Ghaziabad Village trip

Had my second of two GREAT days here in Afghanistan.

We had planned on going to Tangi Kalay earlier in the week, but it was canceled when the roads went black and we weren't allowed to travel outside the base. After some additional planning, we decided to go to the village across the street from us to our South - Ghaziabad. They have a tent for a school, just as many kids and don't get as many visits so we thought they would enjoy it!

We loaded up about half of what many of you have donated (thank you SO much for all of it) and headed over a little after noon. This visit was mainly to check up on the progress of getting them a real school built, but I wanted to ensure they got some of the great stuff that was donated.

Once we got there, we lined the kids up on the wall, and tried to maintain some sort of order. I was in back of the first Humvee and giving out toys and shoes, while Bob was behind the second one handing out candy. The looks on their faces when they saw HUGE boxes of toys, clothes and shoes was neat. I tried to let them pick out what they wanted for the most part, but it got a bit chaotic towards the middle and end, and by that point, I was picking out toys for them based on age and gender. Not sure why, I guess its because the girls get so little, but I love giving out the stuffed animals to the little girls. Their faces light up and they actually smile. Bob and I had a big discussion today about giving to charity and how it usually makes you feel good, but in this case, I get to be on the far end of the process and see the tangible results. It's just so wonderful and I thank you so much for letting me be your eyes and ears.

While I gave out toys, the two interpreters we brought along were pulling out shoes and giving them away to the kids who were barefoot, based on their shoe sizes. It's pretty funny seeing little Afghan kids running around in Spiderman sandals! I was amazed how many didn't have shoes to begin with....the ground was really cold and of course rocky, it was great to see them in shoes.

Somehow one of the little girls ended up getting cut on her ankle - it was more a case of a whole bunch of skin being scrapped off, but she was bleeding pretty good. We found some gauze and some tape out of a first aid kit we had and I grabbed a bottle of water and we got her cleaned up and put a bandage on her. I felt really bad when I saw her because she was crying a little bit and she didn't really have anyone there to help her. It was nice to help her out and make her feel a bit better.

After we had given everything away (the clothes I gave to the village elder to distribute evenly), we were hanging out playing with the kids and someone discovered we had an entire box of candy we hadn't yet given out. Suffice to say a mob scene ensued, but it was a blast. Those poor parents are going to have kids on a sugar high for days.

All in all a great day. We had some of our new Navy folks with us and it was their first trip out and about. They had a great time taking pictures and playing with the kids. Fortunately it was also a great day weather-wise for it, as the temps were reasonable and we had no rain or snow.

I still have a ton of stuff left, and the other guys have a few boxes as well. We have another trip planned soon, to be able to get the rest of it out to the local kids. Again, thank you all for your generosity, it was very well received and I couldn't be more proud of you.

Pictures are here.

Gary