Dispatches from Afghanistan

Last Day in Kabul

Day #33

Today is my last day in Kabul.  I am here at work writing my handover notes, printing the most up-to-date documents, and saying my good-byes. 

The hike on TV Hill was wonderful!  We actually got to see children running kites!  There were great views of the city and Martin was able to point out all kinds of landmarks. 

I finally got to try Afghan food!  The office had a party to celebrate EID on Sunday.  We had Pulao-a rice dish with chicken, kebabs (beef and lamb), and lots of salads and puddings.  That same night I had dinner with Sadiqa.  She is an amazing Afghan woman who runs a woman's NGO and the AFT is hoping to create programs in the future with her NGO.  She and her husband Salim took me out to The Central Hotel and I had Afghan food for dinner.  We had some appetizers made out of eggplant and kebabs and Afghan bread.  It was delicious! 

Tonight I am going to pack up and the car will take me to the airport at 5:45am.  I have a 12-hour layover in Dubai and it will take 40 hours total for me to arrive in San Diego.  I am excited to be going home — this has been a great trip!

EID and Other Things

Day #28

It has been quiet here following a 5-day weekend for EID. Last Friday Julio and I went to Babur's Gardens.  Babur was a Mughal king from modern day Uzbekistan who captured Kabul in 1504.  He also wrote Islam's first autobiography.  He built the gardens in the early 1500s and he and members of his family were buried there.  They have been destroyed and rebuilt many times during the various wars and conflicts.  Currently they are maintained by an Afghan non-profit organizations. 

On Sunday I knew it was EID because the 4am call to prayer was louder and longer than usual and people started light fire crackers.  In the morning there were children running around outside our house in their best clothes.  The boys had toy guns that looked very realistic and they were playing war games.  I'm not sure what they used for ammunition but they kids flinched when they were hit, so I know they were loaded with something. 

During this week I have been working on final edits for the grades 4-6 materials and going through the files to see which 7-9 and 10-12 materials have been translated into English.  I also helped give translation tests to two new interpreters so that we can have more material to work on. 

Tomorrow I am hoping to go hiking at "TV Hill" (a hill with all the TV antennas on it).  It should have interesting views of the city.  On Sunday there will be a party at the office to celebrate EID.  I will finally get to try Afghan food!  Then I work Saturday through Tuesday, and leave Wednesday morning.  I have a 12-hour layover in Dubai.  I am not sure what I should do in that time!  Some of my options are:  going to a hotel and use the pool/workout facilities, going to the spice souk (market) and the gold souk, going to a mall, going to the aquarium, and going skiing at the indoor ski slope. It will be in the 100s and humid, so outdoor activities aren't really an option!  If anyone has any other ideas or opinion as to what I should do, I would love to hear them. 

It is strange to think that I am leaving in 5 days…I hope that I have made a difference in this project and for the children of Afghanistan!

Day #21

Close encounters

Today there was a car bomb in Kabul — I am fine. We could hear/feel the blast, but the bomb was on the whole other side of town on a street that our security manager told us that our cars have not been allowed to travel on for years. It was a little scary, but I am safe!

On a much funnier note, last night I was in the kitchen re-heating some rice and chicken for dinner, when a mouse ran out from under the counter across the kitchen floor. It startled me and I screamed really loudly. Our security guy came running into the kitchen to see what happened, and I felt a little silly about having screamed. He stayed with me until my dinner was cooked to protect me from the big, bad mouse. It's good to know that if I scream, security will come running!

Day #20

Half-way Through

It's getting close to EID (the end of Ramadan) and both the National and International staff are starting to get excited for the extended holidays.  It's officially a 5-day weekend, but many people are taking annual leave for a few days before and/or after Eid to make it a longer vacation.  I will be here working though, although I can work from home and won't need to go into the office.  I get to have the house all to myself! 

This week has been busy. I am making the last tiny edits of the grades 4-6 materials and putting all of the sessions together for translation.  Nick, Betty, and I had talked of including a list of teaching strategies with explanations and examples, and I have been working on creating a comprehensive list.  It's important to remember the reality of education in Afghanistan.  The teachers do not have copy machines, most schools do not have electricity, many schools do not have access to paper, some schools do not have a building, and in the elementary grades the class sizes are huge.  The activities that we plan need to be low tech and easily implemented, so it has been a fun and challenging task.

I can't believe I am half-way through my time here.  In some ways the time has flown by, but in others it has slowly ticked by....keep in touch!

Day #14

Labor Day in Kabul

Happy first day of school to everyone where today is your first day! This is the first year since Kindergarten that I haven't gone back to school, and it is a little weird.

I was sad to say goodbye last Friday to my AFT colleagues Nick and Betty who had to get back to the U.S. to teach. They left some big shoes to fill and I am hoping that I can do it. It is nice to have Jill (the head of the project) back in town and so far she has been really impressed with the work that we have done. The interpreters right now are focusing on translating the material that Nick, Betty, and I edited back into Dari and Pashtu. We are creating some supplemental trainings and materials in best teaching practices and creating and implementing Teacher Learning Circles (which are really similar to Professional Learning Communities) in the USA. I am also working on creating the materials that teachers will receive when they come to the training.

Last week on Friday I got to go to a pool in Kabul. UNICA is a guest house that I think has some affiliation with the UN because there were UN trucks parked inside and they have a pool area. I don't know how the crowd is every day, but on Friday it was packed with every available green space filled with foreigners on towels. I didn't go into the pool because I was assured by everyone that it was freezing and people were swimming laps. I am more of a splasher! It was nice to lay outside in the sun. It was great people watching and after going to the pool, I spent the rest of the day reading and watching movies.

Our local staff had Sunday off for Labor Day (the weekend here is Friday-Saturday, so to make it a 3-day weekend they had Sunday off) but I worked on Saturday and Sunday. Jill and I met on Saturday at the house and then I worked from home. Having never worked in an office, it is a new experience to be sitting at a computer for 8 hours everyday. There is always something to do but I miss the activity of teaching!

I feel really blessed to have been given this opportunity to spend a month in Kabul working to help teachers and students. Yet I realize that life here is VERY hard. We have a cook and housekeeper — but our water and internet are not stable. We have a lot of security, but that means that we can't go anywhere or do anything without a lot of people knowing. I really miss going for walks and being outside. I can handle this for a month, but I know that I couldn't live here. It's rewarding work but tough circumstances.

With the election results getting nearer, there has been an increase in security problems. Recently there has been rocket fire in Kabul and surrounding areas. Please know that we have a great security team who have plans for every possible situation. We also live far from government buildings and other high profile targets. If any problems were to happen here, I would be put into a safe room. Don't worry about my safety, because of the high level of security, I am more than taken care of here.

Day #8

Notes from Kabul

It has been a busy 3 days! On Monday we had 2 very illuminating meetings. In the morning we met with the PMOs (Provincial Monitoring Officers) of the project. These teachers observe and support teachers in the provinces of Afghanistan. These men really know the conditions in the field for Afghan teachers and they are all former classroom teachers themselves. They have a lot of experience and information.

They divided the resources that Afghan teachers need into 2 types — human and material. There are not enough teachers and experienced/knowledgeable administrators, and there is also a lack of material resources — textbooks, laboratories, schools, charts, maps, papers, blackboards, etc. They told us a story of a school receiving one blackboard and them cutting it into 4 small pieces so that each teacher had a black board to use for instruction. Some schools have no paper for teachers to use or even buildings to teach in.

The school year also depends on the province. The hot provinces have vacation during the summer and an 8-month school year. The cold provinces have vacation during the winter and an 8-month school year. The VERY cold provinces have vacation during the winter but only a 6-7 month school year. The provinces also differ in their level of security and support for education. In rural areas class sizes are small, about 12 per class, but teachers generally have less education. In urban areas class sizes are quite large, around 60 per class, but teachers generally have more education than their rural counterparts.

Class sizes in urban and rural areas are small in middle and high school because the majority of students drop out of school in 5th or 6th grade. The children need to work to support their families and in Afghanistan there are not enough skilled jobs that require a high school education and that pay well. So parents don't see the value in sending kids to school for 6 more years if it won't make a difference economically. The PMOs feel that more vocational education is needed. There are superintendents here with only a high school education.

In rural areas there are fewer female teachers and therefore fewer educational opportunities for girls. The female teachers in the urban areas don't want to move to rural areas to teach because of the living conditions and the security situation in many rural areas.

The PMOs were adamant that what the teachers in Afghanistan need is more education in content knowledge. There are math teachers that don't understand how to multiply or the concept of zero. There have been many NGOs (Non-Governmental-Organizations) that have given trainings to teachers in methods. In fact during the Grade 1-3 trainings that are currently being implemented, some teachers have said that they have already learned about student-centered methods. What they really want is some accelerated content knowledge. For example an intense math class that will ensure that all math teachers know all of the content topics-multiplication, division, fraction, algebra, etc.

We have tried to incorporate some collegial collaboration models to show teachers how to work together to figure out tough topics. Also, one session focused on working in groups and looking through the textbook, pulling out the most difficult topics, and creating lessons to teach them. Although its not a crash course in content knowledge, hopefully it will be useful to the Afghan teachers.

Our next meeting was with all of the local NGOs that are working on their project and currently carrying out the Grades 1-3 training in the provinces. Most of the trianings are proceeding along nicely but some areas are having difficulty. One of the main reasons why teachers are not attending the training is security. One of the schools was bombed with a grenade so the teachers couldn't attend the trainings. Another training site was attacked twice and after the second attack the teachers left. They are hoping to finish that training soon. In other areas the female teachers do not feel safe enough to come to the trainings. Also during the vacation times many teachers are working other jobs. They will not leave a paid position to attend a 12-day unpaid training, even if it is mandatory.

Day #5

Working and Playing in Kabul

Yesterday (Saturday August 29) was our first work day. Since it was Saturday, no Afghan staff members were at the office, and we went to see where we would be working. We then had a meeting with Julio to talk about our priorities for the project.

The Afghan team has completed training manuals in all subjects for grades 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12. They are working on getting those drafts translated into English. Our first priority is to edit those training manuals. At the same time, Julio wanted to use our particular expertise and asked us to prepare 3 presentations. The first presentation happened today (Sunday August 30) and was for the Afghans who are preparing the training materials. This audience was mostly professors and teaching monitors who go to the provinces and observe teachers. Another presentation will be for the heads of the NGOs who are partners with Creative Associates in their education programs. We will give this presentation tomorrow. The final presentation will be for the Creative Associates staff and will happen later in the week.

After the meeting with Julio we all went to the Teacher's College where the Afghans were completing the training manuals. We introduced ourselves and tried to speak with groups of teachers to assess what their needs are. We wanted to give a presentation that would be useful for them. One difficulty in our work here is the language barrier. Some of the Afghans working there have limited English, so it wasn't until I asked specific questions about the education system — how many students does each teacher have, etc. — that we learned more about what schools are like in Afghanistan.

The Afghan teachers told me that some of the problems that teachers face are security and safety of teachers and students, lack of materials including books, desks, teachers, and buildings, big class sizes, and low salaries. Next we polled the whole group to find out what kind of training they wanted from our group. After a bit of miscommunication, the teachers told us that they wanted information about the difference between teaching students and training teachers. They also wanted new ideas of activities and strategies that they can use in their training sessions, and they wanted some way to measure how well the participants in the trainings they will give have learned the material. Quite a lot to cover in a one-hour training with interpreters!

After lunch back at home Betty and I started working to prepare the presentation. Nick had to go grocery shopping because he was creating a 4-course meal to welcome us to Kabul. He prepared a tomato/mozzarella caprese, a shrimp and grape salad, chicken cutlets with roasted potatoes, and a vanilla cake. Some of the other Creative Associates staff came to the party, and it was a great way to get to know people and bond with them.

This morning Betty, Nick, and I met before breakfast to put together the final details of the presentation. Then after a staff meeting at the office, we went to the Teacher's College to give our presentation. I think that it went pretty well. We have far too much information to cover in a 60-minute presentation and that problem was exacerbated by having to wait for translation. Also we wanted to model creating activities for active participation (not just lecture) but the participants were not used to these kinds of activities, so just getting them involved took a little bit of time. We were able to give them some concrete ideas on how to structure a training session, including a quick activity to assess how much their participants learned and we were able to give a brief overview on andragogy (how adults learn — Betty taught me a new word!). They were clamoring for further training, but unfortunately today they are all going back to their provinces or their normal jobs and we won't have opportunities to give them more technical training.

Day #3

Playing Tourist in Kabul

Yesterday I arrived in Kabul with Betty. After going through customs and getting our luggage, we found Myles (the head of security) and Carmen (another employee for Creative Associates) waiting for us just outside the airport doors. We walked a ways and then got into an armored car and drove to the compound.

We were shown our rooms and then Julio (our boss) gave us a tour of the house and a little mini-orientation. Next Myles gave us a security briefing and we chatted with Nick (the other teacher trainer from the AFT) a bit. The cook here is off in the evenings and all day Friday and Saturday, but he left us with lots of food to reheat. We ate some soup and beef stew with rice for dinner and a fruit salad for dessert. It was yummy! We chatted a bit and then went to sleep. I slept throughout the night so hopefully my body is starting to get used to the 11.5 hour time difference!

After breakfast this morning, Nick, Julio, Betty and I went sightseeing in Kabul. Nick hasn't been allowed out to see tourist locations in the 3 weeks that he has been here because of security concerns, so we were all excited to get out and enjoy the city. We started our tour at the Kabul Museum. The museum used to be full of amazing exhibits and artifacts from different periods of Afghanistan's History. Unfortunately it has been looted numerous times and rockets from various wars have destroyed whole collections.

After going to the museum, we went to see the Royal Palace of Darulaman. Amanullah, who was king of Afghanistan 1919-1929, built the palace. All of the governmental functions were there. He actually lived in the Queen's Palace which is nearby. Amanullah tried to modernize Afghanistan but scandalized his countrymen and was forced into exile in 1929. In 1989 there was a civil war in Afghanistan and the mujaheddin destroyed the palaces and other wars have contributed to its destruction. We were able to wander inside of the old palace.

Tomorrow we start work on our project. We will have a meeting with Julio (our boss) in the morning to discuss the specific tasks he wants us to complete and then we will be going to the Teacher Training Center or to the Office to work on editing the materials that they have already made. I am looking forward to getting started on this project and learning more about it.

Day # 2

Safe and Sound in Kabul

I made it safe and sound to Kabul. We don't work on Friday so we're going to the Kabul Museum, the old palace and possibly to Babur's Gardens!

Day # 1

On My Way to Afghanistan

I left this morning on my trip to Afghanistan. I wanted to meet up with Betty (one of the other teachers that I will be working with) but I didn't have her phone number or know what she looks like. I had emailed her my phone number but didn't know hers, so I started looking for women traveling alone. I asked about 5 women if they were Betty before I had the bright idea to set up my AFT Afghanistan Briefing Book next to me! She found me, and we got to sit next to each other and chat on our LOOOOONG 14.5 hour flight to Dubai.

When we arrived in Dubai, we got our luggage and went to look for the hotel shuttle. Stepping outside, the heat and humidity were oppressive, even though it was 8pm.

We found the shuttle for the hotel, but the driver would not let us on because we hadn't come with the man waiting inside (we never saw this man). The driver told us to wait next to the shuttle. After 15 minutes of waiting in the heat, we decided to take a cab (35 durhams later — about $10), and we made it to the hotel. We just ate a little dinner and now its time to rest for our flight in the morning to Kabul.