The Women of Wigal Valley

"The women of Wigal Valley are very beautiful, just like you."

About a week ago the PRT dropped some humanitarian aid (HA) off in the Wigal Valley. The HA was for the women, mostly widows, who make a living by carrying bags of cement up a mountain side. They are very poor and have many children to look after. So, the PRT gave them winter clothing and pots and pans. The women were very hardened and did not want us taking pictures of them. The mission was successful and I made some friends along the way.

Cutest Child Ever?

Is this the cutest child ever, or what?

Farewell

Today we had a farewell party for one of our local national engineers. He found a higher paying job in Kabul and we are very proud of him. He's been with the PRT for a year and a half and has done a great job. Unfortunately, the PRT does not pay enough money compared to some of the NGOs, so our engineers often leave for a better pay check. We had a very nice luncheon and I wore a kuchi dress--a typical pattern for the nomadic people in Afghanistan.

Good Morning Afghanistan

A couple weeks ago the news team from Good Morning America made a visit to the PRT. I got to spend a lot of time with Chris Cuomo and the crew as we took them to several of our project sites. I did some interviews, but it looks like they never made it on the air. So, here are the links to some pictures:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/war-afghanistan-scenes-battle/Story?id=8768136&page=2

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Afghanistan/rebuilding-afghanistan-war/Story?id=8778096&page=2

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Afghanistan/rebuilding-afghanistan-war/story?id=8778096

The last link has a video and I'm in there a a couple times, although a little bit out of context. I think the backhoe on one of my projects got more air time than I did.