A Walk in the Park

What a great day!  After being down for a few days thanks to a bout of some mysterious stomach issue - the night of Thanksgiving - I am finally back among the living.  Spent the day at the Arghandab District Center and the park next to it.  This is the second park in the district I will be redeveloping - very different than the first and it surrounds a historic shrine.  Also interesting to be in the District Center - the District Governor works out of there and the locals have access (after 3 checkpoints) - I've also read so many articles about the place that it made me quite curious.  Lots of things jumbled in there including a US military unit. The one thing that continually shocks me here involves the weird location of many of these bases - often located at the bottom or low points of hills.  Makes it so easy to see and shoot into them.

Case in point would be this picture of the Arghandab District Center I took from the public park next to it.  I wasn't even at the top of the hill either.  By the way, the hill to the top of the park was a real lung buster - especially with a plated, protective vest.  The guys were telling me great stories about sitting on the top of the 3 story building within the district center watching the bombing and fire fights all summer in Arghandab.  Must have been amazing at night.  Interesting place, but not sure I'd want to live there yet - only port-a-john toilets and showers every other day at this point.  But, the Wino must have been looking shiny and clean today as several young Afghan men made some suggestive gestures and commentary while I was there - none of which I understood (but my interpreters did and would not repeat it) and in the words of a very dear friend ... " I have shoes older than them"...  They must be starved for some cougar action!

So, this visit was incredibly interesting as was the fact that we were followed by a pack of very dirty, but sweet kids - one of whom had some kind of worm infestation eating the skin on his arm.  Everyone - and I mean every single one of us - was extremely upset that no medical care for the locals was being provided from the District - it is very common for the units living there to offer clinic days to the locals to treat minor to moderate medical issues - something they are in dire need of - I have never seen little kids with their skin being eaten off and it tears your heart out.  One of the security guys knew what it was and said the boy would lose his arm eventually if not treated.  They were also caked with filth, lice, etc.  Basically, many of them are very, very poor and have no place to play really but in poop and garbage filled fields - or just garbage dumps.  I could go on and on, but won't - it's just something I wish U.S. kids could see - especially their parents ... like the ones stampeding and pulling guns on each other at Walmarts on Black Friday. 

So much doesn't make sense to me here - this country has been at war so long that it's decimated the culture in many ways.  As we were stuck in traffic in Kandahar City, I watched some guy take a dump on the sidewalk - something that is a common occurrence here which strikes me as odd for several  reasons; 1. being that they have such strict modesty rules, 2. that many similar societies know the importance of segregating that kind of waste, 3. forget about three and 4. it ends up washing into their water sources.  Much of it simply ends up as part of the oppressive dust in the air which totally makes me want to bath in peroxide, but that's not really an option.  And here I thought only the bums in my neighborhood made poos on sidewalks and my deck steps!

Anypoo, the park foot patrol today rocked!  I had one of our local Afghan contractors meet me there because his family has used these parks for years.  He was able to point out how people use the park, problem areas and issues during the wet season.  While we were in the middle of the women's park, a few women I walked up to offered me tea and gestured for me to join them, but I couldn't communicate and none of the men could go near them.  I MUST find a female translator and that still most likely won't work because I can't go anywhere without security and they are men - the Afghans will be very upset if unrelated men are near the women on women's day.  I have not seen any kick-ass, female security teams so I guess I'm out of luck.  It was unbelievably frustrating because I really wanted to join them and being offered tea is a high honor here - I couldn't even explain why I had to decline.

 This Shrine was at the top of the park's hill - that lump of cloth is a grave - someone very important.  More graves inside what appears to be a pretty shaky structure, but was actually quite solid.  There were also chickens up there, cats and some birds in cages - unusual to say the least.  We most likely won't do anything with this area because of the burial site - unless the Mayor gives the OK.

 This was from the top looking down into the Arghandab District area.  This place was quite well maintained and irrigated so it was very green.  This was the safest side of the park as it faced the District Center.  The other side was sniper area so you had to move fast and couldn't hang around and gawk at the amazing view like a tourist.

 This is a conference center that was built in the park but now not really used because of security issues.  There are tons of pools and waterfalls that run through this in the summer season - must be quite stunning when all is in bloom and the water is flowing.

 The historic Shrine on the site - people sit around and picnic on these tiled areas.  The other side of the Shrine is the unsafe area.

 These two are part of the small posse of kids that followed us all day - really cute and they like pens, but really needed soap and some medical care.

 This is part of the broken playground equipment at the bottom of the park in the women's area.  Some Einstein placed this playground area right in the middle of where it floods because they didn't do their homework.  The Wino will be having the engineering team fix the drainage system so that the women and little ones can actually enjoy the place and not sit around in a mosquito embassy. So many projects here get funded and built without any real investigation of the area - so it's "look we made a playground" with no sustainability plan ... and then they end up like this.

Me and part of our security team which is comprised of both Afghans and the actual security company who train them.  The guy next to me is phenomenal and an excellent interpreter.  He's also quite funny.  He's helping me get my survey out to the locals - including all of the women in his family - he said they were very excited that anyone wanted their input and improvements will be made.  I hope they are made and I will try my best.  I finally meet the Mayor of Kandahar City on Wednesday and therefore actual can officially begin my project with him.  Heard he's an "interesting" guy and often beats the wee wee out of his subordinates - which apparently is quite common here ... and reminds me of the Mayor of Toledo who I had the most unfortunate experience of working for - thankfully not that long - total nut job and ass-hat.

I will end this post with a few comments regarding the television programming I am now enjoying.  Dolph Lundgren cannot act and has the presence of an animated cardboard cutout, Claude Van Dam's movies at least tried to have better developed plots (but LOTS of grunting and moaning - strange!) and anything David Hasselhoff was involved in will inevitably have some unnaturally endowed women running ... even if it doesn't make sense.  AND ... Indians worry about weight loss, baldness, bad breath and libido just like us!  They also run a series of commercials about the importance of being on time to work for the sake of the economy.  All of the programming except for the BBC originates from India ... my favorite are the Indian hip-hop commercials.  I am truly appreciating the oddness of this television experience and often cackle like a hag at the commercials - especially the ones that aren't in English.  I will also watch and read anything, so kudos to me!

Drink of the night - a sassy instant hot cocoa