FAQ
I have noticed that quite a few of my friends are asking similar questions, so in order to save time I've set up my very own Frequently Asked Questions segment:
Afghanistan recently emerged from 3 decades of armed conflict. As a result it is in a rather sorry state and there are many aid agencies trying to help the country rebuild, since the government does not have the resources to do this alone.
J and I work for a small NGO (Non-Governmental Agency-- definition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGO).
J is very important and is in charge of everything, everything being our projects in the remote northern provinces of Takhar and Badakhshan. Marginalised people with literally nothing at all approach us with requests for infrastructure, clean water and schools. In response we try to afford communities that were previously totally cut off access to markets, hospitals, etc. We build roads, provide health training (a largely female team I'm proud to say), water systems and schools for boys and girls who have never had the opportunity to be educated before.
Yes, it's very rewarding work.
My role is keeping a record of our projects through photographs and articles that are published in our organisation's magazine and other publications throughout the EU, where most of our funding comes from.
We live in a typically Afghan house, ie. mud with these extra special plastic chandeliers that are very 'in' here. Generally people sit on cushions on the floor, but we were lucky enough to inherit some bug-infested couches from the UN who were in town for the elections. Our house is currently unfit to live in and not just because of the bugs (see 'Duck 'n Cover). We'll stay in our organisation's Guesthouse, which is a communal house for our expat staff (2 Kenyans and 1 Pakistani).
There is no electricity or running water, but we have a well and a generator.
We have 2 cooks who cook for the staff and try their best to limit the use of oil and red meat. Afghans are happy to eat rice, dirty naan and huge joints of mutton hacked with an axe, all drenched in oil, for breakfast, lunch and supper. There are other options: kofta (meatballs) and ochre which as a vegetable lover I find insulting. On the upside, once you've survived the obligatory first 3 months of constant diahorea and intermittant vomiting, there are platters of fruit on offer during the summer. I'm gorging myself on cherries, plums, apricots, mangos and melon.
Anything that can't be grown or slaughtered locally (like chocolate, booze, pork, cookies, bread and until recently Coca Cola...that's how cut off Afghanistan really is!) can be bought for a small fortune and at risk of being suicide bombed from air conditioned warehouses set up for the troops in Kabul. Kabul is an 8 hour drive south of where we live.
For security reasons and quite frankly lack of options we are confined to our compounds where we do our best to stay sane by reading, watching pirated DVDs of the latest Holly/Bollywood junk and, when there were other expats in town, some low-key (often drunken ;) revelry. Unfortunately we are now quite alone in the world as other organisations have moved out for one reason or another. I also have the World Wide Web for company. A lot of people are confounded by this. One word -- satellite. The fastest, most reliable internet access I've ever enjoyed.
We never lock our doors. It's not the kind of fear one lives with in South Africa for instance. The fear of petty yet often deadly crime. It's the unknown extremist factor that's of concern. Having said that, the North is quite stable. When you hear horror stories they're generally reporting from Kabul and further south where the Taliban still stir things up.
Our contracts are year long. J has just completed his first year and is signing up for another. Honestly, it's hard to say how long we'll be here and impossible to say where we'll go next. One of the major perks of the job is getting R&R leave every 3 months or so. This ensures that we get home to
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