Dear All,
I am sitting here after a long day and making good on my promise to write. It is snowing today and Kabul is at its most beautiful...smokey skies and gentle snow falling on the mountains. I was woken at 4 by dogs needing to get out todo their business..All four dogs have weaseled their way into the house at night now that Norm is gone home for R&R...it is having the equivalent of a barnyard in my bedroom. "Puppy" is the size of my small donkey but very polite and communicative about his needs. He hales from the ancient line of real Afghan hounds-bred and trained to protect herds of sheep from wolves...this gives him a strong inclination to protect me...from everything but his personality is sweet and he listens carefully to all commands...except the fact that at nine months he is the size of a pony ....and if he forgets himself he pulls me off of my feet...he is a great dog. Assef checked in with me at 7:30 where I was still in bed because it was warm..and then availed himself of my bathroom because the water at PARSA where he lives is frozen and there is no water....other than the stench of all of the manly perfumes that Reese (my younger son) left him to use it did not inconvenience me much. My housekeeper arrives at 8 to light the fires in all of the rooms I use and to clean. I check my e-mail...and move into my great room that I use...an old completely round room with views of the snowy Paghman mountains and the Hindu Kush....All the colors of the rainbow and a silky red rug Norm bought us..Fran wrote me a letter asking me to explain the security situation so that Willy (my nephew) can get permission to come this summer...I wrote the following:
Dear Dave and Fran,
I really have held off pushing to have Willy come because I wanted to see how Reese responded being here. So I want to explain to you why I am not worried about security.
1- I have an amazing staff of over 25 people who function as support and surrogate family.
2- We live in the Red Cross Compound...400 feet off the road, well guarded and frankly an unlikely target as the Taliban like to have the populace think of them as their saviors...there is the added bonus of having two insane asylums neighboring..on the 20 acre premises...which all Afghans are highly superstitious about. I know this may not sound like a great place to live but in fact we have a very friendly and benign community of misfits...some of which talk to themselves alot. Norman has medicated most of them creating alot more quiet and the potential for rehabilitation. AND only very compassionate Afghans like to hang with us on the compound...we are not an attractive target.
3-Willy will never be alone. He will always be accompanied by me, our drivers, Assef and Reese or Yasin. this is more togetherness than he will have experienced in a long time as well as all activities are discussed by the Afghan family before embarking ad nauseum.
4- We need Willy. He will step into a role of responsibility and usefulness that he never conceived of. And there is so much work that Reese had to really think hard about whether he wanted to watch movies at the end of the day. We usually fall into bed at 8:30 exhausted...no problem.
5- We don't go to places that other internationals go....our car is crappy looking...and we generally are hard to tell from the people on the street. We are not targets.
6- Most of Willy's time will be in Bamyan-which is designated very,very safe...He will be building a summer camp with Reese and riding horses to and fro from our guest house up there.
7-Willy will have a view of the world and what most people live like...and how amazing they can be at a young age....it has changed Reese's life and outlook and I think it can really change how Willy sees himself and his future...
PS.... I think I have lost my perspective...I don't think you should forward my well meant e-mail to David. Doesn't sound very attractive. Very,very hard to explain why I feel so safe...and insane ayslums are an iffy prospect in all cultures. Frankly, both Mahboubha and I are probably out on the Taliban list as "Do NOT Kidnap!!! at any cost...we will have to pay to get rid of them!!! When I put the word out that my nephew is an expert at drawing people's anatomical parts...and is looking for models...preferably Taliban...it should insure our security...Love, Marnie
Dawn (work here with me for last year- my childhood friend from when I lived here in '60's) has taken over the operations of Parsa so that I can focus on fundraising and calls me hourly to tell me about the craziness but I am deeply grateful to be out of it for a minute...the last call was to talk about the fact that our book keeper couldn't find tape and needed her advice which indicates the level of management we are struggling through.
Other issues:
- Habibullah thinks there are ghosts at the PT clinic so he refuses to sleep there unaccompanied to spell our night time guard.
- The bulldozer the Afghan Red Crescent hired to level land has cut through our water main for the second time in two weeks....we have joined the long line of residents at the water spigot.
- The women on staff hijacked the car on the way home to go to a women's party without consulting anyone-causing hours of recoordiantion and discussion of Transportation.
- The Girls in our sewing shop are making new designs without any approval...resulting in some of the most amazingly awful clothing---Dawn is capacity building however and has challenged them to find a market and sell them...
Dawn and I have been asked to teach at the American University which is very exciting for us as it is on our old campus where we went to school as children. But I look at her...blond hair greasy from no bathing (PARSA hasn't had water for two months) and clothing dug out of the bottom of some donation box...while she waits for her other clothing to come through from the "washing auntie" ...and I say that we need a "make over"...I am wearing the same shirt I have for a couple of days and a skirt over my pants to keep me warm...with a serious static cling factoring into the whole "look". Heavy socks embroidered from Nuristan and heavy boots don't help much.
Obaid from American University writes me to confirm my first consultancy on leadership with the Roshan company.. look in my wardrobe and see alot of what my friend Jean calls "character pieces" and I move my need for a new wardrobe higher onto my "to do" list. I do have a fabulous coat being made in the sewing room out of some of the wool blankets donated to the orphanage....but looked at the prototype today and for some reason they have embroidered white candy canes along the lapels and I am not sure it is going to do for my consultancy gig. I told them "no candy canes" and they were fine and decided the coat would go to Dawn who they have decided will wear anything.
At the end of the day Asef turns up to talk to me about his girl friend problems, in "Dinglish"..I have refused to hire her at PARSA and tried to explain that she needs to find her own job...he is all I can handle right now...I excuse myself from his tearful account of problems with his love life to go to my round room and do yoga and my breathing excercises from the "Art of Living" program...I have found an Indian Guru who is arriving in a month to consult with Karzai on the needs of the Afghan people. Sri Sri Ravishankar who found the "Art of Living" and is in line for a Nobel Peace prize for his international work. I can see why too...Last week I hosted 30 Afghan school boys for our first "Art of Living Course" here at PARSA as they learned yoga and meditation with Dawn and I the only women in the course. First, there is no human being on the planet that I have more hostile feelings toward than Afghan schoolboys. I think they are nasty, hormonal and they spent a good amount of the workshop sniggering at my backside as I attempted to do yoga postures. Thankfully, the intent of the workshop prevailed and I managed to feel a modicum of compassionate, universal love for them at the end of five days of yoga and breathing in their presence. If I could change my mind about Afghan school boys, in this course it is something special.
At the end of my yoga session today, I took Puppy for a walk around the compound as he explored for dead bodies...trying to remember Reese's training rules for him...making sure he knew I was "in charge"...dragging him away from questionable mounds of snow made sure that my shoulder is out of joint as a result and I am too tired to build a fire in the bathroom to take a warm bath.
I brought the dogs in and Reeses puppy , Motee, is trying out her "fighting dog" moves on Puppy in the house so both have been banished to the yard and are outside now whining to get back in.
In the evenings, I really miss Norm although I am glad to know he is resting.....love to all.
Our home in Marastoon has emerged from the winter suddenly...leaky adobe roof...young coakroaches coming up the drain in the tub but the beauty of its old Afghan architecture is warming and gracious. Uncle Nasim ignored Yasin's direction for a cream colored exterior and picked a vibrant pink for our home. Build in the 1920's this was the first Afghan Red Crescent office and a ruin when we came here last year. But we have managed to renovate it as this type of structure is inexpensive to fix and it now is our home-has dormitories for our volunteers-a community kitchen and is connected to our "Center for Creative Abilities" that we will be completed this month-as a vocational training center in Marastoon. Under the guidance of Aisha-the women in the sewing center designed floor pillows and curtains so everything possible here is a showcase for how beautiful Afghan made designs can be. These pictures are welcoming Camilla Barry, her son Nicholas and photo journalist, Ginna Fleming.
