Sylvia's Journal

I live in two worlds. In one world I have to be ‘on,’ produce results, be efficient (use my time well), be productive, delegate, think strategically. In the other I have to be social, modest, patient, accept and respect the ‘process’ of life as it is lived here in Afghanistan. They are complete opposites of each other.

I started my day being in one world: making sure agendas were drafted, appointments arranged, people lined up for this or that, schedules set, be on time for meetings, and think about what needs to happen before Steve leaves on Wednedsay. I was focused on planning, anticipating, results thinking and the like. It is work with a high mental energy quotient.

And then a delegation of the ministry of economic affairs showed up and I found myself in the other world. My role was one of ‘being there,’ of being patient with whatever process was underway (all the conversation in Dari) whether I understood it or not, circuitous by nature.

I watched a team of four people from the ministry who had come to investigate us, but not in the western sense, at least not yet. Yes, they did want all sorts of information, especially financial, that we consider private, none of their business, but we will deal with these requests later, indirectly.

After an hour of mostly Dari talk which produced a list of questions and very little talk from Steve and me, we piled into a car to visit the warehouse where all our drugs are stored, part of their inspection. But student demonstrators had blocked traffic and we returned to the compound, to the small conference room where we started. And then we just sat there, waiting for a lunch that was ordered from a restaurant on the other side of the demonstrators, and thus delayed.

I took advantage of the situation by pulling out my Dari schoolbooks. Everyone became an enthusiastic teacher, correcting my pronunciation and trying to explain, in broken English, what I was reading. With their help I completed the lesson I was supposed to have later in the day – we finished the story about the sad woman who was going to throw herself in a well. It ended OK, as I had expected, with the son become a successful cook, marrying a nice woman and having two lovely children (a boy and a girl).He had only one wish left: to become literate (this is after all a literacy primer).

After lunch I excused myself and made my way to the ministry over roads abandoned by the demonstrating students. At the ministry I joined a committee, taking over from Steve who had taken over from the other Steve, that is tasked with the investigation of what one could call ‘undue influence by a financial consultant in charge of clearing payments to a third party.’ The third party had lodged 6 complaints about this undue influence and the consultant, who is on our payroll, was sent on paid leave awaiting the verdict.

I joined the investigation just at the point when the defendant was there to defend himself. It was like being on a jury and I conjured up images of Henry Fonda of Twelve Angry Men. What would he have asked questions about?

It is a little painful to see how many man hours (and now also woman hours) are being spent on this case of undue influence (no money or goods changed hands) when there is so much large scale and blatant corruption going on in this country.

My Dari class was a cinch after my impromptu morning class with the team from the ministry of economic affairs. I have completed two of the three literacy primers and my reading is now maybe at 2nd grade level – still a little halting but I am beginning to recognize the gestalt of frequently used words.