Sunday, May 16, 2004

Half a day in Sayedabad of Wardak

It's 0920 on a warm Kabul summer day. Sahibzada, Fardeen and I are heading in the newly hired red Super Custom Van toward Sayedabad of Wardak, where according ANSO yesterday's security briefing around 12 gunmen have been seen and according to intelligence reports they might attack any soft targets in Sayedabad such as Voter Registration Centre, NGOs' and government building. Sayedabad is one of the four districts which is known as Wardak and together with Maidan they make a province known as Maidan Wardak.

In the northern part of the province in Jalreez, Maydanshar, Nirkh and Hisa awal Behsud the war has drastically changed the local culture and especially in the last 13 years. The soviets and later on the Najeeb government was always trying to bribe them not to provide sanctuary for the Mujahideen and not to let them to rocket kabul on the other hand Mujaheeden was trying to get their hearts and have a save heaven in their places.

we have a 0900 appointment with the Local shura of Maydan shar and later on with the Maydanshar journalist institute which is a surprise and the religious figures.
We are already late for it, because Fardeen failed to make the van ready for the time we wanted him to, although I give him specific instructions how to do that. Fardeen also didn't know the road to Sayedabad we work that out. Now he is not driving steady sometime he drives too fast and some time slow and I am telling him this is not the way a professional driver should drive.
Fardeen as every other new staff is very nervous and that's why he does things wrong; I was just telling him, it's very normal to make mistakes as every human does. (Oops, I was wrong about that, I know someone who doesn't make mistakes and his name is sculpture). He needs to process all steps of his life that includes mistakes. No one is perfect in this world and instinctively no one likes perfect people, they are boring. Whatever I was telling him he was giving me YES! YES! That's another thing of being nervous, I told him not to be so agreeable I am not his dad or his teacher or some Talib even if I am he shouldn't necessarily agree with them. If he stops being nervous he could think and once he think his thoughts are different to mine and that will make him not to agree with me.

But never mind the meeting didn't happen until 1030.
I am now in the second meeting with the religious people, I exactly don't know where but some where on this planet.

I was thinking we are here to see if you as religious leader want a radio, what do you say?
At the end he said radio is important and the community wants one.
I am on the way back; we are gonna set up a radio in Sayedabad and thinking if radio could change any thing in such a conservative society?

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