So, let’s be orderly about this – the main highlights of the day were:
A) Going to the **** Orphanage
B) Going to the tailors.
B was after A, but I’ll deal with it first as it was extremely short. At about 4, S**** whisked me off (with a driver, of course) through the snow (we had a blizzard which started about 12 and has been going all day) to a tiny shop about 5 minutes away – the shop was so small that the patrons didn’t bother to take off their shoes, even though they were in various stages of relaxation on a battered old sofa in the murky interior. There was a big cloth cutting table which took up most of the space, and slightly disconcertingly, a number of brightly coloured dresses hanging from the walls – in fact, the shop sign was a woman in a bridal gown. Anyway, I was instructed to remove my fleece (on top of another jumper) and I was measured – fairly differently to the UK as well – no inside leg measurement, for a start. It was all over with about six measurements. I’ve no idea when I’ll be back, if I’ll need a fitting or if it’ll just get delivered to me complete.
So, on to the orphanage.
In the morning, before going down to the orphanage, which is currently housed in the old **** offices – donated when the **** orphanage (****) original building faced demolition, I got to see plans for a brand new, purpose built orphanage which is at the proposal stage. **** Afghanistan and ****, despite their similar names, are tow completely separate organisations, whose similarity in names is just a happy coincidence. They came into contact about a year ago when the original building housing the 14 or so kids was almost demolished during a slum / wasteland regeneration drive (and it was right on the verge of being flattened by a JCB before someone inside noticed just before they were about to be flattened). They issued an urgent cry for help through the NGO community, and **** Afghanistan sacrificed their offices to house the orphanage. Then a call for external funding was made, and the organisation I’m in back in the UK decided to make a donation last year.
PICTURE REMOVED
From this rather ad-hoc starting point, things have stabilised a lot – the old office has been converted into a fairly comfortable house for the gaggle of teenage boys and handful of special needs children – the stability has really helped the health and care of the special needs kids, and there hasn’t been any need to take them for expensive hospital treatment over the last year – and about 8 months ago they were able to take in a child abandoned on the street with pretty horrible head injuries (and undoubted psychological issues); and there has been remarkable progress in their health and mobility. The teenage boys are a good bunch as well – when we arrived, they were having an English lesson from a hired treacher – and we got to sit in on some of the lesson. It reminded me of how much I don’t know about the structure of my own language. Not that this will come as a great surprise to any of you who have suffered reading this blog.
And to be honest, the orphanage was the main reason I came – I decided to actually check out one of the projects I’ve given money to – I wanted to make a more meaningful connection than just a signature on a cheque. So it was good to finally be able to make the connection, and be totally happy about how it was being used – as well as being happy about the use its been to the operation of **** out here as well. To give a little bit of a breakdown of the situation; there’s a two year commitment to funding the operation – the basic housing rental is $750 a month. On top of this are the staff expenses – the director, the security guy (pretty much a requirement here), the special needs carer and any teachers they employ. Then there are things like food, heating, and all the other day to day expenses that occur – fuel for heating over the winter cost $1000 alone.
So, yes, the money gets used. But everyone was happy – well, except one of the special needs kids, who we were told was Mr angry – mind you, by the end we almost got a smile. And it was more of an intense cantankerous nature than anger, I’d say.
It was good to see how closely D**** and M**** - and the other **** staff – are tied to the orphanage and the kids – it’s fairly close, about a five minute drive away , and the kids regularly come over for dinner, and parties, and volleyball (when the front isn’t a sea of mud or snow!)
After seeing a bit of the English lesson, I was told that when the boys are at a sufficient standard, they can start some computer training – which will really strengthen their vocational education, and increase their chances of getting decent work. I met the lads after the customary photo shoot – though I spent a lot longer with the special needs kids, who were a real joy.
The proposal for the new centre is very exciting, and it would certainly be great to have purpose built accommodation with long term planning, stability and family-like support for these and other orphans – and it would be great to be able to provide the kids and staff of **** with this. It would also be great to have an ongoing project that **** could provide it’s considerable worldwide experience to; and be able to produce a centre of excellence in Afghanistan. Dan gave me a fly through of the proposal – the building plans and projected budget, and it was exciting stuff. I’ll be taking a copy of some of the plans to show the folks back home!
