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Hi Everyone,
I arrived in Kabul safe and sound. The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. I started in Phoenix sweating in a tank top and shorts. It was hot, dry and flat. Then I landed in NY, where it was humid and cloudy and there were actually trees! The buildings were tall and the city was not so clean. Then I landed in Dubai, which is trying to become the NYC of the Middle East and now I’m in Kabul.

When we arrived in Dubai, outside the airport was a line of taxis waiting for us. The interesting thing was the line we were directed to was a line of women taxi drivers. I don’t think I’ve ever had a female taxi driver in the US. The woman that drove us had a kind wrinkled face and large black sunglasses with rhinestone studs on the side. She was Filipina (there are a LOT of Filipinos here) and has lived in Dubai for 24 yeaars. She explained to us that she was the first woman taxi driver for the airport. She told us that women were allowed to drive taxis 7 years ago in response to a crime. Apparently, a woman from the UK traveled to Dubai and her taxi driver raped and killed her :(. In response, the Dubai government allowed women taxi drivers and now parties that include women must take a woman taxi driver. If you are a man traveling on your own, you go with a male taxi driver.I have to say, I felt more comfortable with a female taxi driver, even though I was traveling with a man already.

Dubai was really warm and humid and the climate made my hands swell up like water balloons--very weird. First we took a nap and then we walked around and went shopping. Dubai has a lot of the shops that you can find in the US. It was cool seeing all the diverse clothing styles that people wear and that you can buy at the mall. For example, there was one store that sold bikinis and the store adjacent to it was selling stylish head to toe coverings. Some women here wear all black from head to toe, with only their eyes showing, while you can see other women wearing tank tops or see-through tops. There are a lot of Filipinos and Indians that live here. It seems like many of them occupy the lower-class jobs. Everything here is written in Arabic and English and most people here seemed to speak English.

The next morning we went back to the airport for our flight to Kabul. Next to the counter for Kabul was the counter for flights to Baghdad. I felt sorry for anyone that was flying there, but then saw the irony of my judgment as I was sitting in the Kabul line! But still, Kabul is definitely not as bad as Baghdad.

The flight was smoothly and I couldn’t help but notice the man sitting across from me who was watching war movie after war movie. I wondered if he was on his way to Afghanistan as part of the military and permanently peeled my eyes away from his DVD screen when I saw an image of a Vietnamese man with his skin peeled off. GROSS! I don’t understand why anyone enjoys watching that kind of thing.

When I arrived at the Kabul airport, my uncle Rabi was there to pick me up which was nice. He was there because his luggage did not make it to Kabul a few days ago when he arrived but luckily all of our luggage arrived. Yay! Let’s see if my dad has the same luck when he flies in tomorrow. He seems to have really bad luggage karma. It’s funny that in the past 6 months I’ve seen my dad in Kabul more than in the US!

I was surprised that driving through Kabul I felt like I was ‘coming home’ or something. Not that Kabul is home, but my point is I guess I’ve been here enough times that I’m not shocked or anything like that. The exhaust fumes are still very strong and suffocating though. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to that. The road leaving the airport was lined with Afghan flags which was a new touch.

I was reminded of how different our perceptions of reality are. My perception of Afghanistan in the US is so different than it is when I’m here. In the US, I’m always thinking war, Taliban, etc. but when I’m here I’m reminded that life goes on and people are still going about their day to day activities.

I got to see my uncle Mahmoud’s new baby Lemar. He’s 4 months old and SOO cute. He has blue-grey eyes and is a little munchkin. If my sister was here she would go nuts for him.

Now I’m watching a Hindi soap-opera that is dubbed in Iranian Farsi. It’s really amazing how far “Bollywood” reaches. It seemed like Bollywood films and music were very popular in Dubai as well. The soap-opera is SOOO overdramatic. Barf. It's a lot of women crying, men yelling, and pretty women making mischievous plans. I guess no different than American soap operas. Maybe it's the dubbing that make these particularly bad.

Well that is my update for now. I’m happy to be here, though I have no idea how these workshops will go! It’s so nice to be still, as the past few months I have been running around a lot in the US. I’m also excited for the good Afghan food :). Knock on wood I won’t get sick.

Talk to you later!

Gazelle

We are back from India, Finally!

I’m not going to write too much on India. Unfortunately, the India leg of our trip was not so enjoyable. We got taken advantage of a lot, it was hot, it was dirty, smelly, and exhausting.

I was struck by just how many people live in India (my Lonely Planet says 20% of the world’s population lives in 2% of its land-India), and by just how poor it was. Granted, I was only in the northern state of Rajastan for 1 week, so my conception of India at this point is pretty limited. But really, there are so many poor people living on the street there; it is so sad. It is crazy to think of India as an up-and-coming global power when you see the level and pervasiveness of poverty there. Oddly, Rajastan only seemed a step or two above Afghanistan. Most people do not have clean water or electricity. Afghanistan has war as its excuse, but what is India’s excuse? Is it the government? Is it bad development policy implemented by the international community?

I was also struck by the images of women there. On TV, there are millions of music videos and movies featuring beautiful Indian women in western clothing seducing their men, which seemed to be a stark contrast to the women I saw living there. Our driver’s brother said, “Love is only for Bollywood. Real Marriage is not a success here.”

When I entered the US I wanted to kiss the floor of the airport. The words “God Bless America” kept coming to me and I was so happy to be a citizen of this country and to live here. I hate it when George Bush says God Bless America, and I still do. I don’t think he has a right. Keep God out of it, is the way I see it. But I will say that we are SO lucky to live here, to have clean water, to have an underground sewage system, to have trash disposal, to have public education for boys AND girls, to be able to open our mouths in the shower without worrying about catching a parasite, to use tap water to brush our teeth, to wear (nearly) whatever we want without being the focus of everyone’s attention.

As I was in India, I reminisced over the fact that I can wear shorts in Arizona, or I can wear baggy clothes, and no one cares! They don’t stare at me, they just go about their business. What a freedom. It was funny because the first day I came home I wore my jean capris and I had to grab my ass to make sure it was still there…that it hadn’t gotten lost under those pillowy fabrics. I hadn’t seen it in so long, I was beginning to wonder.

Wearing jeans doesn’t equate women’s liberation—unfortunately, it’s not that simple. But my point is there are little details in life I often take for granted. The biggest one is that I, as a woman, am part of society. It is not weird for me to go to school, to be outside relaxing, shopping, or whatever. American society still views women as secondary to men, I know that. But, I have more freedom than the women in Afghanistan and India, and for that I am grateful, and I will continually work toward Equality in the US.

My god bless America rant does not mean I think things are perfect here or that we should just accept what we have as a blessing. It took work of many Americans to make our country what it is, and we ought to be continually tweaking our system when it fails us. I also think that we as American citizens should take a greater interest in the problems of other countries. We spend so much on military defense, funding wars, funding militia groups. If we used that money to invest in clean water, education and other basic needs, I don’t think we would have the problems we are contending with in the world today. The prospect of becoming a suicide bomber is not so far fetched when you have nothing to live for—when you don’t have a job, clean water, education…

We ought to start seeing the world as our community and see how our policies, thoughts and actions affect the citizens of the world, not just the United States, because as isolated and protected we’d like to think we are, it’s just not true. Everything affects us, and everything we do affects others. Taking a sincere interest in the prosperity of other citizens of the world will improve our quality of life. We ought to stop dividing ourselves from others and start seeing that they could be us. If my family never left Afghanistan I might not be writing this blog to you. I’d probably have 5 kids, who knows if I’d have an education or a voice. Maybe I’d be dead—if not from war, from a parasite in the water, or from the chemical pollution left behind from war.

Do I make a difference to you? Would I make a difference to you if I was still in Afghanistan?

The best form of national security is not closing our borders and running away. It’s opening our eyes and our hearts. There is a world out there that is aching and we have a choice to look the other way or accept that those are our fellow brothers who are unemployed, sleeping on the streets. Those are our sisters without access to education, and thus access to a different life. We have the privilege to make a difference, so what are we waiting for? If you’re concerned about national security, don’t put your votes toward border control and guns. Instead pay for a child to go to school, support women’s equality. Support GROWTH not destruction, LOVE not hate. Support PEACE and support LIFE. As American citizens we are power brokers in the future of the world. You can use your power, or throw the opportunity away. What will you choose? REMEMBER: your voice makes a tremendous difference. Don’t forget to Vote on November 7th.


LOVE, PEACE and PROSPERITY to all,

Gazelle