The instructors told us to start distributing the school supplies to the boys at the rear. I said I wanted to start giving the supplies to the girls at the front. Women and girls are discriminated against in this society and I favor them every chance I get. I buy from women at the bazaar and give them things before the men and boys at every opportunity.
These little girls were so shy they wouldn't answer questions about how they were doing or how old they were. I hope they are able to learn and to grow into strong persons to defend themselves and their families. They are going to be the vehicle of change in the Afghan society if they are going to be peaceful and prosper.
These kids were so happy to get pens, pencils, and notebooks. Try this in the United States! This is the best and most rewarding thing I have done over here.
A navy Lieutenant with the Afghan who helped arrange our visit to the Aschiana school and orphanage for street children. All Afghan public schools close for three months in the winter. This school remains open to attend to the needs of kids who beg on the streets or work in bazaars.
This is me in front of the Aschiana school. We didn't coordinate very well when we delivered the school supplies and clothes last Saturday. The children weren't in school. The muslim holiday of Ashura was on Thursday of last week and thus, the children had an extended vacation.
I was worried about the clothes and supplies going "missing" while in storage at the school. I took photos of me in front of the piles of donated goods and I told the instructors I had these photos and the piles should be the same height when we came back to hand the stuff out to the kids. The instructors and director promised they wouldn't touch them and gave us the key to the locked storage area. They were true to their word and the piles were untouched when we returned.
This little guy has been selling hand drawn pictures and photos on the street going to ISAF the last few weeks. I bought a crayon drawing from him two weeks ago and gave him a dollar last week. Today he was inside our Hesco barrier and had both a photo and a drawing. I asked him in Dari how much for the photo and he had trouble holding up five fingers along with the two objects. I gave him a dollar as a gift and then remembered I could get a photo of him with my BlackBerry. He is adorable.
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