Seeing prayer answered with our own eyes.

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.)

After 90 minutes of negotiating Kabul’s back roads and hiways, we crested the hill just south of Barek Aub and our team caught their first glimpse of the community they’ve been praying about for several years, but had never actually seen with their own eyes.

“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 then headed to a home being constructed for one of Barek Aub’s widows (one of 40+ homes built specifically for widows and orphans) where we hoped to… well… I can’t say any more about this for now. But stay tuned.

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