Election Over Back to Work

This photo depicts a local Mosque (church) which always tend to be this shade of blue and in this round shape with high windows. The Mosques do vary in size (not shape) and the roofs of some in the wealthier neighborhoods tend to have baeautifully designed and colorful tile roofs. The tower to the right where the Mosque "Crier" (kind of like the town crier of our early US history) goes to call people to prayer five times a day. After a "call to prayer" I will see people on the streets washing their feet, hair and faces with pitchers of water. Asa tells me she must wash all her makeup off as well as clean her feet and arms before prayer. Most do not go to the Mosque, but will kneel on a colorful "prayer rug" and pray independently, initially putting their forehead to the ground and then a little later rocking up and down from the waist. Then they stand in prayer. Asa tells me Shia fold their hands in front of them below the waist at this point but Sunni hold their hands to their sides. She tells me this difference in prayer style has resulted in a couple of wars.

The elections. Reports tell us here there were over 5300 polls that opened and remained open. Over 500 Taliban were caught or killed by government forces when they tried to attack the polls; unfortunately, they were successful on a few occasions. And, about 40% of the population voted, although one never really knows. I find myself looking at the right index finger of the officials here at the Ministry. When Afghans (as well as in many other world countries) vote, they dip their finger in permanent ink after they vote to prevent repetitive voting. It's nice to see these officials with stained fingers, but I was most concerned about the higher ranking ones I saw that did not have the stained finger... I wanted to chastise them for not voting. By the way, 40% of the population voting is higher than we will find in the US during mid term elections... and no one is threatening our lives or shooting at us.

I've become very busy at work of late with both the international community and the Afghans. I've written a couple of personnel management policies which are drawing a lot of interest. More on that in another blog episode.

Today, big hug for all because I feel most blessed to have so many of you in my life. Thank you for your blog loyalty. If you haven't let me know you're reading, I'd love to hear from you. My email: gailey56@aol.com. Your comments and requests are most welcome.