Day Five
Field trip! A day at the zoo.
Field trip! A day at the zoo.
Today was the day we were planning to take a hundred kids (fortunately in two shifts) from the two Sozo Schools for street kids to the Kabul Zoo. So before leaving the guest house, we Google’d "Kabul Zoo" and came across a link to some fascinating info about the famous "Lion of Kabul," Marjan:
"A man who made a bet with his friends sneaked into the lion’s den… Marjan attacked the man and killed him within minutes. The following day, the man’s brother came and threw 3 hand grenades into the lion’s den, seriously injuring Marjan… thus rendering him blind, deaf, and permanently disabled."
The general feeling among all of us was that this wasn't going to be just an ordinary trip to the zoo and we were overly excited to see the kids that we got to meet at the schools earlier this week.
When we got to the zoo we all waited anxiously for the kids, who were arriving by bus. When the gate swung open and the bus pulled in I could tell the kids were all just as excited as we were. They all lined up, were counted, and the trek around the zoo began. As we started walking, none of us had a hand left un-held. All the kids were now our buddies and vice versa.
One of the hardest things in connecting with the kids in Kabul is the language barrier – you either speak to each other through an interpreter or through body language and expressions. I'm not sure why I assumed it would be hard to "chaperone" a field trip for kids who spoke another language, or knew a different culture, but what soon became obvious is that field trips must be the universal language.
I noticed that regardless of all the things I assumed made us so different, I saw so many things that were so familiar. Things like "the buddy system", the excitement when walking from exhibit to exhibit wondering what the next animal would be, and intrigue with something you may have never seen. We spoke to the kids by looks on our faces and tones in our voices and had them mimic the sounds of the animals we saw. They were eager to say the animals’ names in English and we were eager to have them teach us their Dari names. For the short time we got to spend with each class, they got to enjoy being kids… and we got to enjoy a little bit of that too.
We finished the tour by sitting in a courtyard all eating ice cream cones, and come to find out… the Dari for "Ice Cream" is pronounced "Ice Cream" as well. For most of these kids it is possibly one of the greatest days of school they have ever had.
And as they pulled out of the parking lot yelling, “Good bye!” and waving out the windows it was clear to me that we were all taking some of this away and tucking it into a place in our hearts.
--Zach
Closing comments added later in the evening by Bob…
We were joined for dinner tonight by an ex-pat family that has been serving in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years. It was a real treat to hear stories of working here during the period of Taliban rule, the challenges of raising a family here, and how things have changed over the years.
Oh yeah… they were celebrating a birthday so there were balloons, streamers, and afterward we all had cake!
After the celebrating was over and our guests had left, the team had a great time of sharing and processing all we’d seen, heard, and felt so far throughout the week. I am so thankful for this team and their willingness to open up and share from the heart.
Time to hit the sack and get some rest before our last full day on the ground here.
--Bob
And they went forth two by two...
Move over... let me see!!
Exploring your first zoo with a good friend = best... day... ever.
I guess kids in a war zone are used to razor wire... but we didn't expect to see it at the zoo.
OMG First the zoo... then ice cream, too?
Saying good bye. The hardest part of any trip... field or otherwise.
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