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11/04/2003: "Kandahar Chronicles #36 - 03/11/2003"

Islamabad is a distant memory. After five days of shopping, good food and a welcome lack of automatic weapons fire disturbing my sleep I feel refreshed and ready to face the realities of work again. Retail therapy is even more effective when spending large quantities of company money and I came back with stacks of electronic gear, including a security alarm I helped design, and only enough rupees left to buy a fanta. On another account, I’ve also purchased a new generator and five minivans. HQ is going to have a fit.

Today was spent catching up on the state of things here and dealing with the sudden changes in human resources. Our administrator and my log assistant are both leaving for a higher paying organization and family reasons respectively. In fact, my log assistant Ahmed has decided to leave immediately so I’m stuck trying to catch up on my work, do his work, and try to find and train a replacement in the meantime. I also need to hire a part time radio operator, an English teacher, and a translator/scheduler.

Despite this, I’m glad to be back. The guys have been chattering to me all day about their misadventures over the last week and our BHU in Zhare Dasht continues to run smoothly. Kathleen is back from Canada and Ally is developing her midwife program. Sadly, Matthias and Bertein are preparing to leave the project but with all the hustle and bustle of visitors, there’s little time to reflect on things. Sheila, a mental health nurse and Linda, a doctor preparing to head to Chaman project, are both passing through. Sarah, a Swedish journalist, arrived today for a week to soak up the culture and look at the project.

Tomorrow, Bennie, the LogCo, Meg, the Project Coordinator in Heart, and someone named Brig are coming for a few days to poke around. Then Vickie returns for another six weeks interim as the new PC and Hamil comes in as the new expat doctor to replace Bertein who heads home. Where the hell are they all going to sleep is a question that will need to be addressed tomorrow. The days of breakfast in bed watching TV before shopping and browsing book shops after a nice Thai dinner are truly over.

Replies: 1 Comment

If one was planning to work there, would it be safer to "go native" or be conspicuously a foreigner. I'm half Persian, and half Canadian and could pass for either depending on clothing and grooming. So, if I planned to work there, which would be better. Also, is Persian language skills an asset?

SY5 said @ 11/26/2003 12:11 AM EST