It is my day off and I am in Kabul. Because of a security threat, I can’t go shopping! Can you imagine? I was hoping for some ability to travel out into the city so that I can see it and let you know what it looks like and feels like, and here I am in my room and can’t go anywhere – just like Herat! Actually, I did go somewhere earlier today: we had a bazaar on the camp, and I bought myself a rug to try to help me keep from tracking dust into my room. I bought a lapis lazuli box for my jewelry (I don’t have much here, but I wanted to keep it in one place), a colorful wrap, and a backpack for my trip home. I don’t want to have to check any luggage.
Tonight, we are going to have a movie, with popcorn, I might add, and I will be going to that. I also am going to the yoga class this afternoon, which will be good. Yesterday, we worked on “flabdominals,” and then I had lots to do on the “Friday” of my week.
Most of my Washington training class is here at the same time! We agreed to meet for dinner, so after the horrible exercise class, we found each other at the dining hall. The camp has a weekly poker game and bar, so we went from dinner to there and had cocktails and caught up with each other. It was so good to see everyone! We are here in different stages – one man got here a week before I did, a couple got here a little after I did, and then three more showed up over the last month. I think one of our cohorts has taken a job in Cambodia, and I’m not sure about the other person, but the rest of us had a great time talking. It turns out that one of the security people is in the camp right next to this one, and so I am going over there next Thursday to say hello. He is the head of security there, and I was hoping he would be at our camp in that position, but no luck.
At the bar, there were two full poker tables and a very nice bar with one grumpy bartender and one very congenial one. Someone, one of the poker players, I think, had an iPod filled with great music, so while we were sipping our drinks (Michael and I had Jameson, and everyone else drank red wine), we heard wonderful jazz and it was almost like being out on a Friday after work before it’s time to go home. I can’t tell you how much the gathering lifted my spirits.
In two weeks, I will be heading home, and I can hardly wait. I am trying not to count the days, or they will go slowly - but it's only 14 days!!!!!
Tomorrow, it’s back to work, and I will begin again finding my place in a new team, this one dedicated to trying to advocate for gender justice in a country where women are still prosecuted and lashed or thrown in jail for engaging in sex outside of marriage, or for looking as if they might want to engage in sex outside marriage. They are still traded away to atone for the sins of someone in one family against a member of another family. They are still beaten by their husbands and mothers-in-law, and they are still mutilated by their husbands for being disobedient – or for any other reason that might sound acceptable. Under the law and under Sharia law (according to the Constitution, no law in Afghanistan can conflict with the law of Islam), any woman has the right to refuse an engagement. Forcing a woman into a marriage is illegal under both Sharia and the Afghan Penal Code, but it is perfectly acceptable according to culture. That is where I will be doing my work. It will be a challenge.
I’ll let you know how it goes!
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