Bpeace in Afghanistan

Yesterday a suicide bomber tried to ram his car into a convoy of NATO peacekeepers here in Kabul, blowing himself up and wounding three passers-by in the process. Its hard to fathom that Toni on the other side of the planet in NYC, knew about it before Najib or I did on the other side of town. When Toni rang Najib’s cell to check on us we had not yet heard the news. Fortunately Najib and all Bpeace personel were far from the blast, and we are all safe. At the time of the explosion, I was busy taking pictures of bucolic and almost biblical scenes of sheep and cows (see yesterday’s blog) at the animal market – a stark contrast to the turmoil and violence that lurks below the surface here. Ironically, before we learned of the afternoon’s events I happened to ask Najib who is a lifelong Kabul resident if he felt safe here. His response was an immediate and emphatic “yes”…

I guess “safe” is relative to individual experience. Compared to what Najib and others have lived through in the last few decades, things are relatively quiet at the moment. This morning Najib, Laila and I had a conversation about how to handle security today. Najib put me in the back seat of the van instead of the front, where I had been riding for most of the trip so as to be able to take photos from an open window. We were conscientious about our routes through the city, but otherwise went on with our day.

We started by going to visit Rahima at the offices of the Shura – the Provincial Government of Kabul, where she is an elected official. I was graciously received by Habibullah Maulavi, a mullah and also President of the Kabul Province Council. He told me there are 29 council members, with 10 women and 19 men. The meeting I attended was an informal follow-up to their most recent Tuesday session, and about half of the Council members came in and out during the course of the morning. It was wonderful to see Rahima in her element as a new legislator. Everyone at Bpeace is very proud of her.

In the afternoon we went back to Suria’s house to continue photographing scenes of her family life. Her daughter Tooba, age 19, was taken ill the last time we were there a few days ago, and at the time we had to cut things short to make sure Tooba was taken care of. I went back to Suria’s in part to check on the girl’s well being. Happily, Tooba is on the mend and although she was crashed on a cushion in the living room when we got there, she was feeling much better and joined the family a short time later.

After two weeks on the road, its hard to believe its time to go home. Its been an eventful visit, and I think everyone on the team did very good work while on the ground here. Although I am eager to see my family, like Kate mentioned in a previous post, I am finding it hard to leave. The people we have connected with here have found a place in my heart, and it will be difficult to say goodbye.
--Paula