A Few Trials and Tribulations

All is going well here – for the most part! Work has been so busy that I have not had much time to communicate. I now have a Business Development Coordinator on board to assist me and he has done an admirable job of coming up to speed on our business department's strategies. It is great having another person to share in market research and translation tasks - but I am realizing for the first time the significant time investment that is required to be a good, on-the-ball manager. We are currently working full steam ahead on business planning for storage and greenhouse facilities for our communities as well as creating a training plan to deliver business development services to our commmunities. I think I have just realized this week how much I love the actual work I am doing: I would never have guessed what a passion I have for entrepreneurialism and that I could have found a job that links this with community planning.

We have had some nice family picnics out in Paghman and Pul-e-Matak (near Charikar), both rural areas relatively near Kabul city. On both picnics, we were lucky enough to settle near running rivers and it was a good opportunity for relaxation... except when we were in Paghman and a bunch of guys started firing guns in the air. And then there was the old gypsy (kuchi) man with the trained monkey that came to our picnic area and did tricks in time to his singing. Never a dull moment (if only that were true: actually there are many dull moments).

On the personal side of things, I have come down with a very nasty intestinal amoeba and I’m on some pretty heavy duty medicine for it. What a bummer (literally). There's not much more that can be politely said about it, suffice to say that the meds have nearly wiped me out completely and I've been sleeping 12 hours a day since I started them. I really hope that I can kick the bugs and get on with life here. On another dark note, a young Phillipino working here in Kabul was kidnapped yesterday when she took a taxi in town...they found her body in a well this afternoon. That really is a shocker, and a reminder that safety and cautiousness in Afghanistan is of extreme importance right now.