Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
2 months down and counting!!! Man what a long time.. oh by the way Notre Dame is #2 in the AP "Charlie Wiess and the Football Factory"
Well the last couple of weeks have been going by pretty fast for me I guess we've been so busy and a lot has been going on here in Afghanistan that we just don't think about the time and it just flies by. I think if we really dwell and sit around and do nothing than it just goes by really slow and we spend the time thinking about the ones we miss and love so much and it really gets us down. I don't think I could handle not getting to leave Camp Phoenix or having to do the same thing day in and day out, I would become so overwhelmed with sadness that I couldn't function. I mean a lot of guys don't want to leave Phoenix cause they worry what's outside that front gate and I understand that cause there are a lot of bad things out there that at any second could hurt any one of us. I guess I take that risk to leave and get out cause I couldn't stand being stuck here.. There are a few places I like to go and get out of here and really hate coming back on to camp, I like going to the other camps but once again we're trapped there as well so when we get to go out and do our CERP missions its great not just because were helping but because we are getting out of here and getting a little "FREEDOM" of our own...
We checked on the school we are building its coming along really good and should be ready for a final inspection by us Saturday and hopefully have the grand opening next month. We also checked on the hospital were we are building the patient rooms and they are almost finished as well. It nice seeing what we're doing for them and hopefully we can keep it up.
Last week I got to attend one of the most memorable things I would probably get to do here besides all the good stuff this was something fun for us to do without any work. We went to one of the local villages for a wedding and this was by far the biggest wedding I have ever been to.
Well let me go back this really wasn't the wedding but it was part of the ceremony. This was more like the bachelor party but they really don't call it that. Of course there were no women at this but there were over 600 guys there so Im sure the wedding itself was 1200 easily. We showed up talked for awhile and had supper and then got hena painted on our hands if you look at one of the pictures you can see the little girls waving and on one of their hands is hena and that's what they are doing to our hands. Then they brought in a famous Afghan singer who cost 3 thousand for the night so Im sure the parents are spending a lot of money on the whole thing. After the singer started all the guys wanted Lt. Marmen one to get up and dance so of course he did and there was a little old man there they called "Joker" (and if your reading this and from Madill you should get the next part.) Joker was Catman Morgan to the tee, crazy, didn't make any sense and his dance was more like a gymnastics contest than anything but he could put on a show, and that's what he did, he even wore a weight lifting belt Im guessing for his extra protection. It was an experience I will never forget and sometime next month our Interp will be getting married so Im sure his will be just as good.
Well anyway last week we did another MEDCAP like a couple weeks ago. This one was a lot larger and we were able to see more people. I did my usual part, taking pictures, helping out here and there with security and of course playing with the kids. I always seem to find one that Im drawn to one little kid who always catches my eye or does something that reminds me of Bayleigh or just doesn't bother me or bug me for stuff like the other kids do. One little boy (the one in the white clothes with my kevlar on) he is the son of the owner of the house were we did the MEDCAP he is about 6-7 I would say I never did ask him but he was the cutest and most ornery little boy probably the equivalent of a boy Bayleigh. He stood by my side the whole time and would pull on my pant leg every time he wanted another piece of candy and then whenever anyone else wanted some candy he would run them off no matter how bug they were. After awhile he got in trouble from his dad and then wanted to "flex" his muscles and show me how strong he was by moving rocks and picking up his brothers.
Later in the day I was standing on the porch of one of the houses and saw a boy pushing a wheel barrow into the compound and inside the wheelbarrow was his brother who had some type of crippling disease that mad his body contract and distort into positions the body shouldn't go. The boy was placed on one of the litters and the medics looked him over and there is really nothing they could do for him but give him documents to go to the hospital. As the boy pushed his brother outside the front gate a few of us stood on the porch and I thought what Im sure the rest of the group was thinking and that he probably wont live much longer and how sad it is that they cant be helped enough to fight all the diseases they face and all the problems they face. We can only do so much here and the longer I stay and go out the more it seems that they may never be able to help themselves without the help from us.
We checked on the school we are building its coming along really good and should be ready for a final inspection by us Saturday and hopefully have the grand opening next month. We also checked on the hospital were we are building the patient rooms and they are almost finished as well. It nice seeing what we're doing for them and hopefully we can keep it up.
Last week I got to attend one of the most memorable things I would probably get to do here besides all the good stuff this was something fun for us to do without any work. We went to one of the local villages for a wedding and this was by far the biggest wedding I have ever been to.
Well let me go back this really wasn't the wedding but it was part of the ceremony. This was more like the bachelor party but they really don't call it that. Of course there were no women at this but there were over 600 guys there so Im sure the wedding itself was 1200 easily. We showed up talked for awhile and had supper and then got hena painted on our hands if you look at one of the pictures you can see the little girls waving and on one of their hands is hena and that's what they are doing to our hands. Then they brought in a famous Afghan singer who cost 3 thousand for the night so Im sure the parents are spending a lot of money on the whole thing. After the singer started all the guys wanted Lt. Marmen one to get up and dance so of course he did and there was a little old man there they called "Joker" (and if your reading this and from Madill you should get the next part.) Joker was Catman Morgan to the tee, crazy, didn't make any sense and his dance was more like a gymnastics contest than anything but he could put on a show, and that's what he did, he even wore a weight lifting belt Im guessing for his extra protection. It was an experience I will never forget and sometime next month our Interp will be getting married so Im sure his will be just as good.
Well anyway last week we did another MEDCAP like a couple weeks ago. This one was a lot larger and we were able to see more people. I did my usual part, taking pictures, helping out here and there with security and of course playing with the kids. I always seem to find one that Im drawn to one little kid who always catches my eye or does something that reminds me of Bayleigh or just doesn't bother me or bug me for stuff like the other kids do. One little boy (the one in the white clothes with my kevlar on) he is the son of the owner of the house were we did the MEDCAP he is about 6-7 I would say I never did ask him but he was the cutest and most ornery little boy probably the equivalent of a boy Bayleigh. He stood by my side the whole time and would pull on my pant leg every time he wanted another piece of candy and then whenever anyone else wanted some candy he would run them off no matter how bug they were. After awhile he got in trouble from his dad and then wanted to "flex" his muscles and show me how strong he was by moving rocks and picking up his brothers.
Later in the day I was standing on the porch of one of the houses and saw a boy pushing a wheel barrow into the compound and inside the wheelbarrow was his brother who had some type of crippling disease that mad his body contract and distort into positions the body shouldn't go. The boy was placed on one of the litters and the medics looked him over and there is really nothing they could do for him but give him documents to go to the hospital. As the boy pushed his brother outside the front gate a few of us stood on the porch and I thought what Im sure the rest of the group was thinking and that he probably wont live much longer and how sad it is that they cant be helped enough to fight all the diseases they face and all the problems they face. We can only do so much here and the longer I stay and go out the more it seems that they may never be able to help themselves without the help from us.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
MED-CAP
Ok first I want to start out with something that sruck my attention and really really got me pissed off and iritated especially after the day I had today. (Heres a little excert from the email I sent this "wonderful American" I found on myspace.com) Here is the link to his
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=97009833
"I dont know who this is but your an idiot!! Honestly do you really find any of that funny.. Of all the people you could make a profile about and say shit about how the military cant find him, you really are a "mo-ron" (A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education) ... Congrats!!!
You have no idea how many Americans and Oklahomans have gave their blood sweat and tears in Afghanistan (including myself) to help out this country that was punished by the Taliban.
When you leave your humble abode of Madill, Ok you can say whatever you want and be as much of a moron as you like. All I ask is that you really know what your talking about and if you really want to appreciate someone please pick someone other than a Taliban.
Now I'll stop waisting my time on worthless people as your self I have better things to do like help the people of Afghanistan.
Ok now back to my day!!
We started out pretty early this morning and headed out to do a MED-CAP (we organize a "clinic" in a village using the medics and the help of the locals) Today was actually the first one we have done since we've been here. We set up at a locals house which is very large and expensive. We treated about 100 patients men women and children. We started out and I was playing with some of the kids that will be living in the house as soon as its finished. I was having a pretty good time doing what my Dad (Scott) does for Bayleigh when someone is at the Hospital. Scott takes a glove and blows it up or i put it on Bays head and she has to have about 10 rubber gloves. Well I took about 5 gloves and made "balloons" and drew a face on it using the thumb as a nose. The kids loved it running around chasing the other kids with them. While I was blowing them up I would let the air out in their face and they would just giggle thinking that was the greatest thing ever.
After awhile of that and walking around taking pictures a man brought in a little girl (the girl in purple in the guys arms) she is 1 and very very malnutritioned her fingers were no bigger than a straw. Probably one of the most difficult things Ive seen here so far. She was so timmed and shy so one of the medics gave her a bear almost bigger than her. She just sat there looking around at everyone as they treated her and she was just so cute and sweet I wanted to take her home and give her what she wasnt getting here in Afghanistan.
It was all pretty tough today the medics treated so many malnuritied children and children with all kinds of problems. I stood and watched as one little boy who looked no more than 3 months probably 3 years he just laid in in moms arms looking lifeless and so weak he could even wave the flys from his face. This is so so sad and all I could think about (what I think about everyday) bayleigh and how I could never let Bayleigh get any where near that bad (thinking this mom was a bad mother) but then I watched another little girl getting water out of a well and saw what looked like Lake Texoma water running into a bottle, the little girl carried back over to her mom and she tipped it up and drank it like it was straight Dasani. Its just tough remembering sometimes what these people go through then I cant imagine going through it myself. They are defanaitlty stronger than I would ever be, I would have given up by now.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=97009833
"I dont know who this is but your an idiot!! Honestly do you really find any of that funny.. Of all the people you could make a profile about and say shit about how the military cant find him, you really are a "mo-ron" (A person of mild mental retardation having a mental age of from 7 to 12 years and generally having communication and social skills enabling some degree of academic or vocational education) ... Congrats!!!
You have no idea how many Americans and Oklahomans have gave their blood sweat and tears in Afghanistan (including myself) to help out this country that was punished by the Taliban.
When you leave your humble abode of Madill, Ok you can say whatever you want and be as much of a moron as you like. All I ask is that you really know what your talking about and if you really want to appreciate someone please pick someone other than a Taliban.
Now I'll stop waisting my time on worthless people as your self I have better things to do like help the people of Afghanistan.
Ok now back to my day!!
We started out pretty early this morning and headed out to do a MED-CAP (we organize a "clinic" in a village using the medics and the help of the locals) Today was actually the first one we have done since we've been here. We set up at a locals house which is very large and expensive. We treated about 100 patients men women and children. We started out and I was playing with some of the kids that will be living in the house as soon as its finished. I was having a pretty good time doing what my Dad (Scott) does for Bayleigh when someone is at the Hospital. Scott takes a glove and blows it up or i put it on Bays head and she has to have about 10 rubber gloves. Well I took about 5 gloves and made "balloons" and drew a face on it using the thumb as a nose. The kids loved it running around chasing the other kids with them. While I was blowing them up I would let the air out in their face and they would just giggle thinking that was the greatest thing ever.
After awhile of that and walking around taking pictures a man brought in a little girl (the girl in purple in the guys arms) she is 1 and very very malnutritioned her fingers were no bigger than a straw. Probably one of the most difficult things Ive seen here so far. She was so timmed and shy so one of the medics gave her a bear almost bigger than her. She just sat there looking around at everyone as they treated her and she was just so cute and sweet I wanted to take her home and give her what she wasnt getting here in Afghanistan.
It was all pretty tough today the medics treated so many malnuritied children and children with all kinds of problems. I stood and watched as one little boy who looked no more than 3 months probably 3 years he just laid in in moms arms looking lifeless and so weak he could even wave the flys from his face. This is so so sad and all I could think about (what I think about everyday) bayleigh and how I could never let Bayleigh get any where near that bad (thinking this mom was a bad mother) but then I watched another little girl getting water out of a well and saw what looked like Lake Texoma water running into a bottle, the little girl carried back over to her mom and she tipped it up and drank it like it was straight Dasani. Its just tough remembering sometimes what these people go through then I cant imagine going through it myself. They are defanaitlty stronger than I would ever be, I would have given up by now.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Catching Up!!!!!
Well everyone has been griping about me not updating my blog as often so I will let you know how things have been the last couple weeks.. We received a large amount of money to help out with projects in Kabul, we are working on 2 schools a clinic, repairing some roads and building a foot bridge over one of the busiest roads in Kabul. We’ve had several meeting with the elders here lately over what they think is the most important things to fix. Of course they all want the school and footbridge at the top of our list so that’s what we’re shooting for.
We really haven’t been into town a whole lot lately a few times we are just busy trying to get bids and land to build the projects. We had a groundbreaking ceremony last week at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH). We are adding 5 b-huts to replace the several tents in that are used to treat patients and our out in the open. We also donated several boxes of scrubs to IDH along with 4000 dollars worth of medical supplies.
Last week I took probably one of the worst trips of my life (scared to death). We went to another village in Afghanistan it’s about an hour there on a good paved route. Lots too see this was a really beautiful drive (on the way there) then on the way back we took a different route 4 hours back on one of the worst roads I’ve ever been on no guard rail not even some dirt pushed the side to make a guard rail. We were 8 thousand feet up and if you know me you know how horrified I am of heights. I was clinching the steering wheel and every time we passed a corner another semi (jingle truck) would come as close to me as they possibly could and I can’t tell you how many times I came about a foot from the ledge. After about a 2 hour climb we finally desended down and I was able to “unpucker” and relax. I saw a lot maybe more than I wanted to see but enough mountain and rugged terrain to last me a whole year.
Last week we also went to the former Queen of Afghanistan’s Mansion. This place was still amazing even though it was built back during the 20’s and survived several wars, its still one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. It is so difficult seeing how crumbled and destroyed the palace is now and wishing I could see it during its hay day. Looking down you could see the court yard and tell this was once one of the most beautiful places in Afghanistan. Now ridden with bullet holes, and ransacked for anything any everything including toilets. I have tried finding pictures online to see just how great it was but I’m still unsuccessful. Maybe you will have better luck..
Most of you know last Sunday was my birthday!!! Wasn’t all that great being here but the guys made it the best they could for me. My interp got me a birthday cake (bananas and pineapple) very good and it made it a lot better than just sitting around and missing home. You always miss home the most on the days you deem important in your life (anniversary, birthdays, holidays) it gets tough and I’m really dreading Christmas my first one away from my family actually my first one away ever. I hope it flies by and they don’t make a huge deal out of it here, because its not were a big deal HERE, we’re stuck in a place most of us don’t want to be at that time of the year but we gotta make the best of it or we will all be miserable.
Well I guess I’ll sign off for now and try to keep this up to date more I don’t wanna let my “Blog Fans Down” Take care back home I miss you all..
We really haven’t been into town a whole lot lately a few times we are just busy trying to get bids and land to build the projects. We had a groundbreaking ceremony last week at the Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH). We are adding 5 b-huts to replace the several tents in that are used to treat patients and our out in the open. We also donated several boxes of scrubs to IDH along with 4000 dollars worth of medical supplies.
Last week I took probably one of the worst trips of my life (scared to death). We went to another village in Afghanistan it’s about an hour there on a good paved route. Lots too see this was a really beautiful drive (on the way there) then on the way back we took a different route 4 hours back on one of the worst roads I’ve ever been on no guard rail not even some dirt pushed the side to make a guard rail. We were 8 thousand feet up and if you know me you know how horrified I am of heights. I was clinching the steering wheel and every time we passed a corner another semi (jingle truck) would come as close to me as they possibly could and I can’t tell you how many times I came about a foot from the ledge. After about a 2 hour climb we finally desended down and I was able to “unpucker” and relax. I saw a lot maybe more than I wanted to see but enough mountain and rugged terrain to last me a whole year.
Last week we also went to the former Queen of Afghanistan’s Mansion. This place was still amazing even though it was built back during the 20’s and survived several wars, its still one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. It is so difficult seeing how crumbled and destroyed the palace is now and wishing I could see it during its hay day. Looking down you could see the court yard and tell this was once one of the most beautiful places in Afghanistan. Now ridden with bullet holes, and ransacked for anything any everything including toilets. I have tried finding pictures online to see just how great it was but I’m still unsuccessful. Maybe you will have better luck..
Most of you know last Sunday was my birthday!!! Wasn’t all that great being here but the guys made it the best they could for me. My interp got me a birthday cake (bananas and pineapple) very good and it made it a lot better than just sitting around and missing home. You always miss home the most on the days you deem important in your life (anniversary, birthdays, holidays) it gets tough and I’m really dreading Christmas my first one away from my family actually my first one away ever. I hope it flies by and they don’t make a huge deal out of it here, because its not were a big deal HERE, we’re stuck in a place most of us don’t want to be at that time of the year but we gotta make the best of it or we will all be miserable.
Well I guess I’ll sign off for now and try to keep this up to date more I don’t wanna let my “Blog Fans Down” Take care back home I miss you all..
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
