Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Hope for the future on our last full day in Afghanistan.
On our last full day in Afghanistan we took a trip to visit the clinics in Shakar Dara and Istalif, two thriving communities north of Kabul in which our development partner has been working for several years. Seeing these excellent clinics in large, successful communities helps give teams a vision of what is possible in terms of standard of care and total community buy-in to the health programs our partner hopes to establish in Barek Aub.
Our first stop was at the clinic in Shakar Dara where we toured the facilities and met the staff. In clinics like this, our partner works every bit as hard on disease prevention and nutritional information as they do on treating sickness and providing emergency first aid. And their record of reducing the number of cases of infectious disease and reducing the infant death rate is remarkable.
After leaving the clinic at Shakar Dara it was evident that the long drive to Istalif would put us back at the guest house well after lunch, so we stopped at a roadside vendor for a few pieces of traditional Afghan stuffed flatbread called Bolani to hold us over. (I have already applied for the US franchise rights, so back off! ) This potato and leek stuffed flatbread turned out to save the day because the road down from Istalif was badly damaged by recent rains and we completely missed lunch by more than 5 hours!
We then continued on to the Istalif Comprehensive Health Clinic which, although it is at the roughly the same elevation as Kabul, FEELS as if it is high in the mountains, much like our hometown of Boulder, Colorado. Doctors Mary, Latefa, and Fazlullah from our partner organization joined with Dr. Asad from the Itstalif Clinic to give us a thorough tour of the facility. Community-wide health initiatives have been extremely successful in greatly reducing the number of cases of polio, dyptheria, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. The excellent pre-natal education and care has dramatically reduced the infant mortality rate.
While Itstalif and Shakar Dara have a number of intrinsic advantages over Barek Aub – like easy access to abundant water for one thing – it’s reassuring to know that the same basic philosophies of community health care will be put to use in Barek Aub just as they have been in Shakar Dara and Itstalif.
After touring the clinic we walked about ¼ mile to the site of the former Itstalif Hotel. All that remains of the hotel now is a shell… the bombed out remains serve as a haunting reminder of the night the local Taleban leaders invited over 1,000 members of the community to the hotel for a “meeting” and then proceeded to bomb the hotel killing everyone in attendance. While touring the grounds we bumped into the caretaker who’s right hand had been hacked off by the Taleban years ago, yet he returned to the hotel to care for the garden of roses, orange trees, and all manner of flowering bushes and shrubs.
We left the hotel and headed to the bazaar which is world famous for its pottery. I think everyone found a little something to bring home as a reminder of the history, beauty, and culture of the Afghanistan we’ve come to know and love.
Upon leaving the bazaar for the ride home, we soon realized the single-lane dirt road down the hill was recently damaged (that’s putting it kindly) by heavy rains. The road was now an interesting challenge for the 3 team members who were in the 4-wheel drive Toyota 4Runner, but was almost impassible for the rest of the team in a 9-person Toyota van. But every time we got high-centered or stuck, local residents all along the road came out to dig so we could work our way down the hill. Greg Mortensen’s book Three Cups Of Tea came immediately to mind. I knew our survival wasn’t at stake in the way it was for Greg, but the outrageous hospitality of the locals was plainly evident and still made a big impact on all of us.
We finally made it back to the main highway at Qarabagh and “burned some roads” into Kabul and lunch/dinner at the guest house. After devouring our duo-meal of mantou, ground “meat”, string beans, naan, meatballs, spinach, and more naan (remember, it was two meals in one), we headed up to Kala Fatula, or what our teams like to call “Prayer Hill.” It’s a huge cemetery in the heart of the Taimani District conservatively estimated to contain well over 10,000 graves. Afghan custom is to place a green, black, or white flag on the grave to ward off evil spirits and the view of the flags and streamers floating in the breeze over all those souls stimulates visitors and locals to pray… hence, our name for the place. The top of Prayer Hill also affords a unique 360-degree view of much of the city and it’s fun for team members to try to identify the location of many of the places we visited throughout the week… which, of course, we never can.
Then, after a quick stop for ice cream, it was back to the guest house for a last night of Cribbage, Uno, and socializing before heading off to bed to get some rest for the long ride home.
As I’m sitting in the living room by myself typing this on my computer I’m listening to iTunes with Tim Hughes singing “We Must Go”… the song that rips your guts out on the November 2007 video that convinced us all to leave our homes and travel across the globe to this crazy place. I can’t tell you how much the Afghan people have changed my perspective on this part of the world and my very life itself.
If you’ve ever considered helping out over here or in any part of the world for that matter, I heartily encourage you to heed Tim Hughes suggestion and GO. Feel free to contact me if you want to learn more.
I’ll write one more time tomorrow before we jump on the plane, but now it’s time to get this on the Internet while it’s still up and working. (Just realized we haven’t missed a night yet during this trip… there’s another miracle! )
Your prayers and support have meant the world to us throughout this truly miraculous week. Lives were touched and changed forever… including many on the team. Thank you and God bless you for sharing it with us!
--Bob
The team gets a briefing from Clinic Director Hamid Shah and Dr. Sima
at the Basic Health Clinic at Shakar Dara.
Pat, April, Margaret, Nicole, Gary, and Michelle scarf down some Bolani
from a roadside vendor and pray they don’t go on the “Kabul Diet” on our last day here.
It’s no wonder teams from Flatirons feel a kindred spirit with the residents of Itstalif… just look at that place!
Sediq, an amputation victim of the Taleban, is the caretaker of what’s left
of the Itstalif Hotel after a suicide bombing killed more than a thousand residents of Itstalif.
###
