Much needed surgery.

One of the things that PARSA has taken on with the boys at the Allahoddin Orphanage, is to make medical referrals for the kids that need medical care beyond the orphanage's means. The orphanage, as it turns out, has very little in the way of medical resources, and can really only provide basic first aid. We talked to the staff doctor and he told us that four of the boys had been diagnosed with herniation and needed surgery. The kids varied in age from five to twelve, and all of them had had their hernias for over a couple of weeks (painful!) PARSA staff was able to take the four troopers to the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital, here in Kabul, where they were examined by Afghanistan's leading pediatric surgeon, Dr. Mustafa. Dr. Mustafa agreed to perform the surgery free of charge as long as PARSA could cover the costs of whatever medical supplies and medication the boys would need after the surgery. We booked the boys into the hospital's ward and they are scheduled for surgery tomorrow. Here's a photo of the rather pensive looking bunch, right before they were booked into the hospital for the night.

The Orphanage-Guru Sewak begins his work.

I spent last week going to the Allahoddin Orphanage everyday. Above is a picture of two PARSA staff- Atikula and Zarguna, who are working with me. During the week I got to meet some of the orphanage staff, got to know some of the boys, attempted to find out about some of the facility's procedures and policies and otherwise just tried to determine what PARSA could do to assist the kids and the staff. The boys and the girls live in different sections of the orphanage, of course, and as it turns out, unfortunately, no one other than orphanage staff is given access to even so much as talk to the girls, much less develop programs to assist them. As such PARSA has been, by default, working only with the boys.

The boys are a great, though, and a lot of fun to hang out with. The orphanage is incredibly under staffed, with only one staff member to supervise the entire group of 230 boys that live there, and they boys have very little to do in the way of activities, sports or games. PARSA is examining the possibility of raising donations to hire another staff member who can assist the current supervisor as well as engage the kids and provide them with some much needed mental and physical development activities. Working with Marc Gold, from the 100 Friends Project, www.100friendsproject.org, we've determined that we can hire a full time staff member for a year, as well as supply the kids with plenty of activies and games for $1000. Marc has already donated $500 towards this goal and asked that PARSA match his contribution. If you are interested in donating to the orphanage through PARSA, please click the Donations link on the main page (or go to http://www.afghanistan-parsa.org/sub/donations.html). The donations category is "Physical Therapy Clinic and Psychosocial Services" or just write Allahoddin Orphanage.

For my own program, I've selected 20 boys, two groups of ten, that I will be working with directly for the next 5 weeks. The idea for the program is to try to find out which counseling techniques will translate into the culture, which ones will prove to be most effective for the boys at the orphanage in terms of treating them for trauma related mental health issues, and then training the staff and the teachers who work with the boys on a daily basis in those techniques.

The next five weeks should proove to be very interesting, for myself and the boys, but if nothing else, I hope to learn a lot from this rambunctious bunch and maybe even have a little fun. Here are some picture of some of the kids I've met so far. The first photo is Parsa staff Zarguna working one-on-one with one of the boys and the bottom two are some of the girls I happened to run across one day as they were walking across the orphanage grounds.
--Guru Sewak

A Day off in Istalif

Susan (red head covering), Rosemary (interesting head covering) and Dawn joined Norm, myself, Yasin and family for a lovely trip to Istalif. When Rosemary, Dawn and I lived here befor the war, Istalif was a fovorite place for expat. and their families to picnic. Devastated during the war, Dawn and I have seen Istalif come back to life- and we love to visit. A great break from the dust and heat of Kabul. We are so enjoying our guests and the interesting community that we make.

We are back at PARSA...

Norm and I arrived back here in Kabul three weeks ago to a whirlwind of activity, two lovely volunteers, Susan Moodie who has come to train our staff in how to incorporate yoga into our rehabilitation programs, and Rosemary Jeffcott, ateacher here in the 70's who speaks Dari and will be traveling to Panjab to distribute household goods to poor households. Dawn has been doing an incredibel job of revamping our financial systems and supporting the directors.
Pictures here are of Yasin Farid, our new Director-in-Training, with his wife, Salia and son Osman. Yasin has know Mary for over 10 years and is a physiotherapist by training. He has been running the physiotherapy clinic and is learning how to manage all of PARSA. He started work when he was twelve as it was during the war-and his father had to go into hiding. Yasin supported his family for years until Dad could start working again. Ironically, his wife Salia, spent two years in the orphanage that we just started working in...Allahodin, and some of the teachers still remember her. Of course, young son, Osman. He is simply one of the most compassionate Afghan men that I have met. We are all invited to dinner with Salia on Wednesday.