Sylvia's Journal

I have observed a road construction phenomenon here in Afghanistan, that looks very pretty but that has some nasty side effects. Many of the new roads are divided roads with pretty parks in the middle, filled with trees, roses and flowering bushes.

Here in Faizabad the brand new main road is designed in the same way. It has a 4 feet green strip in between the lanes that is protected from intruders (cars? dogs? but also the gardener) by a four feet tall fence with sharp ‘fleur-de-lis’ decorations. I watched a man practically spear his private parts by trying to get into the protected space.

One feature of such divided lanes is that there are only a few openings to get to the other side of the street, so a car may need to overshoot its destination and then turn around. But Afghans don’t do that. Instead they drive on the wrong side of the road to their destination if it lies before the next opening.
Last night, when our driver drove on the wrong side, telling us about a bus and a car colliding that way, he seemed oblivious to the land rover that was barreling straight at us. Everyone swerved and this story had a happy ending.

The women sighed and complained once more about their undisciplined male compatriots and their inability to learn from experience, theirs or someone else’s.