Afghanistan — Month Two (Part 2)

This vista is the Panjshir River in Kapisa.

Our vehicles traveling on a road we’re building.

Here is that same contractor again. He’s Pashtun and VERY jovial.

We stopped for a very quick meeting to say hello, but he insisted we have a bite to eat. He pays his 1000+ employees about $4/day (a very reasonable Afghan wage), but the big benefits are two meals a day and transportation to the mosque for prayers. Have I mentioned that Afghan food is tasty? Well, this image shows one of my favorite meals: dry bread with rice, dipped in a meat sauce.

Here is another view of Parwan Province.

These boys are in a market in the city of Charikar.

The contrast is stark here.
The next set of pictures is from our Christmas Eve party (and we repeated the event on New Year’s Eve). Jon (our Doc) wanted to share his family’s tradition with our team. So, we all enjoyed a cigar together on a cool Christmas Eve.

This is Patrick.

The George.

Cindy.

Daniel, who is gifted with languages and computers.

Todd, one of the other civil engineers, who does a great job, no matter what he’s doing.

Yes, I enjoyed a cigar too (sorry, Mom).

We have many meetings with the Afghans.

The Afghans also have many meetings with us. This particular one is to gain support from the leaders of the area around a proposed project. The idea is that we present project proposals that are technically viable and sufficiently planned to a board of Afghans. They then have a voice in the process to recommend a contractor. With that process, we gain buy-in and they can help ensure a quality project is produced. Although we (the US govt) retain final authority to choose a contractor, the Afghans help us choose the best contractor for every project.

I know I look a little funny in this picture, but I was emphatically indicating where we needed to go.

These gentlemen were in a meeting with us. I love the lighting in this image and the Chief added a great filter. Now, I think this image could be from an Afghan Van Gogh.

I’m not sure if this color is natural or not, but it’s certainly colorful.

More interesting contrasts: the new and old, the water and desert and reflection and reality.
Those images depict our second month here. My time here remains a very rewarding and exciting experience.
I look forward to the summer when construction can resume in earnest.
Until the next post…
–Jim