Yesterday my day started with riots near the best known high school, Habibia High School, the school where President Karzai went to. Teachers and students were rioting because the teachers had not been paid for the last three months. Since our office is right next to the school, we were greeted by 300 Afghan police officers and even more rioting teachers and students. Fortunately no one was hurt.
I visited several groups yesterday. The first group meets in the living room of someone's house and although I managed to avoid going to 'local' toilets for the past two weeks, yesterday I really had to go. A girl guided me to the toilet and it was indeed just a hole in a dirt floor, but not a big hole, it's more of a small open channel. It was quite a challenge to find out how to use it correctly, I can tell you! The girl did wait for me with a jug of water and a towel, so I could wash my hands! Just when I was wondering where the little open canal was leading to, we left the garden and and I saw a little stream coming from the wall leading to a bigger open gutter right in the middle of the street. So I guess that is how their sewer system works!! I'll upload some pictures.
I also visited the women's garden again. They opened only last week and in the garden you can find little shops run by women (called the bazaar), a water pump, a toilet and an office where the Self Help Groups can come together. The garden is only for women and is completely set up by women also. It is quite a special place to visit and a good example of how the position of women is slowly transforming since their membership of a SHG.
Tomorrow I will visit more groups and I wonder what adventures will await me then!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment