With Love From Washington

I wanted to share our experience with Operation Desert Blossom and hopefully encourage other people to share theirs as well. It was an amazing experience for us. I have the wonderful opportunity of working with the 8-9 year old girls in my church. Twice a month we get together and do various activities ranging from crafts and cooking, to games and learning life skills. When I approached the girls about doing a service project to benefit some children in Afghanistan the girls were very excited to get involved!

I sent out an email to a few friends and the girls' families. We focused on collecting small scale items: crayons, pencils, stickers, small stuffed animals etc. Some of the girls did extra chores to earn money to buy some items, but a lot of the items donated were extra things the girls simply had at their homes. One little brother of the girls said to his mom as they were going through their toys, "It makes me feel good to give some of my special things to kids who need special things".

Wow, did these little girls pull through! I was hoping that we'd get enough stuff to send 3 or 4 boxes to Matt and the children. I was truly touched by everyone's generosity when we ended up with 9 very stuffed boxes. The support we got was inspiring. For the girls, the highlight of the event was making a sign for the troops. It says, "With Love From Washington". They worked so hard on it, and were so proud of it. They were absolutely delighted to see their sign being held by some of our servicemen and women in Afghanistan.

My general feeling is that people want to help. They want to give. They want our troops to know we care about them. People just need an avenue to do this.

So thank you Matt for organizing this. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to think about others' needs and help in whatever small ways we can. And kudos to these adorable girls for doing such an amazing job!

Becky

It's Raining Shoes!

One of the medics here let me know that a very generous group from the States has mailed a shipment of 30 pairs of shoes!!!  I'm trying to find out who this is, because they deserve a big thanks...

Matt

Toyland!

Maybe I should have called this thing desert snowball.  So far, I've recieved 11 boxes and I think about 15 are on the way.  This week I heard about 3 church groups and a school who will be sending items also.

  Today, I met with the medic from the Navy's Provincial Reconstruction Team, who introduced me to two members of the Army Civial Affairs team, one stationed here in Ghazni, and another stationed at FOB Warrior.  They both plan on accepting and distributing donations.

   They took our first shipment today: nine boxes of children's toys.  It's going to be a great day for some local kids as they get the stuffed animals, coloring books, and bubbles.  Way to go, Vancouver!!!  Thank you!!!

Bargain Finds!

1) Check discount stores for good cheap cotton women's panties (e.g., Burlington, Ross, TJMaxx, Marshalls). To date, our best finds for women’s and children's panties have been Target (where you can buy a pack of 6-7 for about $7.50; I think the brand is Fruit of the Loom). I also found some packs at Ross (packs of 4-5 panties for $4.99-6.99). Remember that the women are all Muslim and you want to stick with conservative styles and colors.
2) Walgreens has full size tubes of toothpaste (Aim and Pepsodent) for $1.00. Target also has these brands for about $.89.
3) Walgreens has packs of 20 assorted combs for $2.29.
4) Target has full size bottles of Suave (I think) shampoo for $.89.
5) Sam’s Club and Target are good places for washcloths. You can buy a pack of 24 washcloths for about $10 at Sam’s, and they have 8-packs at Target for $3.49. You can also find packs sometimes at places like Ross, TJMaxx and Marshalls that are inexpensive and decent quality.
6) Target has had kids knit gloves (thin) for 2/$1.00 and $1.00 hats.
7) Walmart has sweat pants and shirts for about $5.00.
8) Check out Dollar stores (such as Dollar Tree, etc.)--there are sometimes good finds there, especially for hand lotion and sanitary supplies for women (which are often $1.00).
9) Check the internet for places that sell wholesale hygiene items in bulk (like toothbrushes or toothpaste or soap).
10) Others have suggested that garage sales are excellent places to find good (but used) winter clothing for women and children.

“What can we do to help?”

I wanted to tell you about my visit to a clinic on my base here. The short version is that if you're looking for a way to give, people here could use it. If your charity budget is already stretched, I'd stop reading right about here.

I went to the Afghan clinic last weekend to see if I could help out. Health care in Afghanistan works like this: if you are rich, you can afford to travel to Kabul, the capital, to see a doctor who went to medical school. Hopefully you are rich enough to afford the bribe, the x-rays, and the medicines as well. If you are like most Afghans and just try to grow enough food in the desert to support your family, you trade food or money to be seen by someone that probably doesn’t read. Your knee arthritis may be treated with branding by a red-hot metal pipe, your stomach ulcer might be pronounced the result of your sin, or you may be told your child’s dehydration from gastroenteritis is the will of God and cannot be treated. Most likely is that any of your loved ones who are women or children will never get medical care because that is primarily only for men.

So, I was glad to hear about our little clinic at Forward Operating Base Ghazni. Every day, people from the surrounding provinces line up to be seen by the Afghan doctor, midwife, and nurse who staff the clinic, funded by the military. Say what you will about foreign aid money going to waste, I can tell you these people work as hard as anyone I know seeing 100-150 patients in a day. The idea is to have them become a self-sustaining operation by the time the U.S. leaves in a few years. However, they are not anywhere close to that yet.

I told the head nurse there that people from home ask me often, “What can we do to help?” I took it as a sign of her sincerity and desperation that she replied without hesitation, “We need winter clothes for children, and hygiene items for everyone. Most of the mothers that come here were either abandoned or widowed by their husbands. They have no way to keep their kids or themselves clean and warm.” I asked her to be specific, which she was happy to do:

*children’s hats, scarves, jackets or sweatshirts, pants, socks, and especially shoes.

*soap, shampoo, washcloths, combs, hair brushes, toothbrush and toothpaste, feminine hygiene products (all of these things are a little new to Afghans, but weekly radio broadcasts and clinic workshops by the doctor are helping to introduce sanitation into the local culture)

*Women’s underwear. (Apparently it’s hard to find here, because the laundry workers habitually steal it to take home to their families. It’s happened to some of the nurses I work with…)

Any items will be gratefully received. You can send one bar of soap or buy out Walmart’s panties aisle. When the clinic has all that it needs, they will send the extra to Ghazni City Hospital, where they have many contacts. If you want to feel good about the military serving a purpose in Afghanistan, please read the story about this hospital:

http://www.isaf.nato.int/article/news/launch-of-ghazni-city-hospital-and-orphanage-brings-hope-to-afghans.html

If your family, Scout troop, youth group or church is looking for a project, I have a great one for you.