Help Wanted

I’m back in Afghanistan after going home for a too short Christmas break. Yes, I am part of that noble core of do-gooding souls ready to stand arm in arm with our less fortunate brothers and sisters, living as they live, eating what they eat, forgoing creature comforts and risking life and limb - just not on major holidays or during our children’s school breaks.

The snow has started to fall and that is both good and bad. Good because insurgent related violence goes down during the winter since apparently the Taliban haven’t figured out where to buy good snow tires. Bad because access to the people that we are trying to reach with services becomes severely restricted. We are planning to distribute food as part of the health intervention but we are having trouble getting it into the country. It was the same way when I worked in Indonesia. Bringing in free food ain’t as easy as one might imagine!

I recently met with the provincial Governor and members of the Provincial Council and they all pledged the support of their respective good offices. These meetings are mostly ceremonial but occasionally the phrase “when I was speaking to the Governor about……” does come in handy when dealing with a less than helpful civil servant as you’re trying to get a copy of this or that government regulation / policy statement / strategic planning document.

We’re still having trouble recruiting staff, both Afghan and expatriate but for some reason I'm hopeful that things will turn around. I’m thinking that in this shall we say challenging economic environment that maybe people will give old Afghanistan a second look, she ain’t so bad!