each classroom at all 3 schools, camel rides, fun combat driving car adventures, Dubai shopping, Kabul shopping, sharing a meal with the Men’s team, beautiful sights, and….. so much more.

We laughed so hard at times we cried, and held back those same tears when we were witness to great bravery and sacrifice. You will each learn more when you talk to people who joined me on this trip. Let me close out our team update with two thoughts. First I was honored to lead this loving, dedicated and flexible group of women to one of my favorite places on earth and second, our God is great, He love us all. Thanks to each of you for your prayers and for supporting our families during our absence. Mary

April 23  Today was indescribable! We woke up today with not a cloud in the sky and we knew it was going to be an amazing day. Our first adventure for the morning was to head to Barek Aub. With the clear skies we were able to see the entire city and how far they have come throughout the years we all have been here. It is so encouraging to see! After sightseeing, we started with handing out the rest of the gift bags to the boys, followed by a lesson on how to plant and grow seeds (beans, spinach, and peas). The translation was pretty hard at first, but all the kids enjoyed making fun of the crazy white girls! All the kids seemed pretty interested and excited to start growing vegetables. Once we finished at the school we were able to visit the water distribution site and also made home visits to community health workers of Barek Aub. Walking away from those experiences left an incredible impression on each of us!

On our way back to Kabul, we were all trying to take in what we had experienced when all of the sudden Hillary spotted a camel. Our driver pulled off to the side of the road, hit the dirt and pulled right up to a Kuchi’s tent (the nomadic, sheep herding people of Afghanistan) and negotiated a price for us to ride their camels. We all got a spin on Laila, the camel, and enjoyed authentic Kuchi hospitality—lambswool blankets, homemade yogurt, and homemade naan. I am sure all the American women riding their camel will be quite the story of a lifetime for the Kuchi people!

After cleaning off the camels stink and taking naps, we went to eat at the Design Café. In a word, it was ….AMAZING! Some got dinner, some got just dessert. Everything we had was outstanding even the “mocha frapaciano!”

Tomorrow is our last full day here, time has flown by! God is doing amazing things here, even with 9 insanely crazy women. Megan Z

April 22  Mary must have panicked when I looked ahead to today’s scheduled and offered to write the blog. It’s not a secret here that I am a woman of many words.

Today was our last full day here in Afghanistan. The plan was to take fifty kids on their first ever field trip to the botanic gardens in Kabul, serve them lunch and offer them the gardening tutorial that we could now surely give in our sleep.  However, alternative plans were needed today as we stayed in the guesthouse.

We played several more rounds of our new favorite game, mafia, followed by several other hilarious games. The teachers from the Kabul school joined us here at the office and Mary gave a flawless lesson on vegetable gardening and offered the teachers necessary supplies to take to the students to create their own classroom gardens. Candid conversation erupted with the help of our translator and we began talking of family sizes and cultural differences. Upon discovery that most of us young women are single, we were asked why American women do not get married at a younger age. I maneuvered through that one like a minefield. As we have found, concepts like “dating” do not translate well here. 

We were joined later by some young Afghan women who artfully applied henna to our hands and arms. Just before dinner the men’s team arrived and joined us in the living room. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the dining room so populated. It was quite a treat to begin to recount some of our adventure to the men and to encourage them as they begin their own. The house seems to be bursting at the seams, but we are so happy to be together and to pass the torch to a new team.

Yep, here it is, the formidable end. Tonight, being the sentimentalist that I am, I expressed the desire to mark our trip’s conclusion with something noteworthy. Since no one took me seriously in my desire to perform “So Long, Farewell” for the men’s team and staff, us ladies settled in the living room for a final team meeting. The ladies recounted favorite moments, aspects of the trip that surprised us most, and expressed the growing affections we have for each other and this amazing place. There’s a fondness for Afghanistan that will endure long after our chadors are removed and we wash the Kabul dust from our hair.

These ladies are remarkable. Never have I been a part of a group that can laugh so candidly and love so fiercely. I’ve watched each of them come to life in various moments, and I’ve seen big love poured out richly onto these Afghan people. These are the sorts of people that make you feel honored to count as friends. Surely our friendships will continue even after we debark in Denver… I know; I’ve made us all agree to be best friends forever.  Hillary

April 21 There has been a lot of rain the past two days, so the drive to Barek Aub today was very muddy with a lot of standing water. About 15 minutes from the town, traffic slowed down quite a bit and was re-routed to the opposite side of the road due to a large truck with a large load partially turned over and submerged in the water. The road had partially washed out in places, but we had no issues on our trip.  The town seems to emerge out of nowhere, and from what the trip veterans say, it is really growing and morphing into a beautiful village. We visited the clinic first, where we were able to give gift bags and blankets to the Community Health workers and the literacy class, which consisted of all women. It was such an amazing opportunity to get to be in front of these women to let them know that we truly believe they are doing great things, and we love them and are praying for them. For the 3 of us newbies, it was quite the experience to see how crazy it can get when you bring items into a place to give away.  We had a very limited supply of items to give out, so we had to be specific in who got items. Next, we went to the girls’ school, which is a new addition within the last year built by another organization. It was such a treat to get to go into classrooms with all girls!  We gave out more gift bags to the students as well as teachers, and everyone was so thankful!

The boys’ school was closed today due to the teachers not being able to get in due to the rain. It seemed like a short trip, especially compared to the hour and a half car ride each way, but it was well worth all the sorting, bag-filling, and travel to spend some time with our friends in Barek Aub.

Once we returned to the house and had lunch, the debate started over more shopping or naps all around. The deciding factor was the fact that the shopping area we planned to go to closed at 4:00, so we couldn’t wait to go later. We were not as enthusiastic as we were for Chicken Street yesterday, but most of us found the last few treasures we needed/wanted for ourselves and people back home. After naps and a “private” yoga session, dinner was served and most have gone to bed early. A cold-type sickness is slowly creeping its way through the team, so please pray for our health as we finish up our trip. Also, please continue to pray for these amazing people we meet daily, as well as the staff here.  There are some amazing things happening!  Shannon

April 20 We had a lighter schedule today as it is Friday, the Muslim holy/rest day: breakfast and debrief, house church, sorting, fellowship and games, shopping.

Our morning was filled with worship, thanks, and encouragement. We were able to meet with some ex-pats at the home of one of the long-term team members. After time of fellowship, we gathered on toshaks (large cushions placed on the floor) and filled the room. There on the floor, believers of all different ages, nationalities, and backgrounds joined together in worship. It was pretty humbling and encouraging. All I could think was the importance of filling oneself with the spirit on a daily basis. As we sang, I was acutely aware of my usual self-reliance. I recalled various team members sharing how God has stretched them through using them in projects outside their expertise, causing them to rely on God’s strength instead of their own. Both mentioned how this resulted in less stress and more personal fulfillment. Ironic. We’ve got it backwards in the west. The service continued with scripture reading and discussion of a lesson based around the scripture. As our team leader mentioned, it felt like an “acts 2 church…” people of faith coming together to encourage and sharpen one another. Pretty cool!

Back at the guest house, we sorted donated materials once again. We are certainly doing lots of bonding together with all our sorting! But seriously, it is fantastic to be a blessing to this NGO by giving them our time and our hands. We separated and packed blankets for families at the community we will visit.

We enjoyed some downtime by playing our new favorite game (and our host’s favorite game), mafia, before heading out to do some shopping. The peals of laughter coming from the room while we played mafia were pretty great!

Shopping began with the traditional trip to the carpet shop. It’s safe to say the whole team thoroughly enjoyed the carpet buying experience. Watching the men pull out rug after rug until each person had found the right size and color combination. Then the bartering begins…quite a cultural experience in and of itself! We all left quite satisfied and moved on to a couple more shops. A team of women enjoying the late afternoon shopping? I know, I know. Mind blowing.

Kebab take out and pizzas made for a relaxing dinner. Our day of rest ended with more sorting, gift bag stuffing, and seed packet preparation. It has been a full day, but a restoring day. I’m looking forward to what tomorrow will hold!  Steph

April 19 Our day was filled with statuesque landscapes, wonderful conversations and an eye-opening but inspiring tour of the Istalif Medical Clinic about a 90 minute drive outside of Kabul. Waking up to a dreary day was well embraced by all of the women as we headed off on an exciting trip to the “Estes Park-like” town outside of Kabul. Years ago before terrorist destruction, people from all around the area would travel miles and miles to visit the best restaurants, hotels and enjoy the views that Istalif offers. Today’s trip provided the same great views from high above – similar to the mountains of Colorado and overlooking the nearby cities and pastures. The destruction was still all around but grief and defeat were not. Today was a day of celebration as there was a large picnic hosted in the area to celebrate the blooming of the gorgeous spring flowers. The flowers are pink and purple and absolutely beautiful. We even stopped to buy some on the way back for the guest house and they add a charming touch. We did not have a chance to join the community picnic because our hosts offered us an INCREDIBLE lunch on the river, full of delicious kabobs. This meal will not be forgotten for days and will be craved for months.

The Istalif Medical Clinic offers a ray of hope and help to the people in the area. They offer vaccinations, medical exams, dental work, lab work, labor/delivery and family planning programs. The men and women who work at the clinic are incredible. Their work will fulfill a country-wide goal of vaccinating all residents as well as offering more services that the area residents would typically not receive due to cost and/or location. They deliver an average of 20 babies per month and examine residents that walk up to 4 hours to get there. The clinic has 70 volunteers who walk the area going house-to-house to tell them about what the clinic offers and encourage them to get vaccinated. These volunteers along with the small but incredibly smart staff make a difference in this community and we are proud to partner with and offer our support to them. The tour and discussions we got from this visit were immeasurable.

As the sun set we found ourselves gathered around the guest house living room sharing stories and laughs. It is truly amazing how grateful, focused and satisfied a life can be when the daily stresses are pushed aside and you open yourself up to a brand new experience.     Stacy

April 18 Hello from beautiful Kabul following the first full day of the women’s team trip. It’s great to finally be at the guest house after a brief (but not awful) stopover in Dubai. It’s an interesting team experience when you get to know each other during an unscheduled delay, and then move into a more normal setting of team work and relationship building.

Today was an exciting day for the three team members who are making their first trip, as well as the six team members who are returning after previous trips. Everyone survived their first night in Afghanistan and even had a fairly restful night of sleep. We spent the day at the Kabul school today teaching classes to the more than 200 street kids. It turns out we have some women with previously undetected teaching skills who did a great job teaching the kids a new song and some new English words for body parts (completely innocent). Some of our kids from Colorado made paper copies of their hands, wrote messages on them, and sent them over to the kids at the Kabul School. We were able to present those to the kids today and translate the messages printed on them. It was definitely a highlight for the Afghan kids today, as well as for the team to see the connection between our family in Colorado and our family in Afghanistan. Megan Z. was able to use her tremendous talents to, not only play a full day of soccer and volleyball with the kids, but to also teach them how to juggle socks, something you don’t see everyday.

We were able to go in pairs with a driver and one of the teachers to visit eight students in their homes and talk to their families. The students at the Kabul school are some of the poorest in Kabul, so it’s an emotionally wrenching thing to observe some of the living conditions. Each family talked about how grateful they are that their children are getting a chance to attend school, even though they must spend a portion of their day selling whatever they can find to try to make some extra income. The kids are very bright and optimistic despite what we would probably consider hopeless circumstances, and we were all honored to be guests in their homes.

Mary believes that “the team that sorts together stays together,” so we spent almost the entire late afternoon and evening sorting items that have been donated.

This is a wonderful, cohesive team that is already learning a lot about Afghanistan and about each other. We’re looking forward to the remainder of the week and the tasks that we get to perform to serve and love our Afghan friends. More tomorrow . . .      Karen

April 17 We have landed in Kabul, we are here at long last! We stayed an extra day in Dubai and had the opportunity to visit the Burj Kalifa (tallest structure in the world) and enjoy the amazing views.  We were also able to visit some sites like the indoor ski resort and shopping malls….it was a great time for the team to get to know each other better and to discuss plans for our time in Afghanistan.

We had an uneventful trip from Dubai to Kabul (uneventful is good) and were greeted by the amazing staff.  The long term team spent time getting to know us and covering some of the basic cultural aspects of the Afghan culture. Of course the main attraction so far is the traffic in Kabul, it makes for a very fast and unpredictable ride from the airport! When we arrived at the guest house we were treated to an incredible Afghan meal and have sorted everything we brought to be added to gift bags.

Everyone has retired for the evening and I am struck by how much this place feels like home. Seeing new team members being greeted by the amazing staff is very exciting… and seeing the staff reconnect with women who have come on earlier trips is pure joy. We have the added opportunity to spend time with the new executive director and his wife.  They have just begun to share their exciting story with us.

I promise I will have more fun things to share tomorrow….but for now we are all grateful to be here – healthy and ready to connect with more Afghan friends.  Mary

April 21  Sitting in Sol Café writing this – - Ugandan reggae/pop/disco playing in one ear and English Premier League football in the other.  Hope this makes sense.

Today is Cluck’s birthday – - we bought him a Ugandan hoe – the kind one uses to work on a farm – and had the kids sing him Happy Birthday. Moses presented the hoe to Cluck to cap it all off.  We worked on setting up the rain barrels, pouring concrete in one of our drainage channels and putting up the rain gutters – - – and then it rained – - a biblical rain – - a massive rain. Think about the National Geographic Channel show about the rainy season on the African veldt – - they use time lapse photography to show you how rainy season lakes and rivers form over the course of a couple of months – - in this case, the lakes and rivers formed in 10 minutes. An amazing rain – - all the Musana Muzungus went out in their REI rain jackets (yes, we all have them – - and we all have different colors – - like a rainbow) to see how the drainage systems worked. And, for the most part, they were working great – - we’ve got a few things to do on Sunday before we head to the airport for our 11:30 pm flight to Amsterdam, then Detroit (it’s like our Kigali leg on the way over) and then finally Denver.

Thanks Flatirons for you support and prayers – - keep praying for Andrea, Leah, Haril and all of the kids at Musana.

April 20 This was our day off.  We drove to Jinja – big tourist town so we are told.  We stopped at the Kakira Sugar Factory for a tour – -no pre-appointment or phone call – - just stopped.  They first said no – - then they said, “You can join this other group.”  Cool – - off we went – - with Professor Mbewe’s Industrial Engineering Class from a local university.  The tour started off fine and then went a bit Gilligan’s Island on us – - we thought these kids would never stop asking questions.  Sugar processing is interesting – - if you are an industrial engineer – - enough said.  They did however, notice Stephanie and Tierney and decide that getting their photo taking with the Muzungu ladies in front of the steam turbine control panel.

Then to Jinja for lunch and shopping followed by a ride up to Bujagali falls on the Nile just below Lake Victoria.  Did you know that Bujagali falls is now Bujagali Lake because they (the Ugandan Gov’t) just finished a dam at the falls.  We did not know this. So we took a great boat ride on the Lake – say monkeys, lizards, eagles, yada, yada, yada and can now say that we have been out on a boat on the Nile. After that, pizza in Jinja. A few in our crowd went out dancing with Haril, Andrea and Leah following our return to the Guest House at 11:30 pm.

April 19  Back at Musana for more road work, building brick paths, installing rain gutter and downspouts — – until about 2:30 pm when a horde of motorcycles and drivers road into Musana. These guys are “Boda” drivers – motorcycle taxis. Imagine a 1975 Honda 100 motorcycle – but these are Chinese – made;  and everyone has the same bike with their own style of decorative cover on the gas tank. We were all Easy Rider biker chicks – we rode onesies and twosies on the back of the bikes to Buwoungo – then to the Musana farm – and then back to Musana. I will simply say that the motorcycle ride is like being inside the Muzungu Death Race 2012 video game. The bikes went as fast as about 50 mph on dirt roads barely bigger than one lane wide. On the paved roads here in Uganda, 8 inches of clearance between a Boda and on oncoming 20 ton dump truck is considered normal. Tony, my driver, was weaving all over the road to avoid bumps and try and outrace the other Boda/muzungu combos which he mostly did until he ran out of gas. So, of course, we stopped at a filling station. Paul’s Boda driver also ran out of gas and stopped at a roadside place where a little kid emptied a couple of coke bottles filled with gasoline into his tank. The muzungu hot line was absolutely smoking tonight – every single little kid along our 15 mile route was squealing, dancing, waving and yelling muzungu at us.  An absolutely fabulous experience.

Our first stop on the Boda road race was the Musana Women’s Project. We had the awesome opportunity of meeting the women who create the necklaces and earrings sold at Flatirons/ as well as the another beneficiary of another Musana microloan. There have been no defaults on any of the microloans and the payments on the loans are re-generated for the next microloan candidates. The women remembered Paul and Pastor Jim from their previous visit. It was very interesting to learn that the women are not using pre-fabricated beads… they use paper to create the bead and apply lacquer or coating to polish them. They are also tailoring, making handbags, and other sewing crafts. The women are very passionate, committed, and focused on the success of their business and it is evident in the quality of their products.  We then strolled over to Florence’s home to learn about her brick-making operations. We were joined by several villagers on the stroll.  She is nearly 70% towards her goal of producing 1500 bricks and has an impressive business!  

We then hopped back on the Bodas and headed to the Musana farm where Isaac gave us a really informative tour of the spectacular farm property. It’s almost unimaginable that just two years ago the nearly 15 acres were lush with thick, dense trees and undergrowth. We walked through pineapple groves, soon-to-be rice fields, mushroom patches, pepper seedlings and the versatile Casabi (sp?) plant…among other things. With a goal of having the farm as the primary source of various food staples, Isaac and his team are well on their way of achieving the goal! And the icing on the cake…no cobra sightings!!!

After getting back to the guest house for a quick dinner, we are headed out to play trivia at Sol Café.

April 18  Back at Musana for another work day today. We worked to regrade one of the roads by hand – -shovels, hoes and rakes – - that’s it. We also started putting up the rain gutters and got most of one building done before – -

—-it started to rain like crazy.  Our rain gutters worked and the kids rolled out the rain barrels (we’re planning on installing them later this week) to catch rain water from the gutters on one building. They filled three 300 liter barrels – -do your own conversion to gallons. The newly graded road and its drainage system worked superbly. The initial drainage system that we constructed didn’t get very much water but we were assured that this was a very light rainstorm and that both systems would get their test as the rainy season here in Uganda gets rolling.

We have had some interesting wildlife encounters here in Iganga. This morning, Alex let us know that he was awakened last night by two Africa sized cockroaches inside his mosquito net. This sent him into a psychological tailspin resulting in him sitting out in the living room with the lights on for a couple of hours in the wee hours of the morning before he screwed up the courage to get back in bed. The previous evening, we had been entertained by a mouse running around the guest house living room.  Not a problem for most people but the mouse happened to run right past Salima and, while the rest of the room thought this was very funny – -she seemed to lose her sense of humor for some reason. Of course, the walks back and forth to Musana include chickens, goats, and cows on the road.  We’ve also seen a few mosquitos, and some of the ridiculously large termite mounds that exist all over the place.

Tonight, we all got a “rolex” courtesy of Musana- – not the watch, but an egg and veggie burrito – Iganga style prepared by Sarah. It was simply awesome and much more nutritious than the watch.  After dinner we packed 13 of us into Haril’s seven passenger van to ride back over to Musana to watch The Lion King with the kids. The kids wanted us to stay and spend the night with them, but we preferred to return to our animal friends at the guest house.  Paul caught one of the cockroaches and put it in a special plastic bag – it is now the first animal in the Musana Guest House collection.

April 17   Today was a spectacular day!  We have been channeling (pun intended) our inner MacGyvers. The team built two ladders from trees – quite impressive!  Steve escaped racking up bone break #49 and was the quality control inspector for the newly constructed ladders. The ladders are for use in installing the new rain gutters on the roofs of 7 buildings – - the materials got delivered at 12 noon – - pretty close to the promised time of 9 am. We’ve been digging and installing drainage pipe – 24 feet of 16 inch diameter drainage pipe to be exact. Musana now has two well-designed drainage areas complete. Haril performed the honor of the ceremonial proof roll over the drainage pipe in the street and we passed with flying colors. We got a good start with the gutters and downspouts on the pavilion building and we’ll really crank on this tomorrow.

Bill had his first excellent adventure on the streets of Iganga as a passenger on a boda (motorcycle)….think Boston traffic on the ‘wrong side’ of the street. He fared well (he came back alive). 

Andrea, Leah and Haril treated us to a great lunch of a bunch of stuff that we had to keep asking “what is this” in Iganga which recharged us for the afternoon shift. We’re having a great time with the kids – jumping rope, playing soccer and basketball, singing a lot, and improving our mastery of the Lusoga language every day (ok…mastery might be a bit of a stretch). 

 We’re all still safe and sound! Mas manana

April 16  Do you know what it feels like to be Jon Bon Jovi – - to have people yell and scream when they see you – - to have people just want to touch you.  I think the Musana Muzungus know what this feels like.  Every morning as we walk to the Children’s Home (about 1 mile from our guest house) and every evening as we return, hordes of little children see us and start jumping up and down.  They run at us screaming “muzungu” and give us a “bonga” – - a fist bump.  This is huge to them – and huge to us.  (By the way, I believe that Snoop Dogg co-opted the fist bump from Africa, not the other way around).  However you look at it, we are rock stars here in Iganga.

Today was another day of digging.  We finished the trench across the road along with the drainage ditch.  It rained like crazy last night so our initial portion of the drainage ditch got tested and it worked like a champ.  We bought one 3-foot section of concrete pipe to run the drainage under the road.  We’ll need 7 more sections, but the Musana van is just not big enough so Haril will rent a truck and we’ll get the pipe by noon tomorrow. (Haril is the director of operations for Musana – an absolutely fabulous dude). When we finish with this pipe, we’ll have a bit more drainage ditch to dig and we’ll be done with the western side of the main campus and we can focus on other stuff – - like – - – -

—Starting to put rain gutters on all the buildings and doing the storm drainage system down the middle of the campus.  Two people from our team, the so-called engineers (OK – - they are really engineers) went to the city of Jinja today with Haril to buy the rain gutter materials.  These chumps got a nice lunch in Jinja, not pocho and beans like the rest of the team – - but they got the job done.  And, by the way, the pocho and beans aren’t too bad.  Haril used his stellar negotiating skills to get us a great deal on these materials and we even got free delivery – - they said they’d arrive at 9 am – - Haril says that means they’ll probably deliver by 11 am.

The sun was not kind to most of us today.  There are some substantial sunburns and hardline farmer’s tans working on most of us.  After a quick stop at Musana’s Sol Café in Iganga for refreshments, we enjoyed dinner at the guest house and spent some time with Andrea, Leah and Haril just hanging out.

A little bit of ibuprofen – better living through chemistry – - and we’ll be ready for another day tomorrow.

April 15  Church service was inspiring with lots of beautiful music and messaging! After church, we dug right in…literally…to the work at hand. We cleared a 200 foot drainage channel, built some berms, and dug another 100 feet for drainage through some hard, dry, and at times, rocky soil. It was ‘all hands on deck’ to make some very impressive progress today and we are ahead of schedule! We’re off to dinner at Sol Café to refuel for tomorrow. We’re all safe and sound!

April 14  After awakening to a glorious morning in Entebbe (including a glimpse of Lake Victoria) we began our 4-hour trek north to Iganga. On our way, we experienced some ‘intense’ Ugandan traffic, ate chicken on a stick (very delicious), and crossed the Source of the Nile in our journey. The ride culminated in a joyous welcome at Musana! The children danced and sang, showed us the grounds, and let us play volleyball, basketball and soccer with them – what great fun!! Everyone here is safe and sound.

April 13  Greetings from the Musana Muzungus – muzungu is a word (we don’t know if it’s Swahili or what) that is a cross between an epithet and a compliment – so we’re just gonna go with it because we are what we are – -muzungus.  We just hit the ground in Entebbe and made it to the Imperial Botanical Beach and Golf View Hotel.  This sounds to us like a cross between a new age skin care product and a Don Ho concert venue – - it’s actually pretty nice and we got us some internet connection magic going as well. 

We’ve been on the road since noon Mountain Time on Thursday -  Denver to Atlanta – - with a 45 minute connection time in Atlanta to go from Concourse B to Concourse E – - we all made it and that will be recognized as the initial miracle of this trip.  Then Atlanta to Amsterdam, time for a quick Starbucks or Mickey D’s stop and then back on the plane for an 8 hour flight to Kigali, Rwanda – - uh, Kigali?  Yeah, we weren’t sure of Kigali’s location, but thanks to the wonder of the iPhone, we figured it out pretty quick.  Turns out our flight to Entebbe is like the bus to the airport – - it seems like it’s an express bus until they stop a few minutes from your final destination to drop off a few folks.  Amsterdam, Kigali, Entebbe, Amsterdam, etc.

While at the gate in Kigali, one of the KLM flight attendants regaled us with magic tricks until he too realized that we are numb from travel and simply not impressed with sleight of hand tricks with playing cards.  Of course, Kent made instant friends with this guy so once he figured out we weren’t into playing card magic he started telling Kent the story of his life and showing family photos.  Kent’s crazy ability to make friends with just about everyone he meets is a rare gift, people – - we’re just saying.

The singularly most important news item is that we made it to Entebbe, and secondarily, we can say we visited Rwanda, even if most of us sat on the plane and the rest of the posse actually went up to the cockpit to meet the Captain (Kent – again leading the way).  Delta did find a way to lose one of our checked bags, the one with the cordless power tools.  They located it in Atlanta and if the self-proclaimed “best professionals in the airline industry” can get their act together, we might have it by tomorrow night in time to start working at Musana.  Otherwise, we may have to do some stuff the old fashioned way – by hand.

Tomorrow we’re heading up to Musana – -can’t wait!  Judy will rock the blog tomorrow – - Dave is out

We are Home!

We are back, safe sound and tired. We spent a quiet morning at the guest house and had lunch with the staff.   We went for coffee and sweets at a local café.  Who know nestled in Kabul less just a few blocks away is a delightful café, we will be back!

After sharing our goodbyes with the staff, we headed to the airport for a 6pm flight.  I will spare you the details of the flight to Dubai… the long luggage quest in Dubai… long lines in Washington DC…. missed flights but finally, everyone is back in Colorado.

The team is working through laundry, sorting photos and helping understand what the past 10 days has meant. We have wonderful stories of kids, cats, road adventures, music and fun – just ask any of us but be prepared for a long conversation.

 Day 8

Afghans love snow. I’ve never seen so many snowball fights. Our last full day was typical Colorado here in Kabul: a foot of snow and blue skies. Sunshine turned icy roads to slush by 10 o’clock when we left the guest house for a drive-by photo shoot of a big mosque. The drive was 27.3 times longer than the photo shoot, which made for minimal pictures, but great people watching.

The weather has kept most people indoors, so the sidewalks and streets were filled with vendors selling oranges, kids waving some kind of incense into car windows, and people dodging snow being shoveled off the roofs.

We ate lunch with staff at the guest house. They hosted us constantly over the last 8 days and it was great to sit down to a meal together. The women broke into conversation after 5 or 6 minutes of awkward silence, as the guys continued to sit quietly until the meal was done. When the talking finally started we were surprised by one of our hosts asking about 9/11. He told us when people here heard the news, “We were scared. We knew what would happen” (referring to US retaliation, I assume). While he was talking, one of the other staff members explained his thoughts on the current politics of Afghanistan and the relations with its neighboring countries. He said the Afghan army was getting better, and he hoped that Afghanistan was improving, not going backwards. 

I wasn’t expecting, and was almost uncomfortable when the men here started opening up about our countries’ mutual history. I like to pretend that I understand how to fix a country that’s been leveled by war (“We are starting at nothing” one staff member explained). Really though, it was sobering to hear Afghans talk about how they see their country, their past, and their future. “It takes a long time to rebuild a country,” one staff member told me.

Just before dinner that staff member came in to the dining room and laid out 7 cards and asked us to solve a riddle. He laughed as we struggled to get all the “couples” across the stream. If you know someone on this trip, ask them how it worked. I didn’t get it.

There are big contrasts here. That’s what I’ve heard from our team. People are living in conditions that make my worst days look utopian. But they have more fun in a snowball fight than I’ve had since I was six. There are people who could leave and find pretty decent jobs in plenty of other countries where they could flush toilet paper. But they’re staying so they can make their country what they know it can be. There are people begging in hand-me-down-hand-out clothes next to women in burkas, next to men in tailored suits.

There’s no big ending to this blog post for 2 reasons. 1) I tried and it wasn’t working. 2) I hope you’ve gotten to experience a little of our trip through our blogs, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I don’t have a big takeaway. We’ve seen a ton, we’ve done a little, and now we’re heading home after an all-American meal of pizza and French fries (irony). And now most of us are talking about when we can come back here.

See you all in a couple days, Stephen

Day 7

Question: What were 65 countries protesting when they boycotted the 1980 Olympics?

Over eight inches of snow greeted us this morning so we had to re-evaluate our plans for the day. Snowplows are non-existent in this country and business was booming for those to shovel snow off of the cities mud roofs. One staff member put it nicely “This is the worst winter in fifteen years and most snow in over twenty years.” With the trip to Barek Aub cancelled, again no snowplows, we quickly put together a day in the city.  As the drivers cautiously navigated the streets the first timers got to hear Kabul’s history from a man that has more insight than any tour guide.

Our first stop was Darul Aman palace. A building that symbolizes the history of Afghanistan, too much history to fit in a blog. We got to see the new parliament building in the distance and it is a sign of great things to come in this ever-growing country. We saw some cute “puppies” that caused some members to ignore the fact that vaccinations are not a common thing for these animals. With the history lesson done and photo sessions finished the snow balls began to fling in every direction. Some dived for the cars as others responded against the ever sneaky staff. This was truly a time where you saw the kid come out in all, Afghan and American alike. The guards at the palace even threw a few as the friendly battle was waged below. With snow-covered grins from ear to ear we gathered in our cars and went to the National Museum of Kabul. Seeing the artifacts that belong in the story that is Afghanistan was an experience unlike any other. Viewing relics that had been destroyed by previous regimes and objects fifteen years old considered artifacts gave great insight into the hardships of the past forty years and beyond.

After the museum we traveled to the house of a lady that has a keen eye for innovation. For the past forty years she and others have been showing the Afghan people, whether they were in IDP camps in Pakistan or in areas where power is not available, how to cook using nothing but a solar powered oven. She showed us the evolution of how early models using heat-absorbing steel turned into parabolic aluminum lined ovens that can cook pretty much anything. These ovens are 100% made in Afghanistan and show how a relief program can become a profitable business.

As the nights are counting down faster than anyone would like we had another session of sorting just to make our fearless leader happy one more time. With stacks of who knows what sorted and then sorted again we sat down for yet another delicious meal around the dining room table. While looking in the closets someone stumbled upon 1980’s Trivial Pursuit. As I am fearful of how to say this I will make this statement: the individuals with the most seasons under their belt were at a distinct advantage. Who knew that a card catalog was used to look up books in a library? I thought it was what you ordered Thank You cards from!!  Card after card the questions went by and as the last question was posed to the group, we were reminded of the great struggle that still faces this country due to its past.

 Answer: The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.                    ~Sam

Day 6

As some braved the cold to enjoy the sounds of the Mullah before the sun rose above the frozen sky, we all anxiously awaited our first trip out to Barek Aub. For many the trip out to the settlement was a focal point in the trip and the story told to many when explaining “ Why would you go somewhere like that?” or “ You know there is a war going on there right?” The road out of Kabul was one that had eyes glued to the window. Buildings were being built left and right as we traveled out of Kabul showing the progress that is being made. The children selling goods and men standing on the sides of streets show how much is yet to go.

Arriving in Barek Aub on a fully paved road was a welcome sight for those who have been before. We got to take a tour of the clinic and got to ask questions of a lady expecting her ninth child. As we continued on the ladies presented gifts to the CHW workers while the men walked and listened intently to our hosts. The women shared their love and stories with the CHW workers and left impressed with how the workers educate the citizens of the land. The men heard how the relief that was once provided is turning into development that is much needed. To get these once abandoned people to be self-sufficient and prosperous is no easy task. More than once we encountered people asking for a house to be built for them, a task anyone of us would’ve done without hesitation. Yet it is a hard but necessary point in time where relief can no longer be a means to an end if Afghanistan is able to reach the tremendous potential is possesses.

As we begrudgingly left the land where God’s hand is easily visible we headed to a dear friend’s house for tea and home made brownies. Once there we got to share our stories and thoughts so far on this trip. We quickly agreed that Afghanistan and Kabul itself is a place of contrast. The hope and promise you see in Barek Aub is contrasted by the people you see in trash piles looking for a meal. The love you see in people’s faces is darkened when stories of the former regime are shared. As snow began to fall from the sky thoughts of home and how similar yet different this place is raced through heavy hearts. Afghanistan is like no other place on earth and each of us is seeing God at work, raising tough questions for each of us. The day is done and the snow is still falling, what the plan is tomorrow only God knows.  Sam

Day 5

Okay everyone, today we’re going to paint by number!

10  -  The number of mullahs heard doing call to prayer this morning from 5:15- 5:45am (Afghanistan is an Islamic state).

5 million  -  The population of Kabul but the city was engineered for 450,000 which equals major traffic and bustling streets.

3  -  The number of stoplights in Kabul and they are ignored.

007  -  The agent name of our driver whose skills are like that of a Hollywood stuntman. He speeds while dodging sheep, humans, bikes, carts and oncoming trucks. It’s one giant game of chicken but they all seem to know what they’re doing.

32  -  An amazing thing we were able to be part of today, but we’ll have to tell you about it when we get back.

100  -  The number of years it will take the Afghans to rid their land of all the mines we planted in their country. This is a paraphrased statement a Russian General made before leaving Afghanistan around 1990.

80,000  -  The number of street kids living in Kabul working to support themselves, some as young as age five.

222  -  The number of street kids attending Kabul Street School at any one time getting an education and a hot meal. Some of the student population varies from semester to semester so that a variety of children can attend.

1  -  Boy seen with stick rummaging through a trash pile for food or something of value.

100  -  Pairs of shoes given to Community Health Workers by our team to say, “Job well done!” They are rebuilding their communities by teaching healthy living to their fellow Afghans.

2  -  The number of dogs that survive a dog fight between two dogs. No dogs are killed in dog fighting here, though it is legal.

3  -  The quantity of naan or bread eaten per day per Afghan. Other common foods are beans, rice, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, eggs, chicken, yogurt and lamb. (No pork!)

40  -  Today’s high temperature, farenheight. There is lots of snow on the ground and more predicted the next three days.

25  -  In dollars, the cost to cure a case of leishmaniasis. There is currently an outbreak in Barek Aub.

4  -  Days we have left in Afghanistan

Finally, how to count to ten in Dari, which our team learned this week while working with Kabul Street School: yek (1), doo(2), sey (3), cha-haar (4), panj (5), shash (6), haft (7), hasht (8), nuh (9), dah (10)   

Debbie

Day 4

Our travels took us to the town of Istalif, to visit a medical clinic.  A beautiful place nestled on the side of a mountain that gives you the feeling of Estes Park. The road we took to get there was quite an adventure. We have quickly learned that driving here is nothing more than a giant game of chicken. The mountain road was caked with snow, ice, thick mud and lined with vendors, new buildings and gorgeous views.

The clinic is truly remarkable. It is made up of a medical clinic, pharmacy, and dental office. We were given a tour of the clinic and the advances they have made. The rooms were simple, made up of an exam table and a desk. The women were allowed to visit the labor and delivery side of the clinic. The room was very different than what we are used to. The smell of bleach filled the room and two delivery tables make it possible for the women of Istalif to have their children in “advanced” conditions rather than on the floor.

We took time with both the community workers (both men and women) who volunteer their time in the clinic and educating the town. We honored them with gifts for their time and effort and thanked them for their hard work. We shared lunch with the clinic staff, a feast of delicious kabobs, naan and oranges. Stories were shared by amazing men who survived a difficult time in the 90’s.  God has undoubtedly had a hand in keeping them safe. Their dedication to their county and their people is something every one of us could learn from.  Delaney

Day 3

Today, Bernie kissed a man. More on that later.

Right now most of the team is chatting, laughing, and reminiscing on the day. We just got back from a concert put on by the Afghan Youth Orchestra. It was the strangest, most distracting concert I’ve ever been to, but it was actually amazingly good. And I’m not just saying that so you don’t think I’m a jerk. The music was vaguely hypnotic music played by a full orchestra plus some kids sitting in the front on traditional afghan instruments, so that the violins were balanced against a sitar and hand-drums.

The opening line of the concert, spoken by some official sort of person, was this: “I’m tired.” After a spattering of laughter he said, “I’m tired of seeing reports in the news that Afghanistan is a place that has lost hope. That is not the Afghanistan I know, and it’s not the Afghanistan I see here tonight.”

That could have been a theme for our day. “Tired,” yes, but also his comments on hope.

Today was our second day at the school. The first half of the sessions (there are 2 per day) we handed out paper and markers and expected the kids to bring back nice, neat handprints, colored within the lines, ready to be cut out and taken back to Flatirons. Turns out the kids like to color. Now we have 200, 8.5 x 11 full page masterpieces! You win some, and then you win some others also…by accident.

In the midst of this some of the women on the team made visits to parents of the school kids. They were shocked to see the difficult circumstances and poverty—from bare feet that kept kids home from school to rotten potatoes that made up part of the dinner—but they were more overwhelmed by the hope of the parents they met. The mothers in these homes are very thankful for the school and the organization that works with it, and they really believe their kids are going to have a better world than they had.

We also got to interview a few of the girls at the school, and ask them questions like, “What makes you happiest?” (Studying was number 1 by far). “What do you want to be when you grow up?” (Doctor, engineer, teacher, and government worker). Or “Since there’s two feet of snow outside, what’s your favorite game in the snow?” (snowball fights and “making humans”).

We’re seeing an Afghanistan full of hope.

And I suppose we’ve come back to the opening line. With a one page script, three actors, and a bag of hastily gathered props, we went into each classroom and acted out the story of the prodigal son. Sam made a brilliant younger son in the morning session, but by the afternoon, two Afghan men had taken his spot and mine, and left Bernie swimming in a sea of Dari, without an interpreter.

One of those men was Hadji. Hadji is a jokester and a ham, but his acting was impeccable! The kids loved the skit before, and they loved it even more with him in it. During the dress –rehearsal in the school hallway, right as the story reached its climax, Bernie (playing the father) went into a slow-mo “reunion run.” He and Hadji grabbed each other in a big hug, and Bernie picked Hadji up and swung him around in a circle.  Every person there lost it. When Bernie finally set Hadji down, Hadji pulled him down and gave him a big kiss right on his bald, beautiful head. And Bernie liked it.       Stephen

Day 2

Today we visited the NEW Kabul School for Street Working Kids. When I was here in 2010 the team spent time playing games and having lunch with the kids at the old school. They studied, played and ate on the floor.  Last year they moved into a new school, a bigger school and the students have desks. They study and eat lunch at beautiful new desks. To see the excitement in each kid’s eyes when they showed us their new school almost took our breath away.

Kids Ministry prepared us with flashcards for color, animal, and number games.  We spent time in each class room sharing English words while they attempted to teach us the Dari words. Believe me they were far more successful learning English than we were learning Dari.  We asked the students to show us what sounds each animal makes and just FYI, Bernie’s ‘monkey sounds’ brought down the house!!

We had the opportunity to serve the students lunch. It was a simple lunch of rice, vegetables, bread (naan) with an orange for desert.  We were struck with how polite the kids were. They each waited to be served. For many of the kids this is their only meal – and we observed some of them put the naan or orange in their pocket perhaps to take to their family to enjoy later.

After serving lunch we were able to enjoy lunch with the school staff. We shared with them how impressed we were with the behavior of the students. They are polite and very respectful both of the staff and each other. Kabul has had a great deal of snow and it is very cold here. The kids walk to school and in spite of the weather only 5 kids did not make it to school today. Delaney told us when it snows almost half of her class in Colorado doesn’t show up for school. The Afghan culture puts a very high value on education – largely due to the fact they were without schools for so long. 

We asked the students to guess some of our ages and I will NOT share their guesses. Suffice to say they thought we were all very young! We also asked them if they had messages for the kids in America. One of them said “Go to school, be quiet and listen to your teachers”.  Really they are very wise! Late in the afternoon – after the second session of school we returned to the guest house to prepare gift packages for some of the families and the community workers. 

It was an amazing Kabul day – snow, sunshine, bright kids and new friends! Oh and wonderful Afghan food!

In America we say ‘come back soon’ when someone leaves our homes. As we left the school one of the students shared a traditional Afghan saying for when someone leaves your home, translated it means ‘come back 100 times’.

We ask for your continued prayers for the team’s safety and health!!  More stories tomorrow.  Mary

Day 1

I lost track of days sometime between 20-something hours of flying and skipping over the whole Superbowl, but I think we’re on day 3 of the trip. Our flights were full of screaming babies and crop circle theorists.

We made it to Dubai, UAE late yesterday…ish. You may have heard that the mall is spacious. True. It’s Las Vegas stuffed inside the Pepsi Center, wrapped in a Groupon, with an ice rink thrown in the middle. Only bigger. Who knew we’d arrive in the Middle East and have to choose between KFC and an aquarium? Tough call. We briefly stared up at the Birj Dubai (world’s tallest building), and then headed back to the hotel for a few hours of sleep before our final flight into Afghanistan.

Two feet of snow made up the welcome mat in Kabul. It’s the most snow in 15 years. Our bags were hot commodities to the various men hoping to put them on their respective carts and wheel them through the uneven, potholed parking lot in what might be called “Ice Road Baggage.” Very dangerous. Lots of rollovers.

Driving to the guest house from the airport was an adventure punctuated by rapid-fire honking, driving clockwise through a traffic circle, and the strange contrast of gasoline being sold next door to Kabob stands where high-heeled women wearing burkas hiked along the hand-shoveled snow piles. When we got to the house there was a lot of yelling, smiling, and handshaking as we unloaded our bags and chose rooms before dinner. 

The night at the guesthouse was pretty uneventful. We had dinner with staff here at the guest house and ate some fantastic Afghan food, which we all glad to get. We sorted (exactly as exciting as it sounds). Then we made plans for the rest of our trip. Right now everybody’s upstairs getting 3-7 layers of blankets ready for the night. Mary, of course, put the guys in the cool room. By which I mean “the coldest.” 

Our team is safe, doing well, and excited for the next few days, when our trip really gets started…  Stephen

Sunday evening – Our team has arrived in Mexico City, we are getting settled and will be ready to start our construction work in the morning.  

Monday  – We spent the day taking vegetation off the retaining wall and are now ready to create the reinforcement rods.  Everyone is healthy and all is well. 

Wednesday – We went to the see the pyramids today and then into the heart of Mexico City. It was a great experience eating in the city and enjoying the Mexican culture.

Thursday – We dug holes today, worked on the rebar in the wall and started figuring out the mechanics involved. We had a good day!

Friday – We made good progress on strengthening the retaining wall this week. We are all tired but sad to be leaving.

Saturday – Spent the day in Chimaulacan, visiting the kids that the summer teams met.

Sunday – back in Colorado!

Day One
When we landed in Mexico City everything went like clockwork.  After we sailed through customs and security we found our checked bags had been gathered and were waiting to be retrieved.

The ride from the airport to Chimalhuacan was another story.  There really aren’t functional stop lights, just several speed bumps placed strategically every hundred or so feet. I think it is the cities hope that these bumps will slow traffic down. The combination of these two things makes driving here more like a free for all. Whoever gets to the light first and doesn´t back down has the right of way. 

After an exciting van ride we were reunited with team one. We were greeted by high fives, hugs, and the traditional Mexican greeting, a kiss on the cheek. Community neighbors fed us a delicious meal of fried chicken, lettuce, and tasty rice. We bought pastries on the way to church for dessert. 

Even though the service was longer than we were used to and our group had gotten up at 2:30am to catch our flight, we were touched by the experience. There was alot of music, individual and group prayer, dancing, and of course all done in Spanish. This community is rich with the love of Christ and it flowed through every part of the service. 

We ended the day with another exciting driving experience back to our guesthouse. We were barely out of town after the service when our van was pulled over. However it was hard to know if we were truly being stopped because the police cars have their siren lights on all the time. Anyway, since there were so many of us the police were just getting our attention and the other van lost sight of us.  When we got back on the road we found there had been a flash flood and the road was swamped, I thought for sure the small car behind us was going to float away. An adventure in driving to start off our trip!  Anne

Day Two
Team one got up at 5am to fly home and Team 2 slept in until around 8am. Our plan was to head to the pyramids and spend the day being tourists. We managed to all stay in the same guesthouse; the original plan was to have our group split up between two separate locations.  We slept great as well except hearing a dog barking around 3am. 

Said (our driver) arrived with a van around 10am to take us to the pyramids. We dropped off our laundry at a local laundromat and began an hour long journey to the pyramids. About 15 minutes in, the van began to smoke and we were forced to pull over. It appeared the radiator had over heated. We waited about a half an hour for it to cool down and used a majority of our water bottles to replace the antifreeze in hopes that we would be able to drive back to our guesthouse and make other plans. When we tried starting the van again it wouldn´t shift into gear and we realized the actual problem was the transmission. 

We flagged down a delivery van and Said caught a ride into the neighboring town to find a taxi.  He was unable to find one but paid the delivery driver to take us back into town. It worked out well because the van was nicer than a taxi and had enough room for our whole group.

We couldn´t go back to the pyramids so we decided to eat lunch at a local restaurant that members from Team One had toured the day before. It is called ¨Los Dos Patios¨ and it was amazing!  In Mexico, lunch is at two in the afternoon and it was about noon so we were the only people in the restaurant. Menus are unheard of in most Mexican restaurants. You order the ¨Menu of the day¨ which for us was a soup, bread, and an entree with chorizo and meat.  It was all extremely tasty! There was also a group from the Mexican government filming a documentary about the restaurant. They had us on camera answering questions about our thoughts on the restaurant and the surrounding town, so look for us on the big screen soon.

After lunch we walked home and had a little free time. We met with Shabrae, the program director about our schedule for the coming week. We rehearsed lesson plans, discussed what had worked for Team 1 and the non-spanish speakers memorized key words and phrases. 

Dinner was at another local restaurant. At first everyone tried to order the chicken quesadillas but they didn´t have enough chicken so we tried a little bit of everything. It is interesting to note that it is difficult to be a vegetarian here. At each meal we have had a five minute conversation explaining how two members of our group can’t eat meat. Each time we are met with confusion, but everyone has been accommodating and it always worked out.

After dinner we went home and went to bed early, so that we could be well rested for the following day.  Everyone is excited to meet the kids tomorrow!  John

Day Three 

Our day began with Philippe (Comunidad Mosaico staff from Zimbabwe) asking us if we thought we could change the world and what it would take for God to do that? We concluded that devotional time by talking about whether or not anyone in our community would notice if our church left. Challenging our thoughts for serving God in Chimalhuacan, Mexico or Lafayette, Colorado.

This is our first day serving with our Comunidad Mosaico friends and leading the camp for kids in the neighborhoods. We tried to learn all that we could from team one during our brief overlap. Their best piece of advice proved to be that no matter how much you plan, things will not go as planned. We arrived at the home where our team was to host the camp and there was some confusion about the logistics and it appeared we may not be able to start the camp on Monday. So we decided to walk through the community and promote the camp. As a result, we started camp about an hour and a half late, but with 15 or 20 kids. The short version is that we had a wonderful time in both locations with all of the kids and some of the parents. A pleasant surprise for our group was that our host invited us into her home for a lunch that she had unexpectedly prepared. After that we walked back for the lunch with our team that was planned for the whole team. I knew I was going to like it here! In the afternoon we went to the two locations that team one had hosted camps last week for a brief time to refresh them and continue building relationships. The weather pattern is shaping up to be warm days with rain in the late afternoon and evening. The streets flood easily here which made for a fun ride back to the guest house in our taxi – van – the Comunidad Mosiaco van is still down for the count. All 12 of us in the back facing one another in four sets of seats that form a square, great team bonding time for an hour each way.

We count it a privilege to be here serving with our new friends from Comunidad Mosiaco in and among the colonias of Chimalhuacan. Please thank God with us and pray that He would transform this community and help people see Him, hear about Him and trust in Jesus and that God would use us to help in the process.  Thank you.   Andy

Day Four
The first tears welled up hearing Spanish worship songs sung by God´s dear people in Chimalhuacan. The church space is dark, dank with a poo smell and a dingy dog being shooed out. It was loud with various noises outside, yet at the same time warm with the presence of Christ. Light and darkness as it is written. I saw God there. More tears came later in the service as Andy and I held hands together praying with a Mexican family. We poured our hearts out in Spanish and English offering our prayers together, one in Christ.  

The next day tears came during a devotional with Philippe, one of the Comunidad Mosaico staff. He shared significant stories about the church in Rwanda and Guatamela and why he moved from the comforts of his home in Zimbabwe to the slums in Mexico City. We were all touched with God´s desire for all people to live whole, full, abundant and meaningful lives.

These tears were also mixed with thankfulness that John and Joy could be here and participate in the devotions, ministry and rub shoulders with our team and the people here. As a parent I couldn´t be more proud of John and Joy and be more grateful. That is all my teary stories for now.  Janet

Day five
Hola familia y amigos!

Tonight as we talk about our day we realize that we don´t truly appreciate what we have. We don´t think twice about turning up the thermostat, closing the garage door, or even just flushing the toilet. As we talked to the kids about gratitude, it was mindblowing to hear them say that they were grateful for the clothes on their back and their family. The kids here live in the smallest of homes that are made of used materials and sometimes they don´t even have a roof, which is particularly difficult during the rainy season. It´s hard to believe that some of our children complain about the latest video game or wanting a better smartphone, when these kids always come with a smile even if they have not had a bite to eat. We are so grateful that God brought this gift to our lives and we thank everyone who helped get us here.

We have all become so close… not sure if it´s the unforgettable experiences or the bumping into each other during our daily commutes. We feel as though we have found a new family. We are now at the halfway point of our trip and we look forward to everything to come, even if it is at 5:00am, or in a trash filled dirt road. The smile on those kids faces make all of the sacrifices worth it.  Vania

Day Six

Hola familia y amigos!

We are closing in on the end of our trip. Four of us have been here nearly two weeks and the others almost one week. Either way our bodies seem to be moving a little more slowly in the early morning. Our 45 minute bus ride into Chimalhuacan in the dark is quieter and more comfortable with bodies leaning on each other. Having said all this, our hearts have never been fuller. As we near our sites in the morning, our students´ huge smiles and sparkling eyes greet us with hugs and squeals. Their anticipation of learning and creating is contagious. This experience will never be forgotten by any of us. As we found out, it will also not be forgotten by the local community of women and youth that make sure our bodies are well nourished daily. Apparently the missionary experiences that touched their lives have empowered them to push their youth to further their education and seek a better life. As we begin to wrap up this marvelous experience, we reflect on the spiritual nourishment as well given to us by JeanLuc daily. He has opened up this incredible thirst for all of us to continue to study God´s word. We are reminded how God´s love is huge, vibrant, and all encompassing in everything and everyone we came in contact with.

We have learned a few things.

• to Hurry… Hurry… Wait.
• Watch your step as you may slip in mud, poop, or trip on a rock.
• There are 74 topes (speedbumps) between Chimalhuacan and Papalotla.
• There are many new smells (some good, some not so good).
• When the electricity goes out, the toilets don´t flush.
• Eating six meals a day is a norm (for us),
• Barking dogs, crowing roosters, fireworks, snoring roommates make for a short night´s sleep.
• Just because the food tastes amazingly delicious doesn´t mean it will agree with you.
• People in Chimalhuacan are extremely friendly and are eager to greet us in English.
• The youth are inspiring in their faith and their tenacity to learn.

There are perks to being the oldest person on the mission. First week I was affectionately referred to as ¨Mama Mary¨ and the second week I was ´´Tia Mary´´. This Flatirons mission team (week one and two) are incredible.  Mary

Day Seven

We arrived at the last day of camp (week 2 of camp for me) spiritually filled, but physically exhausted.  Some us have been ill, or queasy, but most of us are just plain tired from the long days of working in the sun and travelling back and forth each morning and evening.  We had a quick breakfast, had our last thought provoking devotional with Jean-Luc and headed out to camp. 

We spent our morning walk, as usual, prepping for the day and taking in the plentiful sights, sounds, and smells of Chimalhuacan.  When we got within a block of our campsite we could see the families arriving in eager anticipation for the last day of camp.  It’s difficult to keep from smiling and filling with joy when forty some kids approach you with giant smiles and greet you with “Hola, Maestra” and a kiss on the cheek.  The kids still come up to me and rattle off a sentence or two before I can get out my usual phrase, “No habla Espanol.”  They smile at me and then continue on. I just smile back.  I’m picking up some words and phrases in context, but I can rarely respond to them without getting a very confused look.  I have, however, become a master at charades!  Learning Spanish is definitely on my to-do list! Today flew by as we squeezed in time for a clown to come and entertain the kids. He tied balloons and told jokes that even the (Spanish speaking) adults found funny.  We gathered quite the crowd of passers-by being located right on the street, and all enjoyed the show.  Snack was a favorite, PIZZA! Only the kids like their pizza with Ketchup. Interesting. We hung the piñatas that the children had made and that is when the fun really started!  It was sad to see them go, but I hope to see them back at the performance on Saturday evening when they will sing the song that Beauty and Chuck wrote. 

Our afternoon was spent back at the review camp with our kids from Sosa.  We played kick ball, and had a relay race before the sky suddenly opened up in a massive downpour.  Luckily we had a classroom for shelter and we hung out in there and played games while we waited for it to pass.  The school yard and the streets were again flooded. I think the rain is a refreshing relief – it calms the dust in the air and cools it off. However, it can be devastating for many people without adequate roofing and walls in their homes.  We often see families emptying bucket after bucket of water from their homes after the rainfall. Their floors are muddied and their beds are soaked. I have noticed that after a good rain there are more people out walking, the air feels cleaner and cooler and they must enjoy some relief from the hot, dusty air that is usually blowing around. 

We had our last meal with our wonderful hostesses and headed home. As I sit journaling in bed, the annoying dog next door has started his nightly whining and barking session. I think the dog, roosters and snoring roomies has really attributed to some of my exhaustion. I know that it’s going to be another long sleepless night ahead. I can say that I am really going to miss the kindness, love and acceptance I’ve felt in this community. I’ll even miss my snoring roomies, but I probably won’t miss the dog or the roosters next door!  Tara

Day Eight

You learned early last week that the van that was being used by our teams in Mexico broke down. Jean Luc and Shabrae arranged for another van and driver to transport us around. The van was less comfortable than the other as we were pressed against each other when we stopped fast, hit pot holes and swerved through traffic – all of which happened every few minutes of our 60-minute drives. The van had a different configuration that allowed us to all look at each other as we drove so we found that we talked more as a large group during our drives. We shared…

• Favorite movie scenes and comedian monologues
• Where we lived and what we did in the past
• What we do in our free time
• What we would do if… (a game we played)
• What we were learning from our experience in Mexico

Sometimes we laugh until we cried. Other times we got into deep spiritual conversations. A few times we prayed over the loud noise of traffic.

Overall, the experience each morning and evening in the van reflected how 12 people who really didn’t know each other hardly at all before the trip grew to care for each other a lot during the week.

 What did our last day in Mexico entail?

• Sleeping in later than 5:15!
• A trip to Teotihuacán and a climb up the Pirámide del Sol
• A couple of hours of shopping – treasure hunting and bargaining
• An almost-American meal at VIPS (a Denny’s type chain found all over Mexico)
• Participating in the  Clausura del Curso de Verano (Closing program of the Summer Camp)

While I admit we were all tired by this point in the week (or two weeks for some of the group) and could easily have opted for an evening relaxing at our house, we went to the Clausura because it would be the last time to see our children and other friends for the last time before leaving.

We gathered under a large tent set up at the end of one of the streets and wondered if the children and families would show up. Little by little they filled the seats under the tent until we occupied almost every chair. Oscar, one of leaders of Comunidad Mosaico, introduced the program and commented on the good weather. Immediately, rain began to pour on us. (During the week we had almost daily rain storms in the late afternoons and evenings – some which brought immense amounts of water that flooded the streets, high winds, and even hail.) The rain didn’t stop us – we huddled closer under the tent and continued the program:

• Our children sang a song they learned that was composed by FCC’s own Chuck H and members of Comunidad Mosaico
• We watched videos of the week’s youth and children’s activities
• The youth group performed a dance they had rehearsed for weeks (with the assistance of FCC’s own Vania Moreno)
• Several youth shared testimonies regarding why “La Comunidad” (Community) is important to them
• Leaders of Comunidad Mosaico shared what the organization is doing to help the people of Chimalhuacán
• A large truck carrying water arrived and filled a portable swimming pool
• Three young people were baptized – an exciting moment for all and a great witness to the many parents and friends in attendance who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus

Finally, we said goodbyes to the ladies who had cooked for us every day, to the young people we had gotten to know, to JeanLuc and Shabrae and the other leaders of Comunidad Mosaico, and especially to the children we had grown to love. Hugs, kisses on the cheek, hand shares, tears – they were all part of the moment. We ended Flatirons’ participation in Comunidad’s Mosaico’s Curso de verano 2011 and returned to our house to get ready for our trip back to CO.   

We sincerely thank the leadership of FCC for deciding to partner with Comunidad Mosaico in Chimalhuacán and for the friends and family who supported us with prayers and money. We ask you to continue to pray for the leaders of Comunidad Mosaico as they daily face the challenges of helping the people of Chimalhuacán.  Rich

The First Day: Hola del estado de Mexico!

Considering that organizing 13 people is a little like herding cats, we did really well. We checked in and got through security without issues and made it to our gate just in time to board. The flight went by quickly and the next thing I knew we were landing in Mexico City.

A funny thing happened as we were waiting to exchange money in the airport. A very sweet lady came right up to me speaking very quickly and pointing at my face. I was completely lost and had to ask Krista to translate for me. As it turns out, she was talking about my freckles. She said if you have a lot of freckles (and I do) it means you are from a good family. She was showing off her freckles! It was such a fun, random thing to have happen.

After loading all of us into the van we headed to the community. The drive was quite intense and I must admit a little scary at times. The reality of the urban slum was overwhelming,  I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We pulled up to the church just as worship was starting. Even though I couldn’t understand anything it was so awesome to share worship together. I was really moved when the youth went up to the front to sing and dance, praising Jesus!

After worship we broke into small groups and discussed Acts 2:14-36. We closed the service with all of us standing in a circle holding hands praising our God, it was awesome! We joined the congregation for dinner before heading to the guest house. A whirlwind day, but really great to be here and I can’t wait to get started!

Much love and miss you all, Carla

Day Two 

Hola familia y amigos! We hope all is well in the states!

Sunday, a day of rest. We woke up to a cloudy morning and decided to stroll in search of coffee, but found just about everything before a strange cup of café. Shortly after we took a long drive to the pyramids. Here we found jewelry, knick knacks, and sombreros. Next, our bus, dubbed La Chateau, took us to a small restaurant where we ordered off of notebook paper menus.

Other stops today included Walmart, in the mall of course, a small ice cream parlor, and then a rush home for dinner with the Kriegs. However, we were not yet hungry, so instead we waited to go out for tacos at 9pm during a power outage. This turned into the best meal for the trip so far, complete with candles on the table and fireworks in the background.

Wow, what a busy day of rest! Love from your team. Elena

Day 3

Today was the most exciting day yet• our first day with los niños (the kids)!

The day started early… we left the guest house at 615am (515am Colorado time aka way too early!). After about a 45 minute drive, we arrived at the Comunidad Mosaico offices (also Jean Luc´s house) and ate breakfast together. Breakfast consists of things like cereal (frosted flakes or zucaritas), bread with PB&J, apple yogurt, and café con leche (coffee to get us all awake).

After breakfast, we continued with the second part of the Comunidad Mosaico presentation that we had started the night before with Jean Luc and learned all about the vision and strategies of the organization. Calling Jean Luc and his crew visionaries for Christ is an UNDERSTATEMENT! It was amazing to see how ProNiñez and our kids camp fits into their overall vision for transforming Chimalhuacan.

Then it was off to the camp sites. Team 1 (Eugene, Jon, Mary, Tara, Heather, and Robin) started their camp at a local elementary school and had a great turnout! We all got to help with registration of their kids to the sweet sounds of “I like to move it, move it.”

Team 2 departed shortly after 9am for the second site (Chuck, Elena, Lauren, Carla, Emma, Jenn, and Krista). Ours was a little more of a pioneer effort as this is the first summer camp in the neighborhood. We set up tents in the street to protect us from the morning rain and had some immediate fun with the kids by handing out globos (balloons) and sliding around in the mud. We had a great turnout as well with around 30 kids showing up to hang out with us.

Once everyone was registered, our welcome party started out with a “bang” when about 5 street dogs decided to get in a fight under the tent in the middle of the kids and us. There were no warning nips, but rather an all out brawl. The adults tried to move the kids out of the way, but I (Krista) wasn´t about to let the kids watch a dog get killed. So, I grabbed a metal chair and charged the two dogs that were the most vicious. I was trying to pry them apart when I realized that everyone was screaming at me to get away from them. Apparently, you can get rabies from street dogs! Anyway, we broke up the fight and the dogs ran away seemingly unharmed. Thank God!

The rest of the camp was less dramatic but much more impactful. We steamrolled right over the language barrier and taught the kids about the value of respect. They learned some English, played games, made art projects, and ate snacks. By the end of our time with them, they were all giving us great examples of how to show respect and receiving stickers for their awesome answers!

We cleaned up and said our goodbyes until tomorrow. Then, we picked up Team 1 and went to lunch. It was awesome food in the home of one of the church members and included many of the community members. It was a great time of fellowship and reenergizing.

With full bellies, we headed to the community center to prepare everything for tomorrow´s camp and play with some of the kids from last week´s camp. Eugene taught them some fun games and Chuck taught them to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” It was awesome to see the joy and eagerness of the kids to learn from people they don´t even know.

Toward the end of the afternoon, the youth group came over to the center for their dance classes… hip hop dance classes. We watched for awhile and eventually joined in. We learned some sweet new moves and shared a ton of laughs… God´s universal gift of Joy!

Dinner was sopes (think of soft shelled tostadas) at the same house. We were all super exhausted but definitely enjoyed the meal! After all of that, we all crammed back into the van, made a quick stop at Walmart, and headed back to the guest house.

It was a very full day but we are all super excited for what God has in store tomorrow. He is so big and His love reaches deep into the hearts of everyone here. We see it in their smiles, hear it in their singing, and feel it in our hearts as well.

Hasta mañana! Krista

Day Four

Each day all 13 of us pile into a van and drive 45 minutes to Chimalhuacan to work with the children at camp. Today, the ride into town was quite the harrowing adventure. Our driver today was both heavy on the gas and the brake at the same time. There are at least 50 speed bumps on the drive and he made sure we knew each one of them. But we made it to breakfast and devotion time safely. 

At devotions, Jean Luc gave us an intriguing look into Genesis and elicited our images of who and what God is. I really enjoyed our discussion of why God made us as well. After devotions, we headed off to the 2 camp sites. I had to return to pick up some things we forgot at the main office and the driver of the van this time decided to do some 4 wheeling and drive through a 3 foot mud pit. Let´s just say the van didn´t make it so we were stuck. I found it really cool that 15 guys from a nearby construction site were there immediately to help push us out. After 5 minutes of pushing and heaving and guys covered in mud, we made it out of our predicament. 

The theme for the day at the children´s camp was LOVE. At our site, we always begin the day by dancing for the children. After that, our amazing bilingual Mary always does an amazing job of relating with the children to make them feel loved and respected in the opening lesson. She talked to them about how much God loves each one of them and how it is important for them to love others. 

Robin and Tara are the English teachers at our site and they always share great stories about how excited the kids are to learn new words in English. The children learned how to say yellow and green and some even take it upon themselves to bring notebooks from home to help them remember new words. 

Eugene, Heather and I are in charge of games and activities. It is fun to watch the kids learn and enjoy the new games. Their favorite game today was “Circle of Love.” These kids also enjoy teaching us games that they play. It´s nice to know that Duck Duck Goose is universal. The children drew pictures in arts and crafts today. They had to draw someone or something they love and share with the others. Before leaving camp today, each child received hand prints from our kids at Flatirons. The children were so excited to receive these and some even wanted extras to take to their friends in the neighborhood. 

The highlight of the afternoon camp was Chuck displaying his musical talents for the kids by playing a song for them on the violin. The children loved listening and singing along. For the second day in a row, we watched the teens learn their dance moves. The dance instructor even asked us to participate so Lauren and Carla taught them some of their best moves. Who knew we had a couple of J-Lo´s in our group.

It was a fun-filled inspiring day for all of us. It was also the first day of all sunshine which was nice to be able to see the mountains and all of God´s glory.  Jon

Day 5

Today was the third day of camp and the fifth day in Mexico… Basically the half way point of our trip. I have to say that it´s been a pretty great trip so far. As I sit here listening to Mary, Robin, Carla, and Elena playing “Would you rather?” at the dining room table debating whether they would rather bite into chocolate filled with maggots or puss, I find myself a bit distracted from my task of writing about our day, but I will do my best…

Our day started just the same as every other. About an hour or so before we needed to wake up, the roosters begin to obnoxiously cock-a-doodle-doo. Apparently, the roosters in Mexico don´t understand that they are supposed to do that when the sun rises, not when it´s still pitch black. Anyways, we all woke up, piled into the van, and headed to Jean Luc´s house for breakfast and our daily devotional.  I am amazed by Jean Luc´s ability to teach. We are looking at the book of Genesis and the creation story that we have all heard a thousand times but Jean Luc helps me to see this story and my God in a whole new way! It´s a great way to start the day!

We then walked to our two campsites ready to spend time with the kiddos. I am a part of Group 2 which is the group that meets in the street. We are a little more hard core… For example, today we had 2 new amigos join our group of kids. The problem was that these “amigos” were snakes! Where they came from, I do not know. All I know is that we were greeted by two boys dangling snakes in our faces. I actually thought it was pretty cool and am proud to announce that I held my first snake today. Sure, it was only about 5 inches long and barely moving because it had been abused by 10 year old boys all day, but it was still a snake and I still held it!

As the day continued, we talked to kids about gratitude. We talked about how to show gratitude, asked them what they were thankful for, and told them the story of Jesus healing the lepers. It´s hard to describe what it´s like to sit back and watch these kids learn about Jesus and all they are thankful for. They have so much joy even though they have so little.

During snack, we had time to sit down and talk with the kids. Even though my Spanish is less than adequate, I have been able to talk with the kids and our entire group has been able to build relationships with the kids already. I think we really built on that today. The kids, especially the older ones, love to talk to us about our lives in the US, and even asked us why we couldn´t stay for 2 or 3 weeks.

The two most exciting parts of the day, besides the snakes of course, also happened at camp. One was Elena wiping out in an intense game of Pato, Pato, Ganso (or Duck Duck Goose) with a group of 4 and 5 year olds. The good news is she survived with nothing more than a bruised and swollen hand. The bad news is she lost to a 5 year old. The second exciting part was me almost gaining a lovely, drunken man as my new boyfriend. While standing in the street, I was approached by an interesting man who attempted to have a conversation with me. Unfortunately, between my lack of Spanish knowledge and his slurring, I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. I told him that I didn´t understand, but he continued to talk. So, I called over Krista who called over Chuck and I am relieved to say that I am currently still single.

After finishing up our day at the camp, we walked back to the community center and ate another delicious lunch. Later some of us helped paint the upstairs of the Community Center while others worked with another group of kids, reviewing material from last week´s camp and teaching music. I was in the painting group but heard the kids, led by Chuck, write their own song that they will be performing in a couple of weeks. Their singing definitely sounded great from upstairs.

After dinner, we piled back into the van completely exhausted and headed home. Tonight was the first time that we didn´t stop at Walmart. I sent up an enthusiastic hallelujah as I saw the Walmart sign pass by. I don´t think I was the only one either. It was also the first night that we made it home before dark, so we actually had time to hang out! In fact, as I have been writing, the group playing “Would you rather?” grew from 4 to 10. It was nice to have some time to be together in a relaxed environment. Hopefully, we will have enough rest to get through whatever tomorrow brings. If there is one thing I have learned about Mexico, it´s that you never know what tomorrow will hold!     Emma

Day 6

“God is calling us to be His agents of change- to be used by Him to transform the world.” No pressure, right?! Today´s devo, given by Philip, pointed us to this key fact- that if we put our hearts in line with what God´s desires are, and go in that direction, we can overcome the obstacles we face. What a beautifully hard task!

After this devo, we left for the kids´ camps with renewed spirits. I don´t know if it was because of the devo or not, but despite some hiccups and extreme heat and sun, today was my favorite day with the kids. I am loving being around them, and they are teaching me a lot about their families and community and about myself.

Things happen that are out of our control and we struggle with wanting to make things perfect and just right. But these kids go with the flow and just “deal.” Flexibility is a way of life, because they never know what´s coming their way every day. I have so much to learn from them. Sometimes I feel like I am in control and I know what will happen, but these amazing kids are teaching me that that´s not necessarily the case and that´s totally ok.

As our day with the kids drew to a close, I noticed that they are becoming more clingy and curious about us and craving hugs and our attention. Knowing that it´s Thursday and we only have one more day with the kids makes my heart break. I am missing them already.

After camp, we had lunch and WOW was it spicy!!! Our hostesses have been so gracious and wonderful. When we first arrived, they showed us their hand washing set up in their courtyard. It´s such a great physical representation of teamwork and caring for each other well. One person fills the bowl with water, while the next person soaps up their hands. We then take turns pouring the water over each other´s hands until everyone is clean and ready to eat.

Each day for lunch we are also joined by some awesome college kids from California and Boston. It´s really cool to hear about their trip and journey and to share with them about ours.

After lunch, we were supposed to split up into a Kids Club team and a door to door promotion team, but it was raining too hard for people to be out in the street. Instead, the door to door team went to Jean Luc´s house to unpack some of the bags that were filled with donations from Colorado.

After the Kids Club left, our team gathered at the Community Center for some rest and hang out time before dinner. It´s so funny to be sitting in this room (really just cement walls, a lot like Flatirons building before any paint, carpet, or furniture) and feel like we are part of the family. The feeling is so different than our first night here, when we came to church. That day I felt like an outsider in a cold dark place and I felt bad for them, that they couldn´t have what we have. But now I feel so different- I am the one who is disadvantaged with my thinking and feeling that way. In this place, I feel love, joy, and hope. Here I feel Christ. It´s a well-needed reminder that God´s church lives in His people and the lives they live, not the building they sleep or meet in. I feel like I am home.

Before dinner, we had a final chance to watch the ACJU (Ah-Say-Who) dance kids perform. They are SO talented and you can tell that they are loving what they are doing and have a lot of passion for their ministry.

Dinner time across the street was a hominy chicken soup, tostada chips, and cheese. Many people on the team have never had hominy before and it was so delicious!

We bid our gracious hosts a goodbye and made our way back home (with a quick trip to Walmart of course). I can´t believe tomorrow is Friday already!     Robin

Day 7

Viernes!

So, “el 4 de febrero” has a much different meaning now. For me and for six of my friends, we now find ourselves reevaluating our standards of what’s “ok”.  The drive in to the slum from the guest house is always bumpy (74 speed bumps “tapes” counted by Jon) and today was no exception. 

We meet kids from all walks of life during our service in the Summit Ministry at FCC so the boundaries we hold our kiddos to are pretty lax and fun for the type of experience that we offer there. I’ll use a couple of references to Krista’s room for examples here…    

I mean, you gotta have shoes on to play on the climbing wall. Safety first, and I agree wholeheartedly. When the soccer game you’re playing is amongst cacti and broken glass, and your goal is to keep the 7 year olds from plowing through a toddler playing with part of a dolly, I thought of one thing – flexibility.

When the countdown starts, it is time to put away the toys and gather around to hear another wonderful lesson taught by Krista. This morning, like Monday, Krista’s lesson was interrupted by a vicious street dog fight. I yelled for the kids (and Krista – AGAIN) to get back. I threw a chair at a dog’s head. I love animals and having to truly separate from that was a very tough way to start our last day as the maestros of the ProNiñez camp here in Chimalhuacan.  

Krista taught the kids well as Lauren, Emma, Carla, Jenn, Elena, and I did our parts in keeping the attention of the kids on the lesson. Today was honestidad, or honesty. Each day at this colonia, el 4 de febrero, is a different experience. Some days there is rain, and some days have been intensely warm. We really enjoyed the company of our hostesses at the camp, and they took great care of the kids and of us! 

As we gathered for our last get together as an English class, the new faces in the group listened intently as we reviewed the week’s vocabulary. We doled out the love and the stickers for answering a question correctly (or close…or for smiling big enough!), and got to see some real improvement and excitement in the kids as we learned how the primary colors combine and make new colors. I have passable Spanish, but stumbled through the lessons each day thanking the kids and promoters for their help in my education! Jenn and Carla also helped me manage the class from a fun standpoint! 

As we cleaned up each day we got to say hi to some of the kiddos, and even though I struggled to understand everything they said, I could very easily pick up how glad they were that we were here. One little girl came up to me today as we broke down the tent for the last time and said, “Why are you all here?” in her native tongue. I responded in kind, “Because we believe that the Bible is true, and that part of living like that is helping others, no matter where they live.” She smiled big and asked when we were coming back….that was hard, even though the team arriving tomorrow will spend some more time with these kids. They really need it. 

The afternoon session at the community center began with one of the C.M. team, Beauty, and our music class prep. She has been desperately searching for a song for the kids to perform for the parents at the end of the summer program. There are great kids’ songs about Jesus, and teaching them singing earlier  in the week by playing Jesus Loves Me was awesome. Beauty was looking for something more pertinent to the values that we and the other teams had been teaching on, though. We were running out of time to prepare, and what came out of it was “Gracias a Todos”! Beauty and I wrote and recorded a fun little song for the kids to perform next weekend. It was really great to hear the kiddos sing it after only a couple of runs through it. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!!!

After finishing up with the kids, the group elected to skip dinner in Chimalhuacan and have a night out on the town. Said, our preferred driver, took us all to a taco stand/restaurant in Papalotla. The place was barely big enough to squeeze our group in, but they managed to move a few things around and make it work. We just ended up passing out the sodas whenever anyone needed one out of the cooler! We ordered the specialty, Tacos Alambre, which I understood to come with 10 tacos…little did I know that the waiter actually meant that each order served 10 people. The group was shocked to see 6 plates of taco filling show up for us. We barely finished two of them. But, it all worked out the way it was supposed to… Said got to take a couple plates home to his family and we took home the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. 

What a week it’s been. I have learned so much from being here, and am so thankful to have gotten to share it with some of the greatest folks I have ever met. Thanks to you all… Chuck

Day 8

Saturday (week 1’s final day and the arrival of week 2’s team) was meant to be a day of rest for those of us who had completed a full week of camp. In some ways it was and in other ways the excitement and surprises just kept on coming!!

We all got to sleep in this morning… but with the roosters and the dogs, sleeping in meant waking up around 7:30am. We got ready for the day with breakfast at the guest house.  Jon and Chuck picked out some amazing fresh breads and pastries from a panaderia the day before and we washed it all down with some yummy instant coffee.

After breakfast, the team headed out for a walk around Papalotla. We got to enjoy the scenery, the beautiful church and courtyard located in the center of the small town, the Saturday morning market, and even adopted a little happy-go-lucky puppy who bounded around us everywhere we went.

We went back to the guest house for our final team lunch. Lauren made us some Tortilla Espanola and we warmed up some tacos from the night before. Mary made the meal complete with her addition of fresh chips and salsa from the market. As we ate, we discussed each day of the camp and made notes that will hopefully help the second week’s crew to have even more success.

At 2:30pm, we left the guest house for our final car trip into Chimalhuacan… for church and our rendezvous with the arriving team. When we got to Jean Luc’s house, week 2 was already there and able to take a brief break from their orientation to greet us. The 15 minutes or so that we spent together were full of excited hellos and plenty of questions.

While the group waited for further instructions from Shabrae for our final project, Chuck and I stole away for a few minutes to get him a haircut at the place down the street. While I had my reservations when the girl whipped out a razor blade, she did an awesome job and only charge 20 pesos (or about $2). Even with his 100% tip, Chuck got out of there with a great cut for a quarter of what he would have spent in Colorado.

We caught up with the week 1 group as they walked past the salon. Week 2 was finishing up with the orientation material, so we went to promote their camps. We dropped Chuck off at the Community Center for worship practice (yes, he played his violin for everyone) and headed to the neighborhood where one of next week’s camps will be. Much of our walk was spent dodging people setting up carnival rides in the street. Apparently, the Catholic Church sets up the fair for the community every so often and it’s a really big deal. While it looked exciting, the rides seemed a bit TOO thrilling for me to want to jump on and try them out…

The neighborhood we went to promote in was about 15 minutes walking distance from the center and was about 2.5 years old, so it had a much different feel and appearance than the neighborhoods our camps had been in. We split up into teams of 3 and went door to door inviting families to the upcoming camps. Once they understood why we wanted to chat, most of the neighbors seemed excited and said they would bring their kids. While we were out, we saw yet another dog fight. Fortunately this time there weren’t any kids around to protect, so we were much less concerned with the safety of people. Unfortunately, we got to take in how tragic the situation with the dogs is and how little safety there is for them.

At 5:00pm, we went back to Jean Luc’s house for an early dinner with the team. It was a great time to sit down together again and get to catch up over a dinner of rice, fried chicken, and lettuce with cucumbers. After we finished eating, we headed to church. It was a beautiful service filled with many tears! Chuck, Albert (a visiting InterVarsity student), Beauty, and Tim led us in some heartfelt worship. We introduced the Week 2 team to the community members and said our own goodbyes. They prayed for us, we prayed for them, and we all prayed for God’s blessings in Chimalhuacan. Philip gave a short talk on John 1, and we joined hands for one last time to say the closing prayer.

When church was finished, most of us piled into a mini-bus for our trip back to the guest house. We thought we’d have a smooth ride home, but had made it about 3 blocks outside of the slum when we were pulled over by the police. The drivers had to exit the bus and make some phone calls, and we were all a little on edge when we noticed the machine guns that the police officers were carrying. But God was as good as always, and the drivers were soon back on the bus, refusing to tell us what had happened, but ready to continue.

The for more exciting news! In the stop with the police, we had lost the van and the drivers didn’t know how to get to the guest house! We frantically tried to call Shabrae or Jean Luc but had no luck. We tried to look for familiar landmarks, but it was difficult at night. After about 10 minutes of driving, Jon, thankfully, spotted the van at the local gas station and we were able to get back on track!

We found ourselves immediately “in deep” again, with flooded streets that the van could barely get through. After a few unseen speed bumps and curb checks, it was smooth sailing the rest of the way home. I don’t think I was happier all week than the moment I stepped off that bus and realized we had made it home safely.

Once back at the guest house, we all went fairly quickly to our rooms, said brief good nights, and fell fast asleep.

God showed up in amazing ways this week… ways that we haven’t even begun to acknowledge in these short (even if they seem long) updates. I have never experienced anything so emotionally intense… the joy, the pain, the stress, the fulfillment. However, I am confident that this is an experience that no one… not the people that went into Chimalhuacan nor the people that are there all the time… will forget. God has forever changed my life and I am sure the lives of many others. I look forward to the return of week 2’s team so that we can all come together and share our stories… And I look forward to the work that God will continue to do in Chimalhuacan.

Con mucho amor… Krista

When we arrived back at the guesthouse, many of us went directly to our journals because seeing the school was really a lot to take in. So we wrote our hearts out and some of us rested.
 
In the evening, we had the opportunity to go to Camp Eggers to go to church. When walking on base it was such a different atmosphere. We were allowed to smile again, make eye contact and it was a little bit like home. We were warmly greeted by the Chaplin and the troops and had a great time. It was amazing to be worshipping with people half way around the world.
 
We’re still getting used to things here but we’re also realizing that, although things are different here, we all love it. Numerous times today I kept repeating how I never have felt so close to God or to his work and this is the beginning of it all. It’s only the second day here and I know my heart and all the other girls hearts are falling in love with Afghanistan and its people. I cannot wait to see what’s next!
 
Much Love & Blessings, Kayla

Day Three

 With nearly a full night of sleep under our belts and with the Mullah’s call to prayer as our reminder to wake up, our team awoke eager for our day! We stumbled into the dining room, ready to polish off the breakfast of champions! We’ve each nearly perfected what Ron coins the “Egg McNaan” and had probably one too many nutella covered pancakes.

After breakfast, we packed up our Afghan host’s van and set off for the beautiful district of Istalif. It is simply captivating to take in the landscape! We see so many brown mud houses and dusty mud walls that are interrupted by bright green and turquoise elaborate gate doors. We see neighborhoods of cream colored homes and the one single vivid orange house of the neighborhood sticks out.  As one exits Kabul the smell of city becomes less pungent and the clean air is so refreshing. Along with the fresh air, water is in greater abundance and Istalif is very green and lush.

Our first stop in Istalif was a medical clinic, where we had the privilege to meet with the community health workers (CHWs). These ladies are tremendous in raising awareness of common health problems and educating the local Afghans. One health crisis that caught my attention is that Afghanistan was the highest ranking country for infant mortality. One reason is that women have been raised to eliminate their first batch of breast milk, which actually provides nutrients that are necessary for the child. The passionate CHWs literally walk home to home to educate women on matters like feeding their newborns the mother’s first milk. Afghanistan is no longer the highest ranking country for infant mortality. Amazing. Furthermore, the clinic has become crucial providing 6 vaccinations for children, family planning education, a maternity ward, an emergency room, and a pharmacy… The clinic and the CHWs are incredible!

After departing the clinic, we walked to the ruins of a bombed hotel in Istalif and learned some of the tragic history of the area. But our sorrow was also paired with a joy as we could see the incredible prosperity and advancement of the district since its destruction. We looked with awe at all at the development; even directly below the ruins, a greenhouse is filled with beautiful pink flowers. The whole area of Istalif is absolutely stunning – it was not hard to comprehend why this district is known for its beauty.

 As we left the destroyed hotel, we walked a road lined with trees and flowers, and came along the side of a river. We sat on top of colorful mats on the river shore and had fresh kabobs. After we finished eating we drove over to the market. Istalif is known for their pottery. So, of course, our all women team (+ Ron) had to go shopping! There is an abundance of vibrant bowls, vases, teapots, candy dishes, figurines – practically anything formed with clay. After some successful haggling and spending, we began our trek back home.

Our day was packed with activity and I do believe that we are all now synced to Afghan time. So with each day we are more energized and more eager for what tomorrow brings!
With love, Ash!

Quote of the day: “Hey guys! Don’t take a picture, but do you see that truck? That truck. With all those colors? And detail? And see all those small chains hanging from the bumper? Do you all see that truck?… It’s interesting.”

Day Four

This morning the group awoke bright and early at 5 am, proof that we are not quite fully recovered from jet lag. If only we could wake up this early at home, or even before 10, how productive would we be?! Before breakfast, we chatted a bit about the different things we have heard from various people and organizations and how excited we are to bring it back home and share with everyone at Flatirons.

After our daily breakfast of eggs, naan and pancakes, we got ready for the day and loaded up the car to go visit an organization that promotes cultural exchange between college aged students. This organization challenges them to think freely and have open thoughts and to be able to share them without the fear of social or political prosecution. We learned how important this can be in this culture.

Later after returning to the guesthouse, we ate lunch and conversed about our experience with that organization. Listening to the person in charge speak about his experience with students brought some of us to tears, and inspired all of us to tell our friends and family about this concept.  Our time there also led us to examine our own lives. We then got to visit the home of a staff member from the US who is currently transitioning between roommates. Her home had become overloaded with the belongings of three people in a place that is only situated for two. We packed and placed all of her previous roommate’s things in a spot that is accessible and will make it easy for her to collect when she returns to Afghanistan. We had a wonderful discussion about the organization that we visited earlier that day but also just about life in general. We exchanged stories about our lives at home, and many tales about how our mothers like to embarrass us, or how we like to embarrass them!

The team made it until about 5 pm before the desire to nap set in. We returned to the guesthouse to freshen up before dinner, and all took a very short power nap in the process. We then joined a few of the staff members and our drivers for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant. We ordered tropical fruit juices, yogurt drinks, hummus, falafels and baba ganoush to start out with, and all had various forms of kabobs and vegetarian pizzas for dinner. The food was delicious, but we all had leftovers to take home to enjoy as snacks later this week!

Getting to know the staff members better has been an amazing part of our journey. Not only are we making new friends but we are learning more about the culture of the people in Afghanistan and what it is like to live here as Americans. The staff members share what they like and what they dislike and what they think is easy about living here and what is difficult. We are also becoming a lot closer as a team, not only sharing our own comparable struggles and experiences, but deciding how we can take what we are learning here and apply it to our own lives at home.      Missy
 
Quote of the Day:
“And then, I said ‘Yes’.”

Day Five

With a much more full night of sleep and having finally adjusted to the time zone in Afghanistan – our team was not groggy, but cheery and ready for the day!

The day before, as you might have read, we had the awesome opportunity to meet with an organization that challenges both Afghan and foreign college students to engage in an incredible variety of subjects for cross-cultural exchange. There are 3 main tiers with the goal of more open-minded and free-following thought: thinking rationally, arguing persuasively, and listening respectively. We are all interested in such a neat organization, and so thankful that we were granted the opportunity to be a piece of this while we are here!

We went to Tabesh University today – a private, political science university founded in 1388 (this year is 1390 in the Islamic calendar). We met with students who were studying Law and Political Science.  Upon arriving at Tabesh, we had anticipated having a small room of just women to discuss family life, married life, school life, fashion (we all know it is not difficult for a room of women to quickly chatter on and on…) Unknown to us, the school was expecting for us to deliver a lecture. So, we all met somewhere in the middle. We visited one of the classrooms and attempted to introduce ourselves. This took much longer than normal, because the class had prepared so many questions that were asked between each introduction. We addressed many of their questions (which were primarily political science-oriented). Then our University host decided it was time to end the discussion so that we could meet with a smaller group of just women from a different class.
Unfortunately, the female English-speaking staff woman was sick and could not attend our discussion today. So, the male English-teacher was our translator, which only allowed for a much more conservative or reserved conversation. Our subject matter became primarily that of the education system – which was incredibly fascinating as our 2 systems have some differences.

The whole exchange was not nearly as fluid as we had thought it would be, but it was such a great experience. Our host expressed desire to try such an interaction again in the future – we graciously thanked him for allowing us to visit the school and interact with so many students. It truly was such a great experience!  They asked if they could take a picture of us when we were getting ready to leave, which we did, but they were not comfortable with us taking their picture – one of those cultural differences we continue to learn.

We returned to the guesthouse and enjoyed lunch. And, silly enough, hours flew by making friendship bracelets as a team, hahaha! And after much convincing that it is not manly for Ron to persist in making his own bracelets, he settled with playing us random songs from his music library. Okay, so maybe Ron did not want to make friendship bracelets, but he did try to stump us with a guessing game of “who’s the artist” and “name that song title”. That was pretty fun – especially when 30 minutes later, Ron bet that we couldn’t name 5 songs that we had listened to and we listed off close to 90% of all he played. We are simply having too much fun in Afghanistan.   Ashley

Quote of the day: “So, yea I really got into the song, “Your Eyes.” So I was going to get into this big Peter Gabriel phase. And I forgot. So… it never happened.”

Day Six

As I write this the morning after day six, I think to myself, “what a day”.  The team awoke, had breakfast, then got ready to deliver beds and mattresses to the Allowuddin orphanage with soldiers from Camp Eggers. We were all very excited for today, and on the way to the orphanage, our driver gave us a mini city tour, showing us different mosques, bazaars, and even pointing out the palace way down the road.
 
When we got to the orphanage, we chatted with some of the soldiers we recognized from the chapel service last Sunday, and introduced ourselves to those we had not met before. There were male and female soldiers from the Army, Navy and Air Force who had all volunteered their time to help this orphanage and put smiles on the faces of the kiddos. This program not only allows for the soldiers to get involved in the community here in Kabul but also to get them off of the base once in a while and to be able to make a difference in another way. We thank the soldiers from the bottom of our hearts and extend blessings out to all of the soldiers stationed at Camp Eggers and their families back home.

While at Allowuddin, we were also able to watch a toy distribution for the children. The soldiers had collected boxes of stuffed animals and teddy bears that people from the United States had sent them and were able give each child a toy. After that, the director of the orphanage invited our team and the soldiers inside for tea and conversation.
 

We returned to the guesthouse after saying bye to our friends and ate lunch. The team than began to experience the beginning of what we are calling the “Kabul Krud”. Our host invited a few of his friends over to do henna for us, and after a couple hours of rest most of us were feeling up to it. It was so nice to be able to hang out with a couple of young women and talk with them about life here in Afghanistan while going to the university. We also asked them about the henna and how they got into doing it, if they like it, and how long it lasts. We talked and laughed with them for a few hours while Lexi showed them how to make friendship bracelets and we found them on facebook! 
 

After they left, the Kabul Krud fully set in. We had plans for a full city tour that night, but decided to postpone it because most of the team was not feeling well. I sat in the living room reading all evening while all of the other girls rested. Our large family dinners were diminished to just Tracee, Ron and I, and we all called it an early night in hopes for everyone to get better with a good night’s rest. I still, thankfully, am feeling well. Please pray for our team to get better and that no one else gets sick.
 
Day Seven

The Kabul Crud is wreaking havoc on all of us…except Missy. She wants to buy a lottery ticket when we return to the states, because her being healthy as ever at this point seems very, very lucky.
 
Also luckily, our weakness coincides with the day of rest in Afghanistan, which happens every Friday, called Jumma in Dari. It’s like our weekend, a time to relax and have holiday. We spent the morning resting and relaxing, and the afternoon were lucky to get a guest, Dayne, who is friends with Tracee. He went to Afghanistan for the first time when he was 20, and has now been living here full time off and on since 2007. He shared with us a little bit about the struggles and joys of living in Afghanistan as a North American. He also taught us some fantastic words, like Kakak A Bom-Bom (Fat little squishy cake).
 
Another flash of Americana came from visiting a supermarket called Finest in Kabul. After the men were patted down by the Chokidors at the door and the women’s bags were checked in a private room, we came into a giant department style store with the strangest blend of American and Afghan goods to buy.  Think Masala flavoured Lays Potato chips right next to the Barbeque kind. We got ice cream bars and yoghurt (no one went for the aloe vera flavoured one), and bought some Pringles, which we had all been longing for earlier. (They also had an Afghan version called Kraks, but we decided to stick with what we knew).
 
After this, we piled into our host’s SUV and went to a similar place called City Center, where we sat in a coffee shop, talking and resting. We returned home and all fell asleep early. We are hopeful that we will soon feel 100% again, and ready to enjoy what these last 5 days have for us.   Ron
 

Quote of the day: “I really hope Finest sells corks.” 

 

Day Eight

Another sick day in Kabul (we think we have the cause narrowed down to a virus that has been going around), this time with Missy starting to feel the effects of the Kabul Crud while the rest of us are on the up and up. It was another restful day – we didn’t leave the guesthouse but enjoyed spending time here, drinking tea and learning a fun Dari song for a lesson we will be presenting for children at The Kabul School for street kids.  We are all looking forward to the things we have planned, and are continuing to laugh and bond together as a team. Also, Ron shot a camel today. (Kidding, but this entry needed a little excitement!) Lexi
 

Day Nine 
While spending the majority of our time for the past few days in the house with the Kabul Krud we prepared to go back to the Kabul School for Street Kids. When we visited last week, we talked with the school administrator about what we might do when we came back. She had suggested we help them review the moral value lessons they had been learning. So, bright and early in the morning we went with some of the staff over to the school where we were warmly greeted by the teachers. When we walked into the first classroom and the kids (mostly girls) all stood to greet us in Dari with shy smiles. We then took turns doing our lesson. We started out by teaching them a song in Dari (yes, I am so proud of our team they learned a song in Dari!!) The kids and teacher all loved it!!  The kids jumped right in doing the actions and singing along. By the third time through it they knew pretty much every word. The song went a little like this:  Who made the world?  God made the world!  Who made the fish…flowers…people, everything?  God made it!  It was so much fun to sing with them! They got so into it and it was great to see their little faces light up as they sang.  

Then we asked them about a lesson they had learned before about Gratefulness and if they could tell us an Afghan Proverb that about this word.  Sometimes we had to ask the question again in a different way to get the right points across. In every classroom they were able to tell us this proverb: One who doesn’t appreciate the apple, won’t appreciate the orchard.
 
In this lesson they learned earlier in the year, they also saw a demonstration where they had a saucer with salt and sprinkled some pepper on it. The mixed it around…held a plastic spoon over it and nothing happened…rubbed the spoon on a piece of wool and then held it over the pile again and the pepper rose up and stuck to the spoon.            
 
The pepper represents the blessings in our lives. Sometimes our blessings are difficult to see and seem outnumbered by our problems. Many times when we examine our lives (e.g. the spoon “looking over” the salt and pepper) we focus on what we don’t have. This causes us to feel empty (bare spoon).  If we stop to think about the good things/people in our lives, our hearts will “warm up” (the wool cloth rubbing the spoon), and our hearts will be changed into grateful hearts. We will then be able to recognize the many blessings for which we should be thankful (the pepper now clinging to the spoon).  
 
The children all remembered this lesson and then told us things they are thankful for…”God, My parents, Teachers, School…” We reminded them that it is good to have grateful hearts and to tell others of our gratefulness.  So their homework assignment was to tell someone this week that they are grateful for them.  

We did this same lesson in three classrooms in the morning. The second class was mostly boys and the third class was the older children. After the lessons we were invited into the principal’s office to sit and chat. As we were sitting there we could hear the children still singing the song in their classrooms.

We left and come back to the guesthouse for a quick lunch break and then went back for round two at the school. In the afternoon there are two classes and they were just as receptive as the morning group…even though the classrooms were extremely warm that time of day.
 
It was a delight to spend time with the kids and to see their eagerness to learn. My prayer is that these children will be able to go to the public school someday and get a complete education so they can have a future as bright as their smiles.  

In the evening we again went to worship at Camp Eggers. It is like a whole different culture inside the walls of the camp. We were blessed to worship with men and women that serve our country and Afghanistan. Their hearts are so big and so many of them expressed gratitude to us for what we are doing and the sacrifice we made to be here. It felt strange for them to be grateful to us when I am overwhelmed with gratefulness to them for the big sacrifices they make. It is wonderful to worship our BIG God all the way on the other side of the world with people that live lives so different from ours. Keep praying for our military men and women!!!
 
God made the world, the people…everything!  And we are so grateful that He has given us a chance to see what He is doing around the world through His people!  
 
P.S.  some of us are still not feeling up to par…please keep praying for our tummies to be strong and healthy again. Tracee

Day Ten
Today was a typical day, where we awoke again to the sound of intense sporting in the yard. After breakfast it was time to go to Kabul University, the biggest University in not only Kabul, but all of Afghanistan. Our mission today was to go with a group that encourages students to discuss issues rationally, respectfully and persuasively. We had done something similar with the group the other day, and were excited to do it again.
 
The game plan was to go into a classroom and have a Q&A session with students, but as we are in Afghanistan, things can change quickly. This concept, which we have dubbed “Afghan Time”, is not at all a bad thing, and has lent to experiencing things we may not have otherwise. It has also been an interesting thing for us to adjust to, and we joke about now how we will not be able to fall back into our jobs at home without more rests or chai breaks.
 
As for today, the person at the school who was supposed to facilitate everything was not there, so our host had us briefly sit in a classroom and introduce ourselves. After we established that Alexis did not mean Lexus the car, and Kayla is not to be confused with the Pashtun word for Banana that is pronounced exactly the same way—we started to talk with the students. But then, the teacher showed up so we left and went on a school tour.  A student from the debate group happened to walk past us on campus and recognize the leader of the debate group and she and her friends walked with us. A few more people from the student group caught up with us, and soon enough we had a small posse going!  We were all of the same age, so we chatted with the girls and guys walking with us, about everything from politics to the best places to shop in Kabul. Walking through the different and beautiful campus buildings, one of the students saw a professor of his and asked if he would play us a song on the piano. He happily agreed, so, we went up into the Art and Music building and played us three songs on the grand piano.

One thing that has really blessed all of us is how gracious the people are here. For me personally, when we first would talk to people, I would get nervous as I heard them speak in Dari to the translator. The tone of voice and the speed in which they said things always made me anxious that they were not happy we were there, but, consistently, the first thing the interpreter would say was that the person was thanking us for being here, or are so glad that we are here, and hope we are enjoying our time in Afghanistan.  Everywhere we go they make tea, they speak kindly; they make us feel so beyond welcome. It has been truly wonderful to be in the company of friendly, hospitable people.

After we said goodbye to our new friends, we ate lunch and went off to another NGO that, among a lot of other things, teaches women in Afghanistan the trade of beauty projects. The place we went, specifically, was a place where deaf women can learn how to do hair, manicures, and pedicures. The woman who ran the building also hosted art classes, which are hopefully therapeutic for the women. One story she said that really was impactful was that a lot of these women do not even know that they have unique fingerprints. She uses art projects to show women that they can have a voice and an outlet for what they think and feel, and that they can speak what they want through art without being disrespectful to their families or culture. Some of the things she talked about regarding what she saw the women create was hard to hear, but we have learned on this trip that hope always comes with despair, and organizations like these are providing hope and change in the lives of women, every day.  Lexi
 
Quote of the Day: (The funny thing is, this quote happened way, way before we started talking about anything to do with women’s groups or identity) (Singing softly) “’I’m every woman! It’s only me. Who sings that song? Anyways, Rebecca and I went to that concert once.” Ron

Day Eleven

After our latest night so far staying up playing cards, the team did not want to get out of bed, although we woke to a slightly different breakfast. Plain egg omelets instead of hard boiled eggs, which is what got everyone out of bed at the latest possible moment.

Post breakfast, we got to experience what Afghan time is really like. We hung out, worked on friendship bracelets, read or wrote in our journals until someone came in and told us what the plan was. During lunch our host gave us quite the history lesson about Afghanistan and the country’s involvement in the war. We continued to wait until we made a final plan at 2 p.m. and walked out the door.

Our host drove us up to the palace, and we got to see what is going to be the new Afghan parliament building and the Queen’s Palace along with the old destroyed palace. It was wonderful seeing the old building alongside the new ones and the beauty the history portrays. The Palace was destroyed about 30-40 years ago during the civil war and has been left in the same destroyed condition.

From there we drove a little ways back into town to visit an organization run by a friend of Tracee’s from when she lived here. Their business is located near where Tracee used to live, and to her surprise a lot of the buildings in the neighborhood had been replaced by much larger buildings. We sat down and discussed what we as a group were doing here in Afghanistan, what we are studying in school, and what our first impressions were of Kabul. After listening to what we want to do with our lives, the people were listing off all of the jobs that are available here when we are out of college.  For me this trip has really opened my eyes to other career opportunities, even with a bachelor’s degree in sociology.  

It was really great for us as women to hear her vision of Afghanistan as being at a crossroads and being a place of unforeseen beauty, whether everyone can recognize it or not. The change in Afghanistan is not happening only chronologically but it is at a changing point with what the Lord is going to do here. It was so amazing and inspiring to see a woman who is so educated doing such an amazing thing with all of the people here in Afghanistan. Someone with a million opportunities all over the world is expressing her grace and intelligence through her calling from God.

After our discussion, we headed outside to their balcony and headed up to the roof of the five-story building and had an amazing bird’s eye view of the entire city of Kabul. While the sky was a bit hazy, we could see toward the palace we had come from, Tower hill, and all of the illegal housing up the sides of the mountains all around town.  The group then got to experience my unusual, irrational fear of spiral staircases as I had an expression of sheer terror on my face coming back down to the balcony.

Ron then ventured to Chicken Street with his gaggle of six young ladies, where he ran into a sales boy who recognized him from the June team. The June team bought about fifty little purses from this boy, but we only bought about twenty or so.  After we finished our souvenir shopping, we proceeded to go to an Italian restaurant called Bocaccio for dinner. We got a little taste of home eating pasta and sitting in an air-conditioned building with our chadors off.  Anyone who has talked to me in the past week knows the only thing I have wanted to eat is pasta.

On the way home we packed up nine people into our one vehicle again, Afghan Style, and picked up an Iranian cake, which was delicious. Once we finished filling our bellies with pasta, cake and ice cream, we attempted to pack around 1,000 hats from Barek Aub into the seven suitcases we brought. That was a fail, but we fit about half of them. Then the team started to pack our own suitcases, pitching all of our empty water bottles and trying to pack our souvenirs in our scarves and dresses to make sure nothing breaks.

We stayed up even later than the night before. We can assure you we will sleep very well on the plane. We will begin our journey home tomorrow and see everyone later this week!  Missy
 
Quote of the Day: “Ahhhhh! I just. Want. The. Ferris. Wheel!!!!!”-Lexi

Day Twelve

We awoke yesterday with both sorrow and joy in our hearts. Sorrow, knowing that our time in Afghanistan was almost over but joy in having experienced a small part of what God is doing on the other side of the world.

We also woke knowing that our time was not quite yet complete –today we would finally arrive in Barek Aub! We quickly had breakfast (thankful we had already packed the night before).

We hoped into our Afghan host’s car and made our trek towards the village. We exited the busy and bustling city of Kabul and drove through a more barren road. Still farmer’s markets along the road side, a truck jam packed with melons here and there, and (finally!) a caravan of camels. Part of the landscape was filled with smoke stacks from kilns for firing bricks.

Arriving at Barek Aub, we drove through desert with a backdrop of gorgeous mountains. We came to a developing village with plots marked for families and for widows. We first drove up to the clinic – absolutely stunning! A clinic complete with a delivery room, parent planning education, vaccinations, an emergency room – another incredible team of CHWs (similar to those we described previously in Istalif). And intriguingly enough – the clinic had a literacy class for women. Amazing! We continued on to the school – children flooded in from all over and were so anxious to meet us. They all wanted pictures and to sit next to us. Then we moved on to the houses being built for the widows. A durable foundation of stone, followed by actual fired bricks (as opposed to mud bricks dried in the sun which make up many of the homes), and a roof of steel framing and wood. The houses are durable enough to last for years to come and sturdy enough for families who want to create an additional story to do so. The children were so full of youth, so much laughter and joy could be seen in their eyes. Even the widows we had just briefly met were so generous and invited us for chai tea. Unfortunately our time was short so we could not join them.

After our brief visit to Barek Aub we returned to the guesthouse and reluctantly gathered all our belongings. We said very difficult goodbyes and began our long journey home.

The Kabul airport has several security checkpoints – different lines for men and for women. We made it through security and immigration with just enough time to buy a snack before boarding. When we arrived in Dubai, we learned that our checked bags needed to be rechecked. It certainly made our 3 hour layover much more eventful to exit and re-enter security, immigration, and gate security. Thankfully but with no time to spare – we boarded the plane and anxiously awaited our 14 hour flight home. From this point on, travel continued smoothly and as I write this, we have arrived safe and sound at DIA.

Afghanistan – we already miss you! But we are excited to share you and all our experiences with everyone at home. Ash

Quote of the day: Tashacor! Mañana! Thank you!
Quote of the week: It is the time to disco!

Day One – We’re on the ground in Kabul… finally.

After 30+ hours of travel our primary objective today is to stay awake till after dinner in a desperate attempt to adapt to life in the Kabul time zone.  And as much as I enjoy writing these updates, typing right now is like digital Ambien so this will be brief.

Our flights actually went pretty smoothly as we left Denver Wednesday afternoon and then flew directly to Frankfurt before heading to Dubai and on to a 7 a.m. Friday morning arrival in Kabul.  Everyone is tired, but in good spirits.  The last 36 hours are a blur to me, but some of the highlights I can remember include learning (when it was too late to do anything about it) that Lufthansa has a new 8 kilo weight limit for your carry-on bag, seeing the sun barely set around midnight behind Hudson Bay in Canada, and discovering after 36 years of marriage that my wife can snore in German.

But perhaps the most profound realization was one we reached upon landing in Kabul.  It’s easy to forget the degree of suffering the people of Afghanistan and the country itself have endured over the last three decades when you don’t live here and it’s not a part of your everyday life.  It’s even harder when you live in America and fly across the world on insanely large jumbo jets being offered more food on one flight than most of the Afghans we know will eat in a week.  On the last leg from Dubai to Kabul I happened to have a center aisle seat and had no view of the countryside below so I was even more oblivious to the stark, barren conditions below me.  That is until we were on final approach into Kabul and I happened to look at one of our team members with a window seat and who was witnessing Kabul for the first time.  I think the expression on Carrie’s face says it all.

Witnessing life in Afghanistan for the first time is very sobering.

We’ve since arrived at the guest house and are getting settled.  We’ve got a couple activities scheduled this afternoon designed to keep us awake and help us get acquainted with our surroundings.

We are full of anticipation of our first full day here and I’ll write in greater detail tomorrow night.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.   Bob

Day Two – A Fresh Start and Renewed Hope

The team got a good night’s sleep and arose with eager anticipation of our day of orientation and seeing Barek Aub for the first time.

Some were a little more eager than others.  Robb, for example, had so much energy he decided to join several of our male Afghan hosts who have banded together to do “sporting” every morning at sunrise in hopes of reducing the size of their “graveyards of chickens.”  One event Robb took part in was running laps around the Guest House.  (Did I mention this was at sunrise… 4:12 a.m.?)  And although Robb did his best, he – in the tradition of Scott (May team) before him – kept alive our losing streak in FCC vs. Afghan foot races.  If you’re keeping score at home that would be Afghans 2, Flatirons 0.  But it was great fun for we bleary eyed spectators as well as all the participants.

Maybe he needed another 5-Hour Energy Drink?

After breakfast we piled in our transport vehicles and headed to Barek Aub.  As we drove north out of Kabul we began to notice more new construction, improved roads, and even the thousands of roadside trees that had been planted within the last two years were growing taller and looking healthier.  We couldn’t help but wonder if that same developmental growth would be evident in Barek Aub, too.

When we arrived at BA we first visited the Basic Health Clinic, built in 2008.  The clinic has been fully functional for some time now and there were lines of people from Barek Aub, a nearby village, and even a few Kuchi (nomads) waiting to be seen.  In all my previous visits I’ve never seen the clinic so active and being so “used” – a really good thing.

We then took a walk down the hill to the school and were met along the way by a couple dozen children who had already finished their classes for the day.  Several of the kids were familiar faces while many were new, but all were excited to see their friends from the USA. We poked our heads in on several classes still in session and were surprised by the behavior of the kids – actually paying attention to their teachers!  The government-supplied teachers have been replaced over the months by teachers from Barek Aub and the surrounding area and they’ve taken a much greater interest in the welfare of the kids… and it really shows.

Another extremely gratifying change is seeing the beginning of construction of the boundary wall around the school.  The wall will serve a dual purpose – to protect the kids and also to put men of Barek Aub to work.  And best of all, this is all financed by the proceeds from the sale of the knitted caps, socks, and gloves which were sold at FCC last December.  This is tue micro-enterprise at work!  Through donations a group of widows from Kabul were hired to knit the caps, socks, and gloves which put money in their pockets and into the Afghan economy.  Then those beautiful and surprisingly trendy caps, socks,  and gloves were sold here at FCC and the proceeds were used to pay a group of BA men to build the boundary wall through a Food For Work program – everybody wins!

Knit caps, socks, and gloves turned into jobs and a safer school.

We then made a stop at the well and pump house – the first project at Barek Aub that Flatirons became involved with.  It was extremely gratifying to see the water project, which fills a 73,000 gallon reservoir filled to capacity twice each day, meeting the needs of so many people.  It is definitely a time for joy, but not for celebration without pause.  They may have enough to drink, but need so much more to grow crops or provide grazing land for livestock, both of which which could play a large role in Barek Aub’s goal of self-sustainability.

We made one last stop before leaving Barek Aub and that was to the home of one of the widows living in the village.  The women from our team went inside the house to chat with the widow and her recently married daughter while the men from the team stayed out in the courtyard chatting with the widow’s brother and admiring the crops in his garden.  These weren’t “meetings” or anything like that – just simple relationship building.  I don’t think anything particularly profound was discussed by anyone in either group, but they just might have been the most important conversations of the day.

Then it was back to the guest house for a brief rest and some personal time before a quick trip for some souvenir shopping.

But on the way to dinner tonight I was reminded of a key ingredient in the makeup of the Afghan people and it once again reminded me that I really need to reexamine my own preconceived notions and beliefs about people living in poverty.  This reminder came in the form of a flat tire… ours!  As we were driving to dinner we discovered that one of the tires on our vehicle had suffered a slow leak.  Our driver pulled over and within 5 minutes a tire repairman had inspected and plugged our leaking tire, refilled it with air, and we were back on the road.  All without us ever even getting out of the car or being raised on a jack!  Did we just happen to pull over next to the only tire repairman who makes house calls in Kabul?  Nope… there are hundreds if not thousands of them throughout the city!  It was a very simple but clear reminder that Afghans are amazingly resourceful people.  They are dying to work and be productive and simply need the means to get back on their feet.

Personal service you’d never find at home!

We had a wonderful time together at dinner and are calling it quits for the night.  General strength and health of the group is good except for LaNae who is fighting her way through a nasty sinus infection and could use your prayers.

Thank you for your continued support.  Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!    Bob

Day Three  – Tearing Down Walls and Building New Ones

Today was the second day in a row of being allowed to visit Barek Aub, the settlement of former Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) that flatirons has been involved with. As soon as we arrived, we split our team into two groups with the women visiting with the women taking part in a Literacy Program and the men joining other men taking part in the Food For Work program.

The following portion is written by Jeri Bisbee who is in Kabul with her husband Tim on other business and who spent the day with the ladies of our team…

During our visit to Barek Aub, the ladies enjoyed building relationship with the women in the literacy class which is held at the clinic. The first announcement came with apology from the teacher, as the only ones in attendance were several young ladies in their teens; the rest were attending the first-ever-held election for the elders of Barek Aub. The fact that the women had been invited to this historic event and unavailable to us was by no means a disappointment. We were thrilled for them!

Consequently, we proceeded to share with the young women there. It began somewhat awkwardly with an exchange of some basic personal information; i.e. name, father’s name, how many siblings, age, etc. As we shared back, it was fun to see the awkwardness dissipate and the bond of commonality build.

Soon the students were eager to share examples of their learning with us. A couple of them read aloud from their readers, a couple more demonstrated their writing with our interpreter reading some words or a sentence as they scribed on the white board; lastly a couple completed some number/math skills. It was a significant moment as many were deeply touched by the deeper truth – the doors of opportunity that are finally being opened… things we take for granted every day like being able to read a sign at the market or the address of a doctor for your sick child, or being able to dial a telephone without having to ask for help!

As the comfort between us continued to build, one woman shared from her heart as to their dire need for work. The plea for help was evident as she painted the picture of daily life. The men have no work; there is no transportation to the city, and little to be had in the line of work within the community. The women are eager for sewing machines or some other tangible way in which they can earn proceeds for their families, as well. The response that came forth was truly touching, as it addressed a most basic human need; that of being heard. Though we cannot bring forth the solution today, the essence of that response brought about a round of tears shared by all of the women there today. It felt like a significant breakthrough moment.

It all ended on a high note as the women passed out gift bags they had brought from home laden with soap, lotion, shampoo, tea and candy – true luxuries in this corner of the world and something we hope will bring a little unexpected joy.  The young ladies were all so grateful for this small gesture of kindness. We look forward to returning one more time to share the remaining gift bags with the women who were not in attendance today.

Literacy, language, and cultural barriers being torn down and being replaced with beautiful bonds.

Back to Bob writing…

While the ladies were doing their “girl thing,” we manly men headed to the school where other manly Afghan men were hard at work building a rock and brick boundary wall around the school as part of the Food For Work Program.  Remember all those amazing Afghan knitted hats, socks, and gloves you bought last December at Flatirons? Well, it’s the proceeds from that fundraiser that is funding the boundary wall.  YOU are helping build this wall!

The wall itself is about 2.5 meters tall with the top 2 meters made from fired brick and the bottom half-meter made up of individually hand cut granite blocks initially assembled without mortar.  The rock masons – all men from Barek Aub – want to be so precise in their work that the rock wall must all stand on its own without any mortar!  Only after they’ve competed that phase of the wall will they add mortar to the inner and outer portions of the wall to offer it more stability and to give it a “finished” appearance.  These rock and brick walls, ubiquitous in Afghanistan, are true works of art, often stretching for miles in length.

I say all that to say this: the smartest thing the masons did all day today was not let us lay a single rock or brick!   Actually, we all knew better than to even ask.  We didn’t come to do their work for them, we wanted to help them get their work done faster so we spent our time being their prep laborers.  We joined forces with two senior staff members and moved as much rock and brick as we could in a couple hours (and it was a lot!) from the delivery piles closer to where the wall would be built.  By the way… if you’re ever in Afghanistan working on a wall project and hear the words, “Mr. Bob… over here… welcome!” it means you’re about to be asked/told to lift something VERY heavy!  Consider yourself warned.

Gary and I perfecting our brick moving technique.  (Don’t ask about the red gloves.)

We had a great day working with these two staff men and several kids from the village (more on them later), but I felt badly that we didn’t get much chance to interact with the masons themselves.  So before we left, I told the men through a translator how much we appreciated their skill and all the hard work they were putting in to get the wall done as quickly as possible.  The reply from one of the men surprised me.  He said that THEY appreciated the sacrifices WE made to be there with them “especially in light of the economic crisis our country is going through.”

These men haven’t had the ability to work for as long as they can remember, are in a desperate struggle to feed their families, and have been living in hopeless conditions for 2 or 3 generations and yet they appreciated our “sacrifice” to be there?  I was amazed at their concern for us and it also made me appreciate even more the sacrifices made by our supporters to make all this possible.  So from the men of Barek Aub – thank you!!

All good things must come to an end and we had to leave Barek Aub and return to the guest house.  After lunch we had a team meeting to discuss much what we had seen and experienced in our first three days on the ground.  Life in Afghanistan is tough and life in a refugee settlement is beyond tough… it is brutal.  Emotions and stress on team members can wear thin at this point and having a supportive team by your side (which we certainly do) is essential to make it through.

To end the day we had the privilege of attending Chapel services at the NATO/ISAF HQ in Kabul where we had a great time singing and worshiping with troops from all over the world.  I wasn’t too surprised when our team was introduced by the Chaplin, but I was absolutely blown away when a retiring Lt. Colonel presented me with a check from the members of his home church in Georgia to be used for the schoolchildren in Kabul.  (Over the last couple years I’ve become aware of just how much individual troops do on their own for the people of Afghanistan.  I hope to be able to write a whole story about this at another time.)

After chatting with a number of the troops, all of whom expressed their deep appreciation for the work that Sozo and others are doing in Afghanistan, we headed back to the guests house for a light supper and to hit the sack.  Everyone but me, that is, until now… so I’m out’a here.

Thank you for reading this far and for keeping us in your prayer and thought life.  I’ll say it again – we cannot do this without you!  Bob

PS.  LaNae is feeling better thanks to your prayers, antibiotics, or both.  We thank God for the outcome regardless!

Day Four –  Looking To The Past For Hope For The Future

After two days of witnessing the current struggles facing the inhabitants of Barek Aub, the team was given a glimpse into BA’s potential future by spending the day in Istalif.  We didn’t “do” a lot today… but we certainly learned a lot

Istalif is a mountainside community that had 40,000+ people living throughout the district before being forced to leave as their homes were destroyed by militant Taliban leaders in the late 90’s because of its strategic location in the civil war battles being waged in the Shomali Plain below.  Following the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, the people began returning and rebuilding their town and their lives.

Absent the destroyed buildings in Istalif, you might think you’re in Boulder or Estes Park.

We began our day in Istalif taking a tour of the Comprehensive Health Clinic, recently cited as the #1 CHC in Afghanistan by the Ministry of Health.  The Istalif clinic, through its emphasis on preventative as well as curative medicine, was able to virtually eradicate Leshmaniasis (a disfiguring flesh-eating disease common in bombed out areas), Tuberculosis, polio, and several other communicable diseases common in that region.

Following the clinic tour, our Afghan host shared with us his personal story of trying to rescue his brother from the Taliban-controlled area as he watched it being completely stripped of all homes, businesses, and vegetation.  About half the district’s population was centered in the town of Istalif itself and at one point the population was zero… everyone had fled.  After the Taliban had left the area our host began working with the first doctor to return to the area and an outside charitable organization in the US to begin to bring in emergency aid as well as develop a long-term development program to help Istalif get back on its feet.

By 2007 most of the pre-war population had returned and their basic needs are now being met — they have several schools, basic and comprehensive medical clinics, some grazing land for animals, fruit trees and wheat supplying food for much of the residents, and a modest localized economy based primarily on Istalif’s world renowned pottery.

Istalif is blessed with at least three things that Barek Aub does not have: water (and lots of it, thanks to constant runoff from the Hindu Kush Mountains), room for crops and livestock, and a history to draw upon as a blueprint for its future.  Absent those ingredients, it will be a tougher road for the residents of Barek Aub.  But with many of the people responsible for helping Istalif get back on its feet, the work in Barek Aub is underway, much progress has already been made, and there is great hope for the future.

We were given a rare opportunity to hear the story of the rebuilding of Istalif from two of the men largely responsible for drafting and implementing the blueprint for development.

There wasn’t much “drama” today and no heart-wrenching stories to share.  Today was a day for appreciating the rebuilding that has taken place in Istalif and catching a vision of the future of Barek Aub… one filled with hope.

I’m signing off early tonight… we have a big day planned tomorrow that is sure to be the toughest for us of the week.  (Details tomorrow.)

Your thoughts and prayers are the fuel that propels us.  Please keep them coming! Bob

Day Five – A Day of Contrasts

This was a day of stark contrasts – the incredible joy of seeing children being given a true shot at a better life and the crushing sadness of seeing people locked in the bonds of abject poverty.  I had a feeling this would be our toughest day yet, but I had no idea we’d find ourselves on quite such a roller coaster ride of emotion.

Our day started with a tour of the new Kabul Hopeful Hearts School For Street Kids.  This is a school designed to help children who are forced to earn a living for their families on the streets of Kabul, rummaging through dumps and refuse piles for anything they can find to sell for even a few pennies.  Since they’re constantly on the street they have no time for school and without an education or vocational training they have little to no chance of escaping the cycle of illiteracy and poverty.

The goal of the school is to teach these kids how to read and write Dari, give them some hygiene training and basic life skills, and give them accelerated educational training to get them to the point where they can be integrated into the public school system at their age level where they frequently excel.  The school also provides them a hot nourishing meal, something they NEVER get on the streets or at home.

The school opened in 2009 with 49 students and they now have 220 kids enrolled in 5 different class sessions.  They recently moved into a new building where they have ample classroom space for that many kids (and more) and even a small yard for exercise.  The classroom walls are brightly painted and well decorated – an environment very conducive for learning.

We were privileged to sit in on all three classes in the morning, hearing the kids recite their lessons and even singing a couple songs for us.  They are all VERY proud of their lesson books, are extremely well mannered, and literally hang on every word coming out of their teacher’s mouth.

I’ve seen “street kids” in Kabul – they’re everywhere.  And it was hard to imagine that these kids I was watching have come from that environment.  It was a morning filled with true joy for the entire team to see what the Kabul HH School has done and continues to do for these kids.

The class for the older kids featured some that were, well… considerably older.

These former street kids are full of joy when they sing songs about their love for their families, their school, and their country.

And then we headed to do a distribution at an IDP camp…

An IDP camp is a unique place.  Technically it is a temporary home for refugees (Internally Displaced Persons) returning to their home country until they can find permanent residence.  There are 38 IDP camps scattered around Kabul that house several hundred thousands of people who cannot find permanent homes.  They are located on otherwise unoccupied pieces of land, often squeezed between buildings.  You can drive right past some of the smaller camps and not even know it.

But the moment you pull up to one and get out of your vehicle, you know in an instant where you are.  People begin to gather as word spreads of the arrival of our three SUV’s and they all begin staring… at you.  The ground is covered with a hodgepodge of raggedy tents packed together like sardines, only not nearly as orderly.  There is no power, no water, and no sanitation.  The variety of smells defies description, but as I noted last year, the one thing I didn’t smell was food.

But the most memorable thing I always come away with is the look of utter desperation in everyone’s eyes.  Spend any time at an IDP camp and that look will haunt you for a long, long time.

Today we visited the Kabul Mondaray IDP Camp near the center of the city.  We came prepared to distribute clothing and school supplies to 40 families, but before we were even halfway done it was apparent there are closer to 200 families living there now.  And many have been living there for years, not months.

There were a few anxious moments as the crowd that had gathered realized we didn’t have nearly enough for everyone, but other than some arguments among a few of the adult leaders and some skirmishes among the children for the last few pencils and notebooks (can you imagine American kids fighting for school supplies?) the majority of the crowd remained orderly.  Several of them thanked us profusely.  Most simply took the bagged items and left as quickly as they could.

We were in and out in about 40 minutes, but it seemed like hours.  Most people will never witness that level of poverty in their lifetime… it’s certainly something none of us have ever seen before or will ever forget.

Every member of the team was deeply affected by what we had experienced so we cancelled our plans to return to the Kabul School in the afternoon in order to have an impromptu debrief session to work through the myriad feelings we’re all experiencing.  This team is all people from Flatirons so you can imagine how gritty and honest the sharing was.  Several were still too upset to talk about it hours later.  No amount of training or briefings can truly prepare you for what we witnessed.  There is still a lot of processing to be done.

A comment I heard from more than one person was that they were thankful for the experience because it had finally put a context to the word “poverty” in a unique and profound way.

It also makes us even more thankful for the amazing progress made in Barek Aub since the residents were “rescued” from a very similar IDP camp in Kabul only four years ago.

Please join us in praying for the health and safety for the people of the Mondaray IDP camp.  Also for wisdom and motivation for the Kabul government that they would relocate them to land where they can at least try to begin a new life for their families.  And lastly for an organization to partner with them, like the one that partners with the people of Barek Aub, so they will know they don’t have to go through this struggle alone.

I’m sorry this update didn’t end as happily as it began.  But that’s how our day went and we are so thankful to have YOU to go through it with us.

 God bless you for your support and prayers.  We couldn’t make this journey without you.  ob

A typical “home” in the Kabul Mondaray IDP Camp.  Actually, this is one of the nicer ones.

Waiting patiently… to survive.

Day Six –  Sadness, Friendship, and Hope

Today we awoke to a very sad day in Afghanistan.  As has been widely reported in the international news, enemies of peace launched a suicide attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul last night that killed and wounded dozens of people.

Our team was safe and secure at our guest house and we were all asleep throughout the entire attack, only aware of it when we woke up this morning.  We sent out quick notices via email and social media to family and friends to be sure everyone knew we were OK.

Attacks of this magnitude are not common in Kabul and this one in particular cast a pall of sadness over the entire region.  The Afghan people desperately want peace in their homeland.

Although we were never in jeopardy, our hosts wanted to wait until the chaos in the area subsided before we headed out to Barek Aub for the final time on this trip.  So we left the guest house a little late, but were eventually allowed to try to complete our day as planned.

When we arrived at Barek Aub, we immediately got to take part in a very heart warming story begun in Colorado by the daughter of one of our team members, LaNae’s daughter Britney.  (Way to go, Brit!!)  I don’t have room for the entire story here, but basically one of Brit’s teachers was so taken with Brit’s passion for Afghanistan (with a mom who goes there  every year, who wouldn’t be passionate about it!) that she used the occasion to prompt intensive study about Afghanistan and the region.  The class eventually decided they wanted to do a fundraising drive for Afghan school kids and picked the Barek Aub school as their beneficiary.  By placing 5-gallon jugs around the town of Mead, CO, the class was able to raise about $700 which was used to buy a TV, DVD player, chairs, desks, blackboards, and a variety of supplies here in Afghanistan.  (The TV and DVD player will be powered by battery, since there is still no power in BA.)

LaNae made a formal presentation to the headmaster of the Barek Aub school, telling him the entire story.  Following the presentation, the guys on our team helped unload the donated items and then began the task of assembling the desks which came in boxes laughingly labeled, “some assembly required.”  The women departed for the Clinic to meet first with the remaining 20 ladies taking part in the Literacy Program then about 40 Community Health Workers.

The headmaster of the Barek Aub School gratefully accepts the donation of school supplies from LaNae and our Afghan host.

Assembling the desks was an interesting challenge for the guys and after about a half-hour of assembling, disassembling, re-assembling, and re-disassembling desks and parts of desks, Robb commented, “I came halfway around the world only to find out that Afghan men are just like American men — none of us will read the directions!!”

 It was a comedy of errors watching the four of us and an equal number of Afghan men trying to assemble all the parts of the desks as if we were in a race and pretending that we each knew what we were doing!  I think we eventually got the first desk done in a little more than an hour with no broken parts and thankfully no one got injured.  The second desk took about 45 minutes and the third only about 30.  By now we were a well oiled, lean, mean, desk assembling machine!

All kidding aside, it was a wonderful experience working literally hand-in-hand with the Afghan men, most of whom spoke no English, communicating only through gestures with one another, and figuring out how to work together as a team to get the desks built properly and as efficiently as possible.  We assembled some pretty neat desks and also built some great relationships.

I think that piece goes over here… or maybe it attaches to this… or…..

Adam helping HR cut the new blackboards that were donated by Brit’s classmates.  (Yeah, I know there not black… yet!)

Meanwhile the women of our team were over at the Clinic meeting with the remaining women of the Literacy Program who had been busy voting last Sunday!  They next met with the Community Health Workers who are a vital part of the rebuilding plan at Barek Aub.  The CHW’s are the women who go door-to-door meeting with women in every household to teach them about birth control, burn prevention, general health education, relationship development, and other skills essential for their families to enjoy a healthy life.

Our ladies shared stories about their personal lives with both groups of women and heard the same from a variety of women from Barek Aub.  One of the topics was marriage: in Afghanistan most marriages are arranged, but a small percentage are purely for love.  One of our gals stated that things were similar in America: our marriages aren’t arranged, but sometimes we marry for love and sometimes for money!  THAT really got the discussion going and kept our translators scrambling for nearly 3 hours!

Our team members commented that they’ve never seen the women at Barek Aub speak so freely and that it’s obvious they are really bonding with the women from our teams whenever we’re there.  It was easy to notice the posture and body language of the women, who initially sat very rigid and formal, begin to relax and lean in to the conversation as they realized they weren’t going to be interrogated, exploited, or judged but rather understood, accepted, and loved.  It’s a beautiful thing to see relationships forged through candid and intimate dialogue like this.

The ladies of our team meet with the ladies of the Literacy Program at the Barek Aub Basic Health Clinic.

But eventually it was time to say “Passan Meybenem” (See you later!) to our friends at Barek Aub for the last time this trip.  So after some tearful goodbyes we headed back to the guest house so Ron, Tim, and Jeri could catch their flight back to Denver.

After lunch some of the remaining members of the team were able to deliver a portable heart defibrillator to the Cure International Hospital in Kabul that had been donated by the Lafayette Fire Department.  The defibrillator had been replaced by the LFD because it was obsolete, but it was still in good working condition so we made arrangements to bring it from Colorado and donate it to Cure’s Medical Director, Dr. Manning, for their cardiac care unit.  And they were thrilled to receive it!  After we made the official presentation, Dr. Manning treated us to a complete tour of the hospital including the maternity ward.  Afghan babies are so cute!!  (I swear… one of the women on our team MADE me write that!)

Several members of the team present the portable defibrillator donated by the Lafayette Fire Department to Dr. Manning and Dr. Kahn of the Cure International Hospital in Kabul.

After we returned from the hospital we spent some more time in the guest house courtyard debriefing, processing, and sharing among ourselves and with our Afghan host.  There are a lot of thoughts and feelings to sort out after the last couple of days and getting our host’s perspective really helped us make sense out of some of what we had witnessed.

After dinner we began the packing process and hit the sack early.  Although it wasn’t a day full of hard work, it was certainly one of the most exhausting.

Everyone on the team is very thankful that we’ve been blessed to see the growth, although there’s still a long way to go, at Barek Aub and at Istalif.  Because it reminds us that, despite the attempts by a fractional minority to control through oppression and fear, the overwhelming majority of Afghans desperately want a future of stability and peace.

Throughout the day we’ve received hundreds of texts, emails, tweets, and Facebook posts wishing us and the Afghan people well and offering support.  Unfortunately we can neither reply to them all nor thank you enough for sending them.  But we have passed your thoughts and well wishes on to our Afghan hosts and they send back a warm “Tashakor!”

Signing off for now… I can hardly believe we’ve only one more day here before starting the long trip home.  I’ll try to send one more update before jumping on the plane.  Thank you again for all your life giving support and prayers.  Bob

The crew is making astounding progress on the school’s boundary wall through the Food For Work Program.  It is expected to be entirely completed in the next 3 weeks!

Day Seven – Fond Farewells

We don’t like to say “Good-bye!” when we leave Kabul… so we say “Passan maybenem!” which means “See you later!”

Departure day is always difficult for the team and the Kabul staff.  We live a half world away, but the bonds we’ve formed over the last 4 years are very strong.  They are not like family to us… they ARE family.

We spent the morning taking advantage of some free time to journal, chat, and get prepared for the long journey home.

After lunch we had one final team debriefing to continue to sort out our thoughts and feelings about the high points and low points of the week.  This team experienced some very poignant aspects of life in Afghanistan and it has affected each of us deeply.  Many memories are very pleasant and some not so much… but all are prescious and we wouldn’t trade them for anything.

Eventually it was time to head to the airport.  “Passan maybenem!  See you later my friends!”  

At this moment we’re sitting in the Dubai airport getting ready to board our flight to Frankfurt.  The team wanted me to tell you that we’re sad to have left Afghanistan, but very eager to rejoin our loved ones once again in the US.  Thank you again for your prayers and thoughts of support for us this past 10 days.  We’ll see you soon!  Bob

A final toast to our hosts… “Salee colone!”  (Cheers Big Ears!)

Our final view of Kabul from the flightline at KBL.

Back in Denver

Just a quick note to let you know that we’re back safely on the ground in Denver!!  Not all our bags made it, but I saw all 10 team members get off the plane at DIA and that’s what matters most.

It was a remarkable trip and one that had a profound impact on each and every team member’s life.

Now that we’re safely back in the United States, our prayer is that we not forget for a moment the plight of the Afghan people, particularly those in Barek Aub.  It is important that we remember them, their suffering, their hope, and continue to tell their stories and continue working with them toward the rebuilding of their communities and their lives.

These updates are just a brief glimpse into what went on during our trip.  We all look forward to meeting with and talking to you personally about, as Paul Harvey used to say… the REST of the story!

 Thank you for walking with us as we walked with our Afghan family. It’s great to be home!  Bob

In front of the Basic Health Clinic on our last day at Barek Aub.