EDITOR'S NOTE: Bill Wright is a self-employed businessman turned photographer. He travels exotic locales and captures in photographs the lives, emotions and cultures of people for his love of art, and because it helps him make better business decisions. He was recently named one of Abilene's 10 Most Influential by the Abilene Reporter-News. Following is an e-mailed journal entry to family and friends about his newest adventure - a trip to Kabul, Afghanistan.

I woke up to bad news this morning. There was another bomb blast on the outskirts of Kabul about 30 minutes ago and two were killed and a taxi demolished. Four other persons injured. This occurred on a road heavily traveled by the U.S. Military as they travel between one of their near-by bases and downtown Kabul. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is when I head for the school. J.B, Leedy, the Public Affairs Officer, at the embassy wanted to come by this morning early to meet some of the students but this latest incident will probably restrict her to the embassy campus.

I am certainly grateful for the tight security here at the Serena Hotel and my experienced “fixer”, Faideen. At any rate, the day goes on. Everyone will be looking over their shoulder, which is good. We will visit AINA, a program founded by a National Geographic Photographer, Reza Deghati, who assisted my friend, Sue, in securing the books for the students here.

Before breakfast, I walked for a while in the garden of the hotel. The rose garden was in bloom and the doves were flying about. What a strange contrast with the events of violence that are occurring in the country. It was very peaceful and the sounds of the city coming to life were much the same as I would expect to find in any American city. Of course the similarity ended as soon as I exited the secured gates of the hotel.

Faideen delivered me to the school and we began to gear up for the trip to Reza’s party that turned out to be a party celebrating his 54th year.

Before we left, Jean Leedy, our State Department contact came by the school to see what was going on and to take some pictures of the children working at the computers they had funded. She would continue on to Aina and meet us there. She couldn’t ride with us because she had to ride in the Department’s armored Land Cruiser that stood out like the red nose on a clown’s face. It is hard to know what is the best approach. I am comfortable riding with Faideen in a non-descript van, on of a thousand of like design scuttling about the streets of Kabul.

The organization Reza founded, AINA, is a school dedicated to developing photojournalists and design specialists and his photographs are hung about the patio. After the French clowns entertained the assembled guests including 150 or so children including ours from the school, he took our group on a personal tour and explained each photograph, pointing out the features that made it exceptional. While I could not understand the language, by his gestures, I could tell that he was re-enforcing many of the lessons I had already communicated to the kids. A lot of pixels were stimulated during the morning.

We returned to the school with Faideen’s van stuffed full of wiggling kids. It reminded me of popcorn in a heated can! Our van was certainly a heated can. Sweat was pouring over me even though the top panel was also open. It was about 102 in Kabul and of course there is no air conditioning except at the hotel. The kids didn’t mind.They were laughing and teasing each other and popping about like crazy.

I wondered what would happen if Faideen made a driving error. No seatbelts, of course, and aggressive driver as Alice considers me to be, I was no match for Faideen. My abs will be in good shape on my return because I do the tightening exercize every time he pulls if front of a oncoming bus or speeding motorbike. I wouldn’t want to compete with him with a computer game. His reaction time is measured in milliseconds.

I continued doing the formal portraits of the kids for the calendar project and designed the mats and presentation for the school. The plan is to sell the calendars with the children’s photographs to State Department workers as they go home for rotation and this posting will have about an 80 percent turnover by the end of August. A real problem of continuity. Most people take about 6 months to settle into their jobs and by the time they are in tune with the local situation it is time for them to leave. Of course, they are professionals and trained to operate with these kinds of restrictions. More on my thoughts re: our state dept later.

We worked hard all afternoon, photographing and teaching computer skills of file management, downloading and viewing images. I started reviewing various student’s work and using the crop tool on photoshop elements, showed how they could tighten their images. In a way, it was like using the “double L” cut outs that could be placed over a print to demonstrate different compositional approaches.

A BBC reporter came by to see the project at 5 pm and several of the students were able to continue working with their images beyond the normal closing time. They had discovered “filters” in photoshop and were laughing as they prepared bizarre treatments of the photos they had taken earlier in the day---pushing the saturation and contrast to extreme limits, adding blur and noise, and using other techniques. It was learning by exploration and kids who weren’t afraid to make a mistake could really soar.

By 6 pm I was back in my hotel room with the cold water of the shower running over me. I will admit to being a little tired as I had not had much sleep the night before getting up early to organize the student pictures I had downloaded into my laptop computer. Just after getting dressed, Sarah called from the lobby and she was ready to take me to the Embassy for a dinner in Jean’s apartment.

It was a nice evening. We entered the compound where all the State Dept employees who were not “nationals” lived under tight security. Contract security guards, loaded with weapons, checked and secured our passports, assigned us to an escort officer which happened to be Tim who was to dine with us that evening, and issued each of us a visitors badge to hang around our neck.

Jean had a small but very nice balcony off of her tiny dining/livingroom/kitchen and we sat there talking about business. The party consisted of Tim, who had just arrived on station from Lithuania, another lady who worked for State and was in town for a conference from Jalablad [sp], Sarah’s husband, Mark, Jean and myself as “guest” of honor. I had an Australian beer, the first alcohol since leaving Abilene. It was cold and reallll good.

I was ready for bed when we walked down the guarded street to meet Faideen and the van.

I slept soundly.

Posted by · July 27, 2006 3:58 PM · Comments (0)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bill Wright is a self-employed businessman turned photographer. He travels exotic locales and captures in photographs the lives, emotions and cultures of people for his love of art, and because it helps him make better business decisions. He was recently named one of Abilene's 10 Most Influential by the Abilene Reporter-News. Following is an e-mailed journal entry to family and friends about his newest adventure - a trip to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Today confirmed that I am a slow learner. It has taken three days to understand that my room, 284, is not on the second floor. The lobby area is floor zero which I understand. When press 2 on the elevator I get off at the floor where all of the rooms begin with “3”. So the 2nd floor is really the first floor. I think I have it down now. I get on the elevator and press “1” for the floor containing my room, 284. Live and learn, if slowly.

I woke up this morning thinking about the news item in the morning paper: Taliban attacking Afghanistan schools. To date over 200 schools have been burned or abandoned because of Taliban actions to discourage the education of Afghanistan’s young people. Their theory is that an uneducated person is more likely to join their ranks than a person who has attended school and knows more about the world. Of course, it is a good but immoral strategy. I can almost assure you that the young women in our class would go down struggling if they were sent home to bake bread and be the third wife of some ancient tribal leader.

Another disturbing bit of news is that the Karzi administration is considering re-establishing the religious police. This would be a giant step backward in the modernization of the country. I am not sure this has been reported in the world press but local news organizations carried the story which I will try and send in detail later. I mentioned the concern to Faideen but he felt that is was not as big a deal as some of the foreign press might think. All Muslem countries have the religious police he said but their actions were exaggerated under Taliban rule. “I don’t think we will ever see that again,” he told me. Faideen, of course, is a devout Muslim and leaves the class periodically for his prayers. He is gone for about 20 minutes and then is back.

There were rapid local actions taken with regard to the bomb blast near the U.S. Embassy last Sunday. Several have been taken into custody and calm prevails. Life goes on as usual for these battered people.

Life for my students has been exciting. Their enthusiasm for learning elevates my own spirits and confirms that there is much good in the world in spite of all the disasters that we hear about daily. These young folks---I can’t call them kids because they grow up quickly here---are intent on learning. Yesterday two came to the class uninvited and demanded to remain. I agreed and they dove into the work immediately. The tragic underlying reality is that progress requires both education and opportunity. The latter is dramatically lacking here in Afghanistan. The internet will give these young folks more of an opportunity that they have had before. Unfortunately, ASCHIANA’s internet connection has been shut down for lack of money. That will change in time. And, impatient me, I have to realize that progress occurs one step at a time.

When installing the equipment donated by the U.S. Department of State, I realized how much we take for granted. Each computer was accompanied with a special power supply to ensure the computer would not shut off immediately if the generator for the building should quit. Power shuts off at night. Interruptions are frequent. Energy drives our civilization and without it we would all be subsistence farmers with only the sun to provide our life.

I noticed the power strip we were using was being held together with a unburned match jammed into the on/off button. Potentially dangerous. I requested three new ones so as not to put too much load on one. Fortunately, the grant provided enough money for re-chargeable batteries for the cameras. They were going through AA batteries at a ferocious clip.

Today we had classroom in the morning where I explained the best I could about the differences between dpi and ppi, jpg and tif, kilobytes and megabytes and many other terms that they would encounter. We went through the menu of options for the operation of their cameras and talked about histograms and exposure.

We had a portrait shooting session where we talked about the light and how important it was to focus on the eyes. I set up and took pictures of the students and they posed and tuck turns being the model. Before I knew it, time for lunch. Sarah and I had an engagement with J.B. the Public Affairs Officer at the embassy along with her financial person at a traditional Afghan restaurant named Safi. It was a long way from the school which game me a chance to see more of Kabul. We were accompanied from the school by the Director, Eng, M. Yosef, and of course, driven by Faideen.

As we entered, Sarah was excited to see the well-known lady, Nancy Dupree, who had written the definitive guidebook for Afghanistan. Her husband, Louis Dupree, a distinguished scholar, wrote “Afghanistan”, a book that should be on every library shelf for anyone interested in the country. In his book, he observed that Afghanistan is actually a nation of poets because poetry, essentially a spoken language, enables illiterate men and women to express themselves. Nancy looked to be well over 80 years of age but sparky and interesting to visit with. I photographed her with the Director Yosef who was her great fan.

The meal was exceptional. They tried to stuff me with every traditional dish but I was careful, especially as Sarah had been forced to make an emergency stop enroute. My favorite was the vegetable soup with cilantro and pureed vegetables and the awshak, a lentils and gdana concoction with a yogurt sauce.

Driving back to the school we stopped for a few shots along the way and found the students eagerly awaiting their assignment which was to find and photograph the beautiful in Afghanistan. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

We wondered why the lights didn’t come on when we plugged in the battery chargers. We fussed around trying various plugs, taking out and putting in the batteries, changing chargers, and then realized the power was out. The computer had been running on battery back up. We left for the night with the hope that in the morning we would have fully charged power for the cameras.

Another lesson about life in Afghanistan.

Posted by · July 27, 2006 12:57 PM · Comments (0)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From an e-mail to family and friends on Wednesday, July 26, 2006)

Yesterday morning our group gave the talk at symposium to the staff at the hospital. During the discussion afterwards I thought they were going to ignore my topic all together until Mr. Chihana asked why women needed empowerment. I tried to explain as best as I could, but it was hard to find words to describe why women deserve basic human rights. It is just something I have taken for granted that women are equal to men. All the men in the room started laughing at Mr. Chihana's question like he was crazy for asking why women are equal to men. The head nurse spoke up and said that she thought change would have to begin in the home, but the men kept interrupting her. I am sure it took a lot of courage for her to speak up because women are taught to never speak back to a man in this culture.

As I sat in the room I felt incredibly frustrated. It was almost as if my whole body was going to start shaking and it was the least I could do to not jump out of my seat. I think I just assumed that this kind of blatant sexism does not exist anymore, but these men could never understand the rights that women have in the U.S. When we tried to explain how women were treated in our country one of the leaders said "well maybe women in the U.S. have too much freedom." I know it is going to take a long time to bring change to this place (probably generations), but it is desperately needed. If men can laugh about women empowerment in public, then who knows how they treat their wives at home.

Later that day I met with the hospital administrator to discuss my project. She really opened up to me about the treatment of women here. When she was 15 years old her grandmothers and aunts basically kidnapped her by throwing a cloth over her head and not letting her out of the house for 2 months. She was worked tirelessly and not allowed to speak throughout the entire period while the women taught her the "facts of life." She explained how terrified she was and that for the first week she refused to eat. Gradually she adjusted to waking up at 5 am and serving as the "lowest of the low." It was during this time that her relatives crushed the spirit of girlhood within her to train her to be an obedient wife. Although this was over 30 years ago, I could tell she was still very scarred from the experience. When she was finally allowed to "come out," her father threw her a big celebration and all the neighbors came over to decide who she would marry. Now that she had been through the initiation ceremony her one role was to marry well and not embarrass her family. She described the incredible stigma attached to virginity and how if a woman did not bleed on her wedding night she would be sent back to her family as an embarrassment. It was this fear that was driven into the girls so that they would be obedient. They did whatever they were told so that they did not bring shame on their families. She was married once, but I assume her husband must have died very young. She explained that it is only now that she is over 50 that women have stopped asking her when she is going to remarry.

Women still go through this initiation ceremony today although it might be for only a month on a school holiday. She explained that the situation has gotten a lot better since she was a girl, but that women are still very inferior to men. This tradition is embedded in the culture here and will take generations to change. However, she finds hope that some of the women here now desire change although they lack the courage to act. Some women will get together in groups and decided to rise up against their cheating husbands, but when they get home alone with him they lose all courage to his dominance. My hope is that they will teach these values to their children and although they might not be able to live them out, hopefully their children will. Some of these men can be pitiful and never work for the family's well being, but the women are strongly afraid of divorce because they will lose everything including their children. Although the law protects them, most women do not know how to use the legal system and if they did their women relatives would scorn them.

Sometimes I feel like I have stepped back in time. Were the women in the United States treated this way before the women's suffrage movement?

Anyway, this has gotten a bit long, but if you made it this far thanks for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts. I leave for a safari on Monday, so after that I will not be able to email again until I get back to Abilene on August 5th.

Posted by · July 26, 2006 9:30 PM · Comments (0)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bill Wright is a self-employed businessman turned photographer. He travels exotic locales and captures in photographs the lives, emotions and cultures of people for his love of art, and because it helps him make better business decisions. He was recently named one of Abilene's 10 Most Influential by the Abilene Reporter-News. Following is an e-mailed journal entry to family and friends about his newest adventure - a trip to Kabul, Afghanistan.

What a day.

Not able to sleep but two or three hours during the night made me ready to get up early and get started. I went to the lobby about 6:00 am to get an ethernet cable to connect with the internet and stayed for a short breakfast.

Faideen, my driver and interpreter, was scheduled to meet me at 7:45 am for the trip to ASCHIANA. I wanted to get the computers set up and ready for action after lunch. Before leaving I downloaded over 200 emails, many of which were from friends wishing me the best of luck on the journey.

This was to be the big day---getting the cameras in their hands and making the first photographs. I was worried about being able to communicate adequately and hold the student’s interest. I need not have worried.

Faideen was right on time and I had my first real experience of driving in Kabul traffic. Cairo was a snap compared to Afghan drivers. Our trip to the school was mercifully short but in the space of only a few miles I thought I would be involved in at least a dozen collisions and witness numerous impalements of bicycle riders and pedestrians. It was a cacophony of color and motion---horns blaring---scowls passed between vehicles and seemingly non-existent rules of the road. No traffic lights were working since the end of the war.

Faideen was nonchalant. He carried on an easy conversation inquiring about my family and the state of the world. He was born in Afghanistan, but he left for Pakistan when the Taliban took over. After the war, he returned and hoped that they would never come back. We discussed the problems faced by his country and he said they were surrounded by enemies. Chief among them Iran whom he said infiltrated fighters constantly and who, it was commonly known, was responsible for the destabilization of Iraq, Palestine, Pakistan and other Moslem countries. He was also worried about Pakistan because he felt that only the capital, like Afghanistan, was secured, with radicals controlling the countryside in spite of the army’s efforts.

We arrived whole at the school and shortly Sarah arrived. One small problem. The room containing the computers and cameras was locked and no one could immediately locate the key. The efficient problem-solving Sarah went to work immediately and rousted the office manager from his sick bed [so he said] and the key was dispatched. Remarkable compliance for demands from a non-staff foreigner.

The class began filtering in at 9:00 am, the appointed time, but some were late. When they arrived, Sarah laid down the law. No more late showups. No certificate of completion if everyone is not here and accounted for. No one whimpered that I could hear.

We started with introductions and soon transitioned to explaining the functions of the new cameras. I was worried because the age of participants ranged from 12 to one university student who was 26. It was not a problem, it was an advantage as the older students assumed some responsibility for the younger ones.

We broke for lunch and I declined. The school served all the students a healthy meal of rice and vegetables. There was a lot of chatter about the cameras and the pictures they had already taken around the campus.

After lunch, the students went out shooting and came back to download into the computers. They were instructed in making folders and protecting their files.

Talk about excitement! Seeing their computer images on the big screen made them giddy. Even the older ones. We printed some of them off on plain paper and taped them to the wall. Proud didn’t nearly cover it.

By the time 4:30 pm rolled around, I was also giddy. Fatigue had overpowered enthusiasm and I was ready to get back to the room and get cool. [Of course, the school did not have air conditioning.] Faideen did a wonderful job assisting in the computer work and explaining how it all went together. Later he told me the day was a great success.

Back at the hotel, I slumped down in the room’s only stuffed chair and sucked down a liter of water.

It had been another good day.

Posted by · July 25, 2006 6:21 PM · Comments (0)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Bill Wright is a self-employed businessman turned photographer. He travels exotic locales and captures in photographs the lives, emotions and cultures of people for his love of art, and because it helps him make better business decisions. He was recently named one of Abilene's 10 Most Influential by the Abilene Reporter-News. Following is an e-mailed journal entry to family and friends about his newest adventure - a trip to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Sunday July 23, 2006

To begin with, Kabul is a long way from Abilene, Texas. After changing planes three times and traveling for the better part of three days, I felt like a certified “road warrior”.

On the last travel day with no sleep and a bit of nervousness, I found the aisle seat on Arab Air flight G90283 to Kabul from Dubai, the United Arab Emirates global hot spot. My seat mate, a Pashtun from the south of Afghanistan and the ancestral home of the Taliban, immediately began silent prayer after we squeezed into the tourist class Airbus seats. That was understandable considering he didn’t know how to adjust his seat belt.

I had another reason to be worried. Inflight, the attendant offered a sharma bun for $4.00 US, and having had scant fare the preceeding days, I jumped at the chance. The man seated across the aisle who worked for the UN World Food Project bought one also. In my haste to satisfy my hunger I had eaten the entire thing when I realized that the food man took one bite of his and folded the rest up. “A diet?”, I enquired. “No, tasted bad,” the expert on food said.

As we began our approach into Kabul, a moderate dust storm was blowing and the plane was being buffeted from gusts comming from all directions. I leaned across the Pastun and caught a glimpse of the dark-crested Afghan desert mountains stenciled on a light tan desert background as the plane came in with one wing dipped and in a slight crab to windward. Before the plane skidded and lurched to moderate taxi speed, I found myself checking out the emergency exits.

In retrospect, it was a very skillful crosswind landing and I watched the panorama of ancient and modern aircraft parked on the ramp as we taxied by. There was a heavy preponderance of helicopters with tarps over windshields and rotor hubs to protect from the wind. The buildings seemed ancient adobe with metal sheeting in places. It was not inspiring compared with the ultra modern terminal I had experienced in Dubai.

We deplaned and passed through customs after filling out an entry card and were passed to the luggage area. The ancient conveyor belt was heavy laden with all sorts of packages wrapped in plastic and tied with ropes, bags of every vintage and description. Much more colorful than the nowadays “all alike” roller bag I see at domestic airports. Everyone had a make your own! The creaking and lurching of the belt suddenly stopped and everyone groaned. A ten minute delay while some repair was being made or the electricity restored.

I had a tap on my shoulder. “Are you Bill Wright?” the bouncy Australian young lady asked. Looking around I was immediately captivated by an infectious smile and responded with a grateful “yes!” I was not looking forward to searching out my contact in the swarm of passengers.

Sarah was the contact person for Aschiana, the NGO [non-governmental organization] that I had volunteered to work with. Beside her was Faideen, my driver/interpreter for the week. He was a youngish-looking and trim local man who had been recommended by the U.S, Embassy as a dependable and knowledgeable “fixer” who would be able to cart me around to the places I wanted to go.

It turned out that Faideen was a good choice. Earlier that morning as he picked Sarah up and started to the airport the alarms went off and the road to the airport and several major traffic circles were sealed off because of a bomb threat. Faideen skillfully re-routed the van using back roads and delivered himself and Sarah right on time. A live bomb was later found in a trash can along the route and not in the U.S. Embassy as a circulating rumor suggested.

We loaded the bags and headed toward my hotel, stopping only to offload the cameras and other equipment at the Aschiana headquarters where embassy staff had already delivered the needed computers and a HP printer.
I met several of the future students and some of the Aschiana staff and we continued to the Serena Hotel where I had reservations.

It was heavily fortified. The entrance to the hotel led through a car trap where security personnel raised and lowered steel beams to prohibit either entry or escape while they moved a tilted mirror around the bottom of the car inspecting for bombs or prohibited items.

We passed the test and were passed into an interior motor court and unloaded. The reception was routine with the exception that I was taken immediately to the cashier for payment in advance for the room. Only cash accepted. Exchange was 1 to 49. The room was excellent and the shower head worked beautifully as soon as the door to the room was closed.

Sarah made plans for dinner at the hotel that evening. Her husband, Mark Johnston would be a bit late but would join us in time for ordering. Mark was a policy consultant with an independent contractor dealing with the Afghan drug problem. Australian natives, Mark and Sarah re-invented themselves several years before and moved from the commercial sector to the public service sector. Mark spent two years at Harvard’s Kennedy School and was awarded a Ph.D. in Economics and Public Policy. Their current “permanent” home was in Bangkok but they saw little of that with their journeys from one assignment to another. The next would take them to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. What a life!

J.B. Leedy, the assistant Public Affairs officer at the U.S, Embassy would also join us. She was the person who had initially contacted me about the coming to Kabul. Her invitation had been carefully stated. She said that under present regulations, it was not possible to invite persons to Afghanistan because of the perceived security risks but should I decide to come on my own, she would like for me to be involved with Aschiana to teach digital photography to “street working” kids.

I soon found that the “J” in J.B, stood for Jean and that she was a woman. When she appeared that night she turned out to be a young and attractive person who was enthusiastic about her job but frustrated by the fact that all of the personnel at the embassy were prohibited from circulating freely in town which made the cultural affairs component of her responsibility much more difficult. J.B.’s husband, a military officer, was back at the Pentagon in Washington where he was assigned. As a Department of State employee, J.B. had the option of one year of solo duty in Afghanistan without her husband or two years solo at another more friendly and enjoyable location. She chose the one year.

I met Sarah and J.B. in the lobby at 7 pm and we went to the hotel restaurant to wait for Mark. There were no cocktails before dinner as Afghanistan is a Moslem country so J.B. and I enjoyed a diet coke and Sarah chose a local melon drink. I thought I might try the melon drink but she advised me against it to ensure I would continue to be “fit” for the remainder of the week and not cut down by “the Taliban’s Revenge”.

Mark arrived a short while later and pulled up a chair next to me. He had the typical Aussie’s friendly and engaging personality, and I appreciated his candid and informed remarks regarding Afghanistan.

We had a delightful dinner of Australian lamb in the hotel restaurant and I, as promised, passed on the beautiful desert.

It was a good first day in Afghanistan.

Posted by · July 24, 2006 3:26 PM · Comments (1)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From an e-mail to family and friends on Saturday, July 22, 2006)

Yesterday on rounds was the first time I got emotional over a patient. There was this man who had both tuberculosis and pneumonia. When Mr. Timbu had us listen to his chest you could hear the crackling as he struggled to breath. I have never witnessed someone who had such a hard time performing one of the body's most basic tasks. Yet again I realized how much I take for granted. What is involuntary for me is a constant painful struggle for him. They were going to put him on antibiotics by IV which I hope will help.

We also went to the Orphans and Vulnerable Children's Center (OVC) yesterday. The children were so cute. We cut out animals and let them practice their motor skills by gluing the pieces on certain parts of the paper. For instance, the frog went near the pond and the hen went by the barn. I was pretty impressed by the 4 year olds ability to understand English and right from left.

We then all danced in a big circle to songs we remembered from childhood like Ring around the Rosie and the Hookie Pookie. The kids were so cute as they jumped up and down and sang along with us. It was easy to forget that they were any different from a typical preschooler in the states. However, afterward it really hit me what a hard life some of these kids have. To be able to come to the center they must have lost at least one parent (usually to HIV which effects about 33% of the population here) or be in a vulnerable position where their parents do not feed them. So here were these cute kids dancing like any other 4 year old except their lives are completely different outside of the classroom. Next week the administrator of the center is determined to give the children their first shower (of their entire life!).

Today we went to the Outpatient Clinic to finish up the painting that we started last week. The back room was disgusting. Cobwebs, spiders, and dust filled the air and covered the disorganized medical records. We started by moving everything out and scrubbing the walls. There was so much dust that we were sneezing through our masks. We then split up into teams so that some people scrapped off chipped paint, while others began to trim. I went outside and painted the wooden signs which will identify each room. There was a laboratory (said with an English accent), an eye room, a pharmacy, and an X-ray (which they use daily to diagnose tuberculosis).

Then this afternoon we met with one of the HIV/AIDS support groups. Only 4 of the 10 members came, but they were so open and honest. They spoke of the trouble of "exposing" oneself as HIV positive because of the stigma associated with the disease. If you are found positive, then you are sometimes ostracized from family and friends who believe you have been promiscuous. The reason they organized into the support group was because the Church Health Association of Zambia (CHAZ) had promised them funds fro projects to support their families. However, they have yet to receive any of this aid for their many project proposals. They are all too weak to do the traditional jobs such as fishing, so in one proposal they asked for a small grain mill (which probably costs less than 100 dollars) so that they could grind corn into mill and thus raise money for their families and AIDS education. It is hard to see them so frustrated at their lack of funds when they seem so dedicated to the group. Even though they haven't received money, I can tell that the support group idea is working because there is a real camaraderie among the members. When one is sick they will go visit him and when another has questions about her ARV side effects she can talk to members of the group who have been through the treatment. It is hopeful to see how well the members have responded to the new ARV drugs which have just been available to this area for less than a year. In the past if one was diagnosed with the disease, there was basically no reason to hope. Now they have medications which will improve not only the length of their life, but the quality. Most of the group has started the ARVs in the past year and have already grown so much stronger. They seemed very interested about getting in contact with an AIDS support group back in the states so they can continue to find materials and encouragement.

Well, I hope you are all doing well. I finished up "Mountains beyond Mountains" and have moved on to reading "The Poisonwood Bible." So far it is also incredible, so I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good fiction book about missionaries in pre-colonial Congo.

Posted by · July 22, 2006 9:16 PM · Comments (0)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From an e-mail to family and friends on Tuesday, July 18, 2006)

This morning members of our group led a symposium on HIV/AIDS for the hospital staff. There is still no doctor here since the previous one left last month, so the clinical officers (Mr. Timbu in particular) are very anxious to learn as much as they can about what other countries are doing to combat the epidemic. Although my project (empowering African women in reproductive health) was not one of the topics, I felt the discussion was very beneficial for everyone. I continue to be impressed with Mr. Timbu for his insightful questions and desire to learn. One comment of his (that men would never discuss sex with their children) made me really think about the importance of educating men as well as women in reproductive and sexual health issues. It seems, however that men in this community (besides the hospital staff) have no desire to lean how to better protect themselves and their family from HIV and STDs. There are many educational events like dramas that depict the seriousness of HIV, but men never show up to watch them.

I'm not sure what the solution to this problem would be, but I think that it is important for the hospital and other human rights groups to realize the value of educating men to respect women. I think perhaps the answer lies in reaching them early while they are still in grade school so that perceptions can be molded in a way that value women and their health. If a man learns to value his wife's health, then he would be less likely to practice promiscuity and would use condoms to prevent the transmission of AIDS. It seems that Mwandi has a fairly progressive reproductive health education for women who are taught about birth control, safe sex, and clean births. However, if the mend are not educated as well then the problem will never really be solved. This idea really surprised me because before coming here I thought that to empower women we just needed to educate them about birth control, female condoms, etc., but I am starting to realize that educating men to respect women is the only way to ensure equality and thus a healthier society.

After symposium, the other 5 girls and Dr. Case left for a rural health clinic, but I decided to stay behind and work at the Maternal Child Health (MCH) clinic. I realized that I would get to do the same things (give vaccines) and at the same time I would also be able to question the nurse more about reproductive health programs here. She said that the average age of women when they give birth to their first child is 15! This is really hard for me to imagine being 21 and knowing that I am no where near ready to have kids. Although their family planning program does seem progressive, she said that the church will still not let her distribute condoms to the women. She explained that once she had distributed female condoms (without the church's knowledge), but that the women could not figure out how to use them and they often broke.

Overall the day was very interesting being by myself at the clinic. At one point the nurse left saying she would be back in 15 minutes and didn't actually return for 3 hours. I sat in the clinic for the first hour waiting for her to return feeling so awkward around so many women and babies staring at me. I usually have the buffer of at least two other girls from our group around me at all times, so it was very isolating sitting in the room alone with them and not being able to communicate. There were so many questions I would have liked to ask, but because most of these women didn't finish school and learn English, I had no way of communicating besides smiling. I think the best way to describe it was that there was a white elephant in the room that everyone was whispering about, and that elephant was me. It gave me a true perspective on being a minority, and how we should strive to accept people who are different from us.

Sorry this is a little long winded, but it helps me to sort out my thoughts by writing them down. It is incredible to be here, and it is hard to believe we only have 2 weeks left. I am reading Tracy Kidder's "Mountains beyond Mountains" right now, and if you are all interested in liberation theology and healthcare for the poor, I really suggest you read it. The front cover says "The quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a man who would cure the world" and I must say it is really inspiring.

Also, please keep Mwandi Mission Hospital in your prayers. They really need a doctor here to be able to keep up all the good work they are doing.

Posted by · July 21, 2006 12:03 PM · Comments (1)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From an e-mail to family and friends on Saturday, July 15, 2006)

Today was very unique and wonderful. In the morning we went to the outpatient clinc and scrubbed and scrapped the walls clean. It was so nice to feel like we were finally giving something back to the community which has given us so much. We ended up getting the first coat of a pale green all over the walls. It already looks so much better! Before it was covered in chipped paint and spiders and now it actually feels clean.

This afternoon one of the cleaners at the house we are staying at gave us a tour of the town. We started at their small market and then walked through the residental area. Their house are made of mud with roofs of reed. I cannot imagine living in a house with no running water or electricity and with only one room for around 8 people. I was surprised, howeverk, by how clean they kepy their houses and areas. You can tell they take a lot of pride in what they have. I wish we could do a homestay where maybe two of us would spend the night out in the bush with them, however, I'm not sure if this would be possible.

On our walk through the neighborhood we ran into the choir practicing for church tomorrow. The music was so beautiful! The women's voices rang out strong while the men beat on the drums. They even got up and danced in circles. I cannot wait for churhc tomorrow to hear them sing again.

Our guide also took us out to the part of the Zambezi River where they get their water and was their clothes. The sun was setting right as the men came in on their boats, which was a stunning sight to see. I'm pretty overwhelmed by the natural beauty of not only this place, but also the people.

Thank you all so much for your emails. I hope that you are all doing well and enjoying the summer. Please keep writing, it is wonderful to hear from you.

Posted by · July 21, 2006 12:00 PM · Comments (0)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From e-mail to family and friends on Thursday, July 13, 2006)

It seems like each day keeps getting better and better here in Mwandi. Today three of us went out to a rural health clinic 15 km away. The building was about the size of a small dorm room and was made of mud. The community didn't know we were coming, but the word spread fast! After an hour bumpy ride there (it can take a while when there are not roads), we made it and were greeted by around 60 school-age girls who came on their lunch break for their tetnus booster.

The two nurses with us took down all the girls names, and then they were passed on to us for their shots. We wore gloves, but that was about as sanitary as you could get with no running water or electricity. Some of the girls were so scared that you would think they would rather have tetnus than get the shot. They would try to get away without actually getting the shot by covering their arm and pretending they were in pain. After we each gave about 20 shots we felt that we had pretty much mastered it, which was good because the babies and their mothers were up next.

Each baby received measles, hepatitus, and polio vaccines if they did not already have them. We felt aweful sticking these cute babies and making them cry. The hard part though was seeing the babies who were already sick. We did not have room to take any of the sick childrn with us back to the hospital, so the nurses told the mothers to walk their children (which could take at least a day). The babies would flinch and jerk out of the way when we gave them the vaccine, but we got pretty good and holding their whole body under control with one arm, while giving the shot with the other.

Overall, it was an incredible experience that doesn't even seem real now. I mean here I am in rural Africa giving vaccinations to children who have never seen a white person before (yes, we terrified any child under 5 who would see us and immediately start crying). I felt as if I was from another planet because of the way the children would stare at us. Although I guess the United States really is a different world from anything these children could ever imagine.

On another note, I feel like my fascination with the women here in Zambia has only continued to grow. I cannot imagine how far some fo these women walked to get their babies vaccinated. After serving well over 300 people, we only saw one man with a child. These women are strong, and they certainly cannot count on the men. You look into the eyes of some of the older women and see a perservierence that I cannot imagine. There was one grandmother in particular that seemed immuned to any type of pain, she simply displayed stoicism and strength.

Well, that is all for now. Please excuse the typos and spelling errors... you know I never could spell.

Posted by · July 21, 2006 11:56 AM · Comments (0)

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Katherine Cox, a graduate of Abilene High School, is a senior at Davidson College in North Carolina. Interested in women's reproductive health issues, she is participating in a medical mission in Mwandi, Zambia. She is the daughter of Bart and Jackie Cox.)

(From original e-mail to family and friends)

After 4 days (with less than 4 hours of sleep each night) of travel on four different planes we have finally arrived in Zambia. When we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, after a 17 hour flight we went immediately to our hotel where we ate our first meal in an Irish pub! The city was so big; it seemed more like New York instead of Africa. There were so many skyscrapers and nice car driving around that the only thing I noticed was that this city was not poor!

The next day we boarded a plane for Livingstone, Zambia. The atmosphere here is much more what you would expect of Africa except that it is freezing (yep, it is winter here!). On our first drive into town a man waved excitedly and said "Hey, white people!" We made our way to the market where the people were very nice and excited for the opportunity to talk. I spoke to one man for a while about the AIDS epidemic here and he felt that the only way for the situation to improve was for the Zambian government to improve the education system here so that people can get better jobs. He even mentioned that many women are turning to prostitution because they have no other way of obtaining an income. Although I knew most of this before coming, it was great to get to speak to an actual Zambian about it. Interestingly, this man actually liked President Bush because of all the money he has sent here for the AIDS medicine. This feeling did not seem to be widespread however, because the next vendor down expressed his dislike for Bush's policy. I guess the feelings are mixed here just as in the states.

The lodge that we are staying at here is beautiful! The rooms are open-air thatched roof huts (with mosquito nets and waterfall showers!). I can't wait to show all of you the pictures. It is like an African resort that you might see in the movies, and the food and people are so nice.

Today was the best day yet. We went to the breathtaking Victoria Falls. I cannot describe the power of the water through the falls which were over a mile long and 108 meters high. We even hiked down to the "boiling pot" which was down where all the water mixes together at the bottom of the falls. It was quite a hike, but the view was worth it. Luckily, my rain suit kept me dry, although I didn't really care because the water in my face only added to the experience. I can truly understand why it is one of the seven natural wonders of the world. I felt completely alive when I looked up and knew that there had to be a God to create such a magnificent structure. On our hike back up the cutest baboon family came up to us and I took lots of pictures of the baby baboon (don't worry no monkey attacked us this time!).

Posted by · July 21, 2006 11:48 AM · Comments (0)