November 9, 2009 “SWINE FLU”

We have some bad news. It is rather little depressing to me. There is a swine flu outbreak in Afghanistan, and the government decided to close down all the schools for next three weeks.

This coming Wednesday we planned to distribute gifts to the students of Goshta District Girls Elementary School, but now it has to be delayed. This concerns me a little, because our unit is getting ready to re-deploy back to the States in couple months; I may not have enough time. I pray that everything gets done before I leave Afghanistan.

One fortunate thing is, though, that the incidence only occurred in a very small part of the country and has not been spread to other provinces including where we are stationed at. Thanks God that area we are located is very safe so far! =) Hopefully it will not spread any further to any other parts of the country.

I talked to our Commander CPT Kramer and discussed the matter; he verified the fact with the sub-governor and assured me that all our projects will be done before the re-deployment. I appreciated his encouragement and assurance.

Following projects are still left to commence in short weeks:
1. Project Shoes-N-Clothes for Children
a. Goshta District Girls Elementary School: 312 students
b. Daman Elementary School: 125 students
c. Kharbanday Elementary School: 75 students
2. 3 Medical missions to small villages
a. Each visit of villages, we plan to distribute food, clothes, winter jackets, school supplies, and shoes of our ability.
3. Project Afghan Literacy
a. Graduation of 3rd class on November 26
b. New class begins on November 28
4. Project Combat Boots for Afghan National Police
a. Lal’Por Police Department: 18 police officers
5. Project Running shoes for Local Workers
a. 90 local workers
6. Project Home visit
a. Visit to local households and distribute food, clothes, shoes, school supplies, winter blankets, etc.