Jalalabad

Yesterday I went out on my first mission. We went to Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province. We looked at four different construction sites: justice complex, civil service commissioning training center, girls school and pediatric wing. It was so much fun! I was very nervous about going outside of the wire, but by the second site visit I stopped being afraid because I know this is where I am supposed to be. Going out in Afghanistan is like taking a step back in time. As soon as we rolled outside the gate there were all these little kids and tons of animals! Goats, chickens, ducks, cows, sheep. The children are adorable. Wherever we went a crowd would gather and the children would cheer and give us the thumbs up sign.

Pictures of the justice complex

The first site visit was to the justice complex and as we were walking out two older women in head scarfs came out of nowhere and walked up to us. Lisa (the girl I'm replacing) and I talked to them and they told us that they want to be soldiers and do what we do. They even said they were strong enough to wear our body armor.

At the girls school we met the principal, who is also a woman. She was very kind and appreciates the school we are funding. We took a picture with her and all the teachers before we left and I am promised to come back and have chai with her.Working on the black board and meeting the principal and teachers for the girls school

Next stop was the hospital where we are funding a hundred bed pediatric wing to the main hospital in Jalalabad. I inspected some form work and got to meet some of the children.
Lastly we went to Duranta Dam, which was built by the Russians. Our guys got some time with the crew served weapons while we chased away little kids who kept on creeping closer and closer to us.It was an amazing day and I was wiped out when we returned. The hot weather doesn't help at all but I can't wait to go out again. Today I have meetings all day long with contractors. Should be fun!