Another angel-Van Auburn

In Kabul, Van Auburn is called by his Afghan friends "Chil Sal Pesh" or Mr. Forty Years Ago. He also lived here during the sixties as a teenager and he loves Afghanistan. We have met up over the last couple of years, and this trip he has been living at PARSA quietly and calmly providing an amazing level of volunteer support. He has built databases for our programs, worked on our website, created brochures and pretty much done whatever asked...skating through our chaotic days with a cheerful smile. We are so grateful to have him and will miss him when he returns to the US this month.

About Allhoddin Orphanage and PARSA...one of the projects Dawn is working on

In January, 2006 PARSA hired two psychosocial trainers who have been certified by Dr. Patricia Omidian in a culturally specific psychosocial training that she has developed specifically for teachers who work with young children. In June 2006, I asked PARSA Director, Yasin Farid to visit neighboring Allahoddin Orphanage to see what support PARSA staff can begin to provide during our process of piloting psychosocial programs for adults and children. Yasin wrote me during my brief visit to the US to report. “I visited Allahoddin Orphanage this morning and there were some children with physical disability and lots of children with psychological problems, and there were not any physiotherapy facilities yet...the thing which they want from PARSA is that we should start physiotherapy and psychosocial program inside their school and work with children directly. Now, I made an emergency plan to do some thing for those poor children right now.. So from tomorrow one of our PT and two psychosocial trainers are going to that place and they'll start working with them…Yasin.
I have worked with Yasin for over a year now, and he is a remarkable 31-year-old Afghan who was the wage earner for his family during the war starting at 12 years old. Competent, compassionate and unflappable he is a professional now, a psychotherapist and director of our “PT” clinic. I could tell from his letter that he was shaken by the condition of the children in the orphanage. Dawn Erickson, our organizational consultant, went to the orphanage and reported the following.

“Allahoddin Orphanage has approximately 600 orphans that live at two locations. In Afghanistan a child is considered an orphan if they have no father. Some of the orphans have families that they go to see every two weeks, or once a month, but most of the orphans have no family. Many of the orphans have psychosocial problems due to the wars, being left an orphanage, not knowing if they will ever leave it, or what kind of future they have. Some of the orphans are disabled and the orphanage only provides treatment for first aid, not for disabilities. In Afghanistan, adoption is limited. Law dictates that orphans only be adopted by Muslim’s and international adoptions are very rare.” Dawn

June 2006, PARSA did an initial survey asking the teachers to find children that could be helped by physiotherapy and psychosocial care. Currently, PARSA is sending two physiotherapists and two psychosocial trainers five days a week to the orphanage for two hours to help the children with their problems. PARSA is seeking funding now to pilot a program with the teachers at Allahoddin orphanage that provides intensive services to support the orphans. PARSA will then look to replicate this program through other agencies and communities with vulnerable children.
Sair- an 8-year-old boy
“Sair’s parents left him in a container, because he has a big head and they knew that he had a problem that could not be cured. Someone found him and brought him to Allahoddin Orphanage to stay. Sair was diagnosed with hydrocephalus.
He had surgery to assist fluid flows in the body. He also has contracture in his limbs that currently, PARSA physiotherapists are helping him with through physiotherapy designed to increase his movement”. Dawn
Sair’s prognosis is poor as he lives in Afghanistan. PARSA’s staff will develop a treatment program for him that will include advocating for additional medical treatment as well as including him on our psychosocial programs designed for children.
“Ajmal does not know how long he has been living at the orphanage or how old he is.
We were asked to work with Ajmal because he demonstrates symptoms of trauma and stress. PARSA’s psychosocial trainers are starting to assess him and develop a plan for helping him.” Dawn

PARSA’s work of the next six months will be to develop simple assessment tools and strategies for treatment and to find therapeutic methods that can be integrated into school lessons, vocational training, “life skills” training, arts development, exercise and supervised play and one-on-one counseling that are culturally appropriate and effective with different age levels. Allahoddin Orphanage will also participate in a “pen pal” program connecting the children in this program with children in the US dedicated to being in touch and supporting them through the Internet.

If you are interested in this aspect of PARSA’s work please e-mail me at mgustav@mac.com. We are interested in all levels of support. For this program we are developing a volunteer program for trained professionals who are interested in contributing to program development. We are also dedicated to providing the intensive support for a pen pal exchange program for the orphans to connect them with schools in first world countries through the internet- as these programs can help children develop more advanced skills while also making them feel special through individualized contact with children of other countries.

PARSA-viewingDawn Erickson at work- from 12,000 away

Welcome to our journal. I am in Seattle, my home in the US for the first time in a year-away from Kabul. I lived at PARSA until the end of this March and I have been managing PARSA since Mary turned over the reins last fall. My girlhood friend, Dawn Erickson also grew up in Afghanistan and she has been with me on many trips back and forth since the Taliban fell. She visited in the spring and I begged her to come back and stay awhile. She joined another PARSA angel- "scorpion" (alumni of the old American International School of Kabul) Van Auburn-a couple days after I left Kabul in June. I have been corresponding with her since-as she has been trying to manage PARSA in my absence. I find her e-mails fascinating and cryptic-and imagine her-much like when we were girls in Kabul- sleeping in my bed-raiding my closet and making a wonderful creative mess. Her e-mail read in some kind of code...I am afraid to have her clarify.

Excerpts from Dawn's e-mails:
..."Did you know that somehow an eagle arrived here. It looks a little beat up, but, is getting better. However, it is in a too small containter that Van and I helped buy. I am willing to help buy the supplies to make the bird a bigger cage after I get to the bank if you think it should stay ...

..."I am relaxing some, but, I am not good at sitting still, I never have been. So far have read two books, played my Scrabble, had some wine, watched movies on Sat. night at your house ...

My schedule so far for next week:
Sat 8:30 Director Training for Non-Accountants
Sat 1:30 Yasin Pictures & Stories Allaudinn
Sun 8:30 Director's Meeting
Sun 1:00 Allaudinn with Yasin & therapists
Mon 11:00 Widow's Garden with Zarguna taping and pictures of woman making
money
Tues. 9:00 Monthly Report Planning Palwasha

..."So that leads me to Guest House issues and clothes:
Palwasha knows the clothes part, but not all of it, do you want me to talk to her, or you?

..."I did not bring that many clothes, and wash day, wash wasn't done because of the problems with the electricity. Today it will get taken care of, but no washed clothes for nine days has left me totally scrounging and buying new shirts from the gift shop every day. They were out of large shirts by yesterday, and Zarguna acted immediately without me asking and amazingly enough I have a new pink shirt to wear to the meeting this morning...."

"Van's clothes were forgotten, so he was going to be really out of luck also."

If the Guest House is busy, once a week clothes washing does not appear to be enough."....

"The impact of the bombing here was not severe. Barq seemed to be off most of the day yesterday and then today. Zarguna was upset for a while because the bomb went off near the school her sister teaches at.Actually, July 4th was scarier because the helicopters kept circling Karte Se with shooters aiming out the open door. They were flying low. Generator problems today, but, may be solved."

....."Started a long Email, that crashed when I tried to put on attachments so no attachments to this one.

1-Eagle -Saw vet and is sick, got shots there and came here. No one discussed release at present."

2-...After scratching my head at the inconsistencies in titles, format, etc. on the spread sheets for January, I realized also that what is being called the Income Sheet is actually a Summary Sheet."

My advice to her: "You are the boss. Make Rules. Scowl. Write them down so I know what they are. See you in a week."
Below-Picture of Dawn and a picture of her and I up at Bandimir Lake with friends-ealier trip...