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Crisis Solved - We think --
We're back from Kabul, coughing the dust out of our lungs, slowly adjusting to the 11 and 1/2 hour time zone difference, and popping tums. The latest word from Kabul is that they obtained the work permit to resume building the school for girls in Farza. They will be back to work this Saturday.
The rice packages from Stop Hunger Now have now moved beyond the desk where they had been stalled, in the Ministry of Health. They were sent to the lab for testing. The rice passed their lab tests before and should pass again. There is, however, a great chasm between should and will, as you know.
A few friends have asked why we didn't give up. Giving up and in is so appealing at times. However, Nabi and I have handed hundreds of buckets of rice to deserving Afghan families. We know what hunger looks like and have experienced the joy of being part of a food chain that has provided several hundred thousand meals to people who often lack something to eat.
Nabi and I have been forced to meet with three ministers in the Afghan government, on three separate issues. In every case, the Ministers stepped in immediately and resolved the problems created by the bureaucrats below. There has been no baksheesh (bribe), requested or offered.
I know the prevailing view is that the Afghan government is corrupt. But, we've only experienced soft corruption from low end bureaucrats. That's where they intimate, we ignore, and they eventually give in. Our resolve is greater than theirs. I also suspect that part or our success is due to the fact that we may be too small a fish to fry.
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families' relatives, neighbors and friends to change their minds. Most often it is the fathers and brothers who object. Farzana also corners them at funerals, and engagement and wedding parties. Her relentless and endearing nature is evident in the solar oven cooking video.