Kan Mohamed, 52, and Mohamed Yosif, 70, tell me they'd like to see a new school built for the village. There are some 700 boys and 250 girls in the local area. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
Young girls look on as our team lays out clothes, shoes, food and medical supplies for the villagers. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
Faroq Ahmed, 20, keeps watch over the younger village children. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
Many of the children waited in the doorway of a nearby home. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
This one lonely goat stood guard over a new Mosque. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
Men of the village line up to get their share of the goods. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
A grave site just inside the village of Seh Qaleh with children playing in the background. (Photo by G. A. Volb)
There were many children of all ages at the village center when we arrived. (Photo by G. A. Volb)The village of Seh Qaleh lies about 5 miles north of "home base" for us, just northeast of Kabul; we made the early-morning journey there via back roads filled with huge ruts and pits that had gray matter bouncing off the inside of skull.
Always on the lookout for the Talib (Taliban), or students, it took us about 30 minutes to arrive. We would have made it there earlier had it not been for a wrong turn into what one of the coalition troops told me later was a mine field. "Glad you told me after we left," I told him, as I'm sure I'd prefer not to know while driving through it.
The village is home to some 600 people, many of which were young children and all of whom seemed quite happy we arrived. The mission was to drop off food, clothes, shoes, school supplies and medical kits.
I had some time to talk with the village elder Kan Mohamed. At 52 he served as the spokesman for Seh Qaleh. He said he was "very happy for the visit." That he knew it was a long process, but knew we'd return. We had visited the village a month ago to determine what they needed. And this was the back end of that earlier visit.
Mohamed said he would like a school built too, which is a typical request and one we (the coalition) like to try to provide --- funds permitting. It's 100-plus degrees here now, so you're never too far from a bottle of water. As we left, I could see the kids doing what kids do ... playing soccer with the many balls we dropped off. It was another successful visit to help reach out to the local Afghans who, in the end, will decide if their adventure into democracy will succeed.
