Afghanistan blogs

by Save the Children staff member Jiffer Bourguignon

. An introduction to 'Rewrite the Future' in Afghanistan December 2006
. 'It's just too cold to fight' January 2007
. The Shamali Valley March 2007
 

"It's just too cold to fight"

In Afghanistan, it is said that the winter is the calmest time of the year because "it’s just too cold to fight". After the last few weeks of sub-zero temperatures in Kabul, I can see the logic in this theory. 

It’s cold. Colder than it’s been in Kabul in 50 years – or so I am told by my Afghan colleague who was told by an elder who has lived here for more than 50 years, and “he knows.” The water pipes in many homes are freezing solid as are the wells. The remains of a snowstorm that hit town three weeks ago still blanket the city. While global warming ravishes the rest of the planet, we in Kabul hunker down for a long winter. The heat from the boukhari, the wood-burning stove that warms the office – as well as roasts almonds and makes a mean espresso - begins to wane, and I hike my shawl up around my shoulders – as another Afghan colleague walks by in flip-flop sandals, without socks.

The cold means a long winter break from school in Kabul which begins in early December and lasts until March. The 21st of the month is the spring equinox and the first day of the new year, Nowroz, according to the Zoroastrian calendar – it is also the first day of the academic calendar in Afghanistan.

While formal schools shut their doors for the winter, Save the Children Child-to-Child groups provide students with an opportunity to read, discuss and learn in order to sharpen their skills and get ahead before the start of the coming school year.

En route to visit a group session, we careen through narrow unpaved paths, past small stores selling stacks of jelabi, a flat round web of fried dough doused with honey, and pickled vegetables in plastic jars. The Kabul River is nearly frozen over and children are shoe-skating across small off-shooting ponds. The Hindu Kush mountains rise protectively in the background with their craggily peaks protruding through the thick snow cover.

Huddled together around the boukhari, sitting in a circle around a beautiful red Afghan rug, 16 fifth and sixth grade boys gather together at a neighborhood home. The group commences with the reverent song of prayer sung squeakily by one of the adolescent participants.

Plastic insulates the windows and a wood-burning stove warms the room. Most children are barefoot with nothing more than a sweater pulled on over their shalwar kameez, the traditional light cotton pants and long tunic shirt. Argyle sweaters and “First National Bank” sweatshirts have made their way to the local markets via garage sales and clothing drives from afar.

The group begins with a review of last week’s health session about the importance of hand-washing, teeth-brushing and other important health practices and leads to an exercise conducted to get feedback on the sessions. The boys are instructed to draw three images on a canvas: a fruit tree, a ‘winter’ or leafless tree and a sun. Under the fruit tree, the boys write things that make them happy, under the winter tree, things that made them sad and under the sun, requests or suggestions.

Predictably, the children give mostly positive responses that sometimes sound almost scripted, praising the program and its benefits and requesting that it be continued. Other children nod in agreement, putting conceding check marks in the boxes next to what has already been written.

The children are amazingly attentive, so eager to volunteer information, to share their opinion. They are respectful of others and take turns speaking; with wide eyes, they take in every word and absorb the praise of their instructor. “Awffereen,” he says when the discussion, punctuated by coughs and sniffles, turns to the topic of the Save the Children library books that the boys are reading.

Library books are returned and new titles are given in exchange. The boys scramble for the return pile, trading last week’s reading in for popular copies of colorful story books such as “The Golden King,” which tells the story of a wealthy king who is granted his one wish -  that everything he touches turn to gold. The king soon discovers however that his dream-come-true is more of a nightmare when he realizes that he cannot eat his food or play with his children – he has turned his dinner and his daughter into gold! He then begs that the wish be reversed. “The moral of the story is that people should be happy with what they have, instead of always wanting more,” said 6th grader Mansour.

Another popular title is “Zirgai and Jirgai” – the story of two boys who defy their mother and leave home to go out into the woods. The boys soon find themselves lost and cry out for their mother who finds them and brings them safely home. “We should always listen to our parents because they know what is best for us,” explains fifth-grader Tamim.

This Child-to-Child group meets once a week for two hours. During their winter vacation, the boys say they like to continue their studies, getting together for study groups, going to private tutors and playing sports. Science, math and languages are among the favorite subjects that are enthusiastically shouted out – and doctor, teacher and engineer are the future vocations of choice of most in the group.

Come on, I prod, you must do more during your winter vacation than just study? They smile sheepishly and shyly concede that kite flying is also fun. So is playing cricket. But we love our books, they insist; “we would love to have more books.”