Very Very Important Persons

We had our grand opening here yesterday with a contingent of what the Canadian Embassy here in Afghanistan referred to as “VVIPS” or "Very Very Important Persons" – the terminology is a bit silly but we were lucky to have some Canadian and Afghan dignitaries come and inaugurate our humble project. The main VVIP was Minister of International Cooperation Josee Verner, who flew in from Canada to cut our ribbon (www.joseeverner.ca/). We also had two Afghan government ministers attend and speak - both were from the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MMRD) which has shepherded the much-acclaimed National Solidarity Program (www.mrrd.gov.af). So as you can imagine, there were a lot of security guys hanging about the place with long rifles. Interestingly, the main body guard from Canada was Mohawk – that was a nice connection.