Sylvia's Journal

I spent all day cleaning papers off my table, taking care of loose ends, and composing my handover notes. I learned about procurement of medical equipment and how pharmaceuticals are managed – I am on a steep learning curve now that the pharmaceutical component of our project has moved into my portfolio – it is fascinating and gives me a completely different view on public health in a developing country.

I now realize how incomplete my understanding was of what it takes to deliver health care services. I wrote chapters and books about management and leadership, emphasizing the human element in health care delivery; now I am learning about the financial and logistics aspects I knew nothing about.

This afternoon the weather changed, rather suddenly. First came heavy clouds. I was happy that I had not been on the flight to Takhar Province with the minister. Flying into Kabul when a front is coming in, especially in a small plane, is not so much fun. Thunder and lightning followed, then heavy rains. The temperature dropped to a level more likely in November.

Here was yet another manifestation of altered weather patterns in the region. But unlike the catastrophic rains in China, Eastern Afghanistan and Pakistan, this was a good change for us and the farmers – relief from the heat and badly needed rains to keep the dust down and crops growing.

Things are a little tense in town; there is much security related chatter in the air and some foreigners are kept on a tight leash. This afternoon a class of girls in a school in Kabul was poisoned by someone who does not believe that girls should be in school. He fumigated the classroom with some chemical, insecticides are popular for this purpose (girl as insect). The entire class landed in the hospital.

In the evening we finally met Courtney’s wife Elaine, who was the one that connected us many months ago via my blog. We became friends with her husband, a Safi pilot and that is how I got to fly from Dubai to Kabul in the cockpit, an unforgettable experience.

Elaine arrived early August for a year in Kabul. She is teaching at the international school while her husband flies in and out of Kabul across the region and now also to Frankfurt.

We went out for dinner, the four of us, sitting outside in the lovely garden of the BBQ Tonight restaurant. Elaine and I kept warm, wrapping our scarves around us, something that would have been unimaginable a day ago.