Sylvia's Journal

The balmy weather of the last few days adds to the ‘lightness of being close to vacation and close to spring.’ The leaf buds on the rose bushes and fruit trees are swelling and some tiny leaves are visible on the honey suckle outside my office. After hours some staff had their first volleyball game. It is hawa bahariye, or spring weather, indeed.

Yet in many places spring is still months away. March and April are the rainy months; in elevated Bamiyan precipitation still comes down as snow I suppose, judging from the mountains around Kabul. After an enormous rain and thunderstorm a few days ago, there upper reaches are white again. Down in the valley we are done with the snow. The last vestiges disappeared about just over a week ago.

I participated in Julie’s ‘writing good impact stories’ session which was fun. I was partnered with one of our ‘druggies’ as I call them, the people who make sure enormous quantities of drugs get to people in the provinces that are supported by USAID. Simultaneously, on the other side of the sliding glass doors the facilitator training was drawing to its close.

Julie and I watched one of the participants in our session transfer what she learned to the facilitator group. I could follow most of what she said and Julie smiled when she saw her main four points reproduced with great enthusiasm on the other side of the doors. Now that is just-in-time training.

One of my staff had organized a lunch in his office for people he wanted to introduce to each other and who he likes. He is an arch networker and so brought together an interesting cast of characters. Axel was also invited.
We listened to stories about the first day after the Taliban were ousted and the shaving of beards that happened instantly. These stories came from the people who were closely associated with the birth of Afghanistan’s current, post-Taliban, health system. Only the rudiments of a health system existed 8 years ago, which included 3 computers in the entire ministry.

Although we are sometimes impatience with the slow progress and the endless stumbling blocks we encounter, hearing where they started was a good reminder of how much has been accomplished in what is after all only 8 years. New beginnings always happen slowly.