Village People

So, my laptop's power cord shit the bed. Again. So, I don't know when I'll be able to post again. The government doesn't think that Blogger is an adequate use of military resources, so I can't let the inter-web know what's going on until I get a stable power situation going on. But, I digress.

A couple of cool things happened the last time we talked. the first, and most visual, is that I went on another mission yesterday. It was with the Parwan Provincial Reconstruction Team. We went to this village to preform what is called a village assessment. Bear with the description, because I haven't finished making my article on the situation, so the facts and spellings may be inaccurate.

A village assessment is where they check on the needs and wants of a village. everything from the structural integrity of the buildings to the health and welfare of the place is checked out. So, when we got there, we met with the elders of the village (Those guys are the ones with the turbans, for lack of a better word). Now, we already kinda knew that they weren't happy with us. Let me step back a bit.

The Taliban is 90% Pashtun. This is a tribe of Afghan people. Where I'm at in Afghanistan, there is primarily two types of people; Pahstun and Tajik. Well, on either side of this Pashtun village are Tajik villages, and these two tribes don't really get along with each other. They don't even speak the same language most of the time. Anyway, they were kind of like, 'what the hell?' because the government of Afghanistan (with our help) built a medical clinic in one village, and a school in the other. Why not them? Well, that's what we were there this day to fix. We needed to know what they needed, so we can help everyone. 'We are the world.'



Turns out, they need a lot of stuff. A school (300+ kids are in the village), a clinic (and doctors) because the nearest medical is three days away, and a retaining wall for the floodwaters. A lot of stuff to do.

We met and talked with the villagers for a few hours, with me taking pictures and such. I quickly got distracted, because the people who were there at the talks but not directly involved saw my camera, and wanted pictures of them. that turned into a huge thing, because it seems when people normally take pictures of these people, they never show them the picture. They were so excited to see themselves on the screen. Well, it was cool and all, but I did have a job to do, so it was really hard listening to the talks and taking all these pictures. So, I decided to get information about the talks later, and see what was going on outside. It turned out, school (they have a school, but its in a really poorly constructed building. It rains through the roof on the books and the kids and stuff) just got let out, and there was a mob of kids. I love kids, so I chilled and took pictures of the kids for a bit. And that was pretty much it.


Did the interview for Ultiverse. I think that's what its called. When it's up, I'll post a link.

OH! got my Valentine's Care Package from my fiancée, FINALLY! Its awesome, I must say. Always nice to feel loved. especially on a Monday.

So, I have a day off, so, If my battery works on my computer, I'll post some pictures. whatcha all want to see?