Project Help Afghanistan

October 27, 2009

Dr. Rafi and Asad Arranging Shoes

It was a busy day today. We took the whole day to prepare gifts for 312 students at Goshta District Girls Elementary School. Dr. Rafi, Asad, and even Hashim, another Afghan Interpreter, helped us prepare the gift packages.

We originally planned to purchase shoes and clothes for 200 students only; however, we really felt bad about the remaining 100+ students. Some get brand new shoes and clothes and some do not…. It did not seem fair to us. Besides, it would be hard to decide who gets the gift and who doesn’t.

The problem was we only had enough budget to purchase 200 pairs of shoes and clothes. How are we going to solve this problem? We thought of many ways, but could not come up with the perfect one.

Asad(left), Hashim(middle), Dr. Rafi(right) posing with gift packages we prepared.

Well, Dr. Rafi did some more research while on leave and came back with a better solution. He did a little market research and found acceptable girls shoes which were a few dollars cheaper than running shoes. He showed me the sample, and it looked okay.

The truth was I wanted to give the children the American quality athletic shoes, so they could run around and not worry about foot injuries.

However, a few dollars cheaper per pair meant 112 more pairs of shoes we could purchase. So, we agreed on Dr. Rafi’s suggestion and had him purchase the less costly shoes.

Another thing that disappointed me was that we were not able to get the foot sizes of the students even after I emphasized the importance of it over and over again. Despite the effort (Dr. Rafi traveled three times to the school and talked several times with the school master by phone), we could not get the correct information.

Asad and 312 pairs of shoes!!! =)

Without knowing exact foot sizes how were we going to purchase the right shoes for these students?

Dr. Rafi and Captain Bassid (ASG Commander) visited the headmaster (principal) of the school, but the he was very uncooperative. According to Dr. Rafi, he was being very vague about anything and everything. When Dr. Rafi asked to get the information together from the teachers to find out exact number of students in each class, the headmaster spat out, ‘Oh, I know this. I am the headmaster. I know everything about the school and the students. We have 50 students in first grade, 60 in second…” He just rambled some random numbers out of his mouth. Dr. Rafi and Captain Bassid could not believe what this man was saying.

When Dr. Rafi explained how important it was to have the exact shoe sizes, the headmaster raised his voice and told him to just bring the shoes and all other gifts to him and he knew how to distribute to the students. Again the headmaster repeated that he was the one in charge and he knew everything. Dr. Rafi came back very upset with the headmaster, sensing corruption all over the man.

Dr. Rafi and Asad showing the fabrics.

Dr. Rafi and Asad advised me several times not to help the school; I thought about what they were suggesting and understood how they must have felt, but it was the students we were trying to help, not the headmaster. We just needed to make sure that the gifts got into the hands of the students. It would be very upsetting to find out if the headmaster or any one particular individual got a hold of all the donations and used them for his or her own benefit. That would make us feel so miserable. But I needed to focus on the children; those pictures of children in bare feet and dirty, torn clothes. Despite all the negative feedback, I still needed to reach out and help those poor children out. They are the ones really needing our attention, and we will do everything to make sure those children get what they deserve: “a little bit of happiness!”

Truthfully, I was just as upset as Dr. Rafi, Asad, and Captain Bassid, but I decided to continue with the project for the same school.

Corruption is seen in everywhere in Afghanistan: from small schools to police departments. It seems like the poorer the country, the more obvious the corruption shows. But the truth is corruption exists everywhere, not just in Afghanistan… whether it is a developed country or not. So, can we really point a finger at this one country or at any one person and say “He is on the take!” or “They are corrupt!”?
We need to acknowledge the existence of the corruption in this country and just need to be more alert about it. Let’s just leave everything else to God and pray that HIS will is being done on the Earth.

I left the responsibility of purchasing the shoes to Dr. Rafi, and he bought equal numbers of shoes for each size for 1st graders to 6th. I believe he did his best considering the lack of information, and we will do our best to find better solutions for any similar issues that may arise in the future.

This is how much of fabric is needed for one student!

We worked until 11pm, covered with dust and sweat, but we remained very happy. Towards the end of the day, Dr. Rafi said, “My body is very tired, but my heart is very sweet. I will miss these days when we spent many hours working together to help other people after you are gone back to the States.”
….

I would, too, Dr. Rafi!!
I will, too, treasure the countless days and nights we spent together brainstorming, planning, and actually working hard commencing the projects.

For the future projects, my ultimate goal is to implement H.E.M.E. project for Afghanistan. Heme is the main part of Red Blood Cell (RBC) that carries 4 oxygen molecules, thus directly related to sustaining lives. H.E.M.E. is named for that exact reason.

• ‘H’ stands for Housing
• ‘E’ stands for Education
• ‘M’ stands for Medical
• ‘E’ stands for Education

Some day (hopefully soon) I pray that this dream comes alive and be able to help so many lives.

To accomplish this, I would need many compassionate supporters!

“Deo Volente….” ( = if God so wills…)