Today was our second day in a row of being allowed to visit Barek Aub, the settlement of former Internally Displaced Persons adopted by the Flatirons community in 2007.  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 unavilable 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 for many of the FCC women who were deeply touched by the deeper truth – the doors of opportunity that are finally being opened to them… 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 of FCC 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 them 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.
 
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 killer Afghan knitted hats, socks, and gloves you bought last December at FCC? Well, it’s the proceeds from that FCC 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.
 
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 Camp Eggers, 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 for $2500 from the members of his home church in Georgia to go toward desks for the new Hopeful Hearts School building 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 FCC 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!
 
 
Literacy, language, and cultural barriers being torn down and being replaced with beautiful bonds.
 
Gary and I perfecting our brick moving technique.  (Don't ask about the red gloves.)
 
I apologize for the lack of photos today... broken cameras and dead batteries plagued more than one of us.