Blogs from Afghanistan, Asia
Crocus sativa - the Saffron Crocus
Afghanistan gets the highest number of hits on this blog (5,616 to be precise). By far (Note 1). People still read my posts from 2010 - and for understandable reasons, their sons and daughters are serving their country, so it is claimed, in the name of democracy and freedom. "Operation Enduring Freedom" - remember that? "As of December 29, 2011, there have been 2,765 coalition deaths in Afghanistan as part of ongoing coalition operations". I copied that from Wikipedia... bear with me this point is relevant. I'm back here in Herat working on the saffron industry for the US Government; saffron (perhaps) substitutes for poppy (opium) so this is part of the on-going effort to reduce drugs - and so preserve the American Way of .... Freedom an... read more
1. The person I consider the most heroic is Patricia Sawo. She is considered the most heroic because her and her husband established the Discover to Recover Centre. This was created to give care to tose adults who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. This soon became a home for the children who lost there parents because of HIV/AIDS. Instead of Patrica using the fact that she was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS as a weakness, she used it as a oppurtunity to help inform and use nearly all her income to help those in need. She pays school fees for the older children and put the younger children in preschool. She considers the children her life. 2.If I had the chance to nominate someone to be my hero, I would nominate Linnae Bryant. She is my grandmother, she is ... read more
1) This article connects to what we learned in class because we learned about different time periods and how women were gaining little equality to men little by little throughout this time period. 2) I learned that men have been making more money than women throughout history, which is unfair. Even when both genders have he same job,men still make mIt Is disappointing to me how women wages only increased half a penny throughout the last four years. 3) It is shocking how when men turn into women, they make 32 percent less than they did before. In addition, when women turn into men, they make 1.5 percent more than they did before. This caused me to have a reaction because this shows how segregated it is in the U.S. ... read more
Household biosand filter
In Afghanistan we have been working on a household water treatment, and community sanitation project, using a market driven approach, that focuses on using marketing techniques to create demand for water treatment and sanitation products, and then equipping local tradesman with the skills and tools to meet the new demand. The program has been highly successful and has attracted a lot of attention from UN who are now promoting this approach across all of Afghanistan. We have also worked with the Afghan government to amend its national policies to include household water treatment and community led sanitation, as acceptable strategies for meeting the water and sanitation needs of the country. In this latest trip I went to evaluate project progress in Jawsjan province in the north, and Kapisa province near Kabul. After flying into Kabul and ... read more
Day 2 Woke ok, but nurse insisted I rest today and shoved ano drip in me Had real good day at Billiluna meeting people, ended up doing a few repair jobs , cooked dinner 4 my host and prepared bike and self 4 next day is an Ab. Community of about 100 and support staff Day 3 Took off at 5.30determined not 2 overdo self but tanami mine was my long aim where I was booked in Nice country used a lot of perseverance and rolled into tamimi at 8pm - 9.30 central time. Dark 4 last 2 hrs but gibbous moon ok wow-steak and salad and a good shower and bed Dingo ran along with me for 10pm -big mine Day 4 Fixing bike and showen around mine -bike and rack rattling 2 pieces - ... read more
First of all, you might notice that it says above that I am in Bagram. I can assure you, I'm not in Bagram. I am in Munich, in fact. Long story short, for various reasons this website is difficult and rather infurriating to use, thus I have opted to just hit endless links until I am free to write what I want. So don't expect accuracy in my locations from now on. My computer time is far to limited to spend time fighting with bloody travelblog.org. Berlin is now long behind me. Sad. My six days there were the highlight of my trip, for sure. The hostel was great, met lots of great people, and saw A LOT. Although not everthing I wanted to. Strangely, I was more into the cold war history than I was ... read more
Nach dem frühstück mit Toast Früchten, müesli und Jogurt fuhren wir los Richtung bang ba in zum Wat Niviet Thammaprawat um Waree zu besuchen. Nachdem wir wohl einmal falsch abgebogen sind haben wir Waree angerufen. er hat uns sofort eine escorte organisiert. In Wat Niviet Thammaprawat angekommen, mussten wir zuerst den Fluss mit einer Cabrio Gondel überqueren. Dann gabs eine persönliche Führung durch das Areal. Hier hat es eine Unmenge von fruchtbäumen und wunderschöne, duftende Blumen. Im summerpapast des königs, Rama V war ebenso schön. Den Heimweg haben wir ohne Probleme gefunden. Wir sind direkt zum Floating-Market gegangen. Dort ein wenig Shopping, essen und die Füße von fischen pflegen lassen. Beim rückweg noch rasch anti-mückenspray gekauft und natürlich gings nicht ohne shoopping ;-) ... read more
Next on our filipino adventure was the island of Palawan! We flew from Manilla to Puerto Princesa where we stayed for a couple of nights. Puerto Princesa is the main city in Palawan, it's capital if you like, but it's only the size of a small town and still has that 'local' feel to it. We found a great little guest house called Manny's and based ourselves there. We also found an amazing little vegetarian cafe that conjured up all kinds of meaty treats out of tofu for under a dollar so this soon became our local hang out! From PP we went to see the 'underground subterranean river' - a very popular tourist destination, especially with local Filipino tourists. The river basically runs through a cave (underground) and is supposedly the longest one of its ... read more
Coloring Eggs
It's been a little while since I've written, but I can't say that much has happened. Easter, Memorial Day, and we killed Osama bin Laden. Otherwise, business as usual. At the end of my last blog, I was getting excited about soon becoming the squadron "on deck" to leave theater. Well, the time has come and gone -- we're now NEXT! I can't even describe the feeling of excitement about that. It's like Christmas, Easter, and your birthday as a little kid all rolled into one. I can barely contain myself. We're right around a month out, and talk everywhere is for preparation for returning. I've already started mailing some of my stuff home. Mom got the footlocker at home and is also getting excited about how close we are! We're in that phase right before ... read more
(I'm not in Jalalabad - but I can't get the computer to bring up Vietnam!!!) Well OK folks, you'll be pleased to hear that the holiday is back on track after yesterday's unpleasantness. Today I had the whole day to myself and I played the lazy hours like they were a saxophone. (I can't claim credit for that line I'm afraid). Anyway decided good policy decision for the day was to cover up as much flesh as possible as sunburn still pretty angry (don't tell my Mum). So I indulged in a little light browsing round the shops of Nha Trang - virtually burka clad apart from a bright, red nose peeling great tracts of skin. And a very pleasant morning it was as I doffled gently around the shops. Late morning I discovered a fabulous ... read more
