Peace and Joy to All

Big news today!!!!!!! I obtained a chair for the desk in my room.... oh man, life is good.

I now have an assigned interpreter (can't share her name for security reasons, so we'll call her Asa for this purpose). Asa is a lovely university student (studying law) who speaks, reads and writes very good English and is teaching me some Dari (primary language here). I'm finding Dari difficult to learn, it's a very gutteral language but Asa's quite persistent.

I'll share the story about her life which she most graciously shared with me. Her parents escaped Afghanistan into Iran when she and her 3 sisters and 1 brother were all very young, escaping the war and violence they found themselves surrounded by. Living as refugees in Iran, they were very poor but her parents worked as both tailors and brick builders to support their family. While living in Iran, all the children (to include 4 girls) received good educations to include learning English. After over 10 years living in refugee status, they returned to their home country and Kabul (the Afghan capitol) and re-established their lives. According to Asa, who lives with her parents, they feel quite safe in their current home and are becoming financially secure according to Afghan standards. Asa comes from a conservative Muslim family; however, she only wears longer colorful scarves that cover her the back of her head (not her face) and neck. Neither she nor any women in her family wear a burka (total coverage of body from head to toe).

Asa has shared with me a few times how much she loves her country which is why she is studying to be a lawyer. Unlike many here, she has no desire to immigrate away from her country... it's an amazing story. Working/speaking with Asa and many others like her makes me feel like leaving my wonderful home, family, friends was all worth it. I do miss you guys though.

The meeting I was supposed to attend at the national ministry was cancelled today so I'll have to share that story for another time. Tomorrow I have a meeting with my European Police (EUPOL) counterparts at their compound. From what I understand, it's not far from my office. Ahhhh, another new experience.

Love to all

GAIL