Day Three – On the ground in Kabul!
 
We’ve just finished a good first day in Kabul – with a tour of the city and an orientation by some friends living here in Kabul – but we’re thoroughly exhausted since we haven’t seen the business side of a pillow since Tuesday night.
 
Today was a day of orientation and adjustment so there’s not a lot of exciting things to report.  But we were delighted to be able to spend the entire morning with a very dear friend who shared many stories of growing up in a refugee camp in this part of the world and we were blessed to witness a few beautiful, interesting, and hopeful things as well.
 
As we were flying from Dubai across Afghanistan this morning, I couldn’t help but notice how barren the countryside is.  I’ve seen it before, but for some reason it looked even more barren than in the past – thousands upon thousands of square miles of, well, Nevada.  Don’t get me wrong – it’s beautiful in its own way, but it is also Desolate with a capital D.
 
But even as we were flying across the Afghan moonscape, if you looked closely you could sometimes see a thread of green among the endless brown and gray.  And among that thread, you could also see dwellings.  Things were green because there was water and where there was water there was life – plants, animals, people.  What was the first thing the people of Barek Aub needed to sustain life?  Water.  What is the first project the elders of Barek Aub want to undertake to help jump start a fledgling economy?  Getting more water!  Those little threads of green in The Middle Of Nowhere were beautiful and I’m beginning to have a deeper appreciation for why.
 
After lunch, we took a tour of the city and I occasionally thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Every once in a while I saw a flicker out of the corner of one eye… See, it wasn’t just the people who had been chased out of Afghanistan in the last three decades – the entire food chain was gone down to the tiniest insects.  But now there were some birds.  Not “lots” of birds, but “some” birds… which is a lot more than “none” birds.  And I thought that was really interesting.
 
And lastly there were some hopeful things.  When we were here in March during Afghanistan’s “new year’s” celebrations it seemed like, for one day at least, the whole country was celebrating and smiling.  Heck they were shouting, dancing, and partying!  And as we toured the city today I swear many of them are still smiling!  Oh there’s plenty of stern and expressionless faces around, too – no one would argue that there isn’t a disproportionate amount of destruction and despair here – but there are more smiles here now than there used to be and certainly more than there should be.  That is an incredibly hopeful thing.
 
OK… that’s about it… the team also learned firsthand about “Afghan time,” sat on their first toshacks, and got their first taste of Naime’s Pakistani Chai (eat your hearts out, former team members!).
 
And speaking of former team members… a huge thank you to the folks that came to see us off at DIA on Wednesday.  What a special treat that was!  And thank you to the dozens of people who have sent emails letting us know you’re thinking of and praying for us.  (I’m sorry I can’t answer them all!)  We couldn’t do this without you all and we feel your support every step of the way.
 
It was a good first day and we eagerly look forward for what’s in store tomorrow.  Bye for now...
 
--Bob
 
 
Why are these guys smiling?  For one thing, I know they’re glad to be alive – they just hit a speed bump going just as fast as we were in the Pathfinder!
 
 
These kids didn’t get the memo about Ride Your Bike To Work Day… they thought it was Ride Your Bucket To Work Day!