Journal from Chagcharran, Ghor Province

Chagcharan Children’s Center
Ghor Province
Journal

Tuesday, May 6th
Yasin Farid, PARSA National Country Director and I flew into Chagcharan for the first time early in the morning. Dawn Erickson, and two of our national training team, Atiq and Mohsin has spent two weeks earlier in the month setting up what we call the “Good Job Program” with the orphanage staff and our Chagcharan office and residence.

Ghor is ancient and the light down here is other worldly…honey brown hills, green poplars and very green valley in honor of spring. The famous Minerat of Jam is three hours away-Herat and the Iranian border nine hours away. (Rory Stewart’s book “The Places In Between” is a good to book to read about this part of Afghanistan.)

Yasin and I walked through the bazaar as our way of getting acquainted with the area, finding good prices, and pleasant shopkeepers.

A quick trip to our PARSA offices/home and then off to our guesthouse where we are staying until our place is ready. Andy, an American working with CRS is in residence, the only international in Chagcharan outside of the military complex. A nice welcome from CRS staff.

Wednesday, May 7th
Yasin and I begin training orphanage staff today in the “Good Father/Good Mother Life Skills “ course. In the national orphanages there is no formal activities program or system of supervision for the children. The children attend school (in this case the public school) and the staff show up for work and mediate fights if there are problems but for the most part sit around, drink tea and talk for the day. This program is a pilot in Afghanistan and we have built in a performance based bonus system for the staff hoping that boosting their wage level above $40 a month will create some enthusiasm for our new program. In the earlier visit, Atiq and Mohsin had oriented the orphanage staff to their new job descriptions and Yasin and I were now setting up the schedule and training the staff in the new program.

The staff met with us in a dingy room in the administrative office, ready to go. We introduced them to our “case management” model of care, adapted to the Afghan culture that we call “Good Father/Good Mother”. Each staff member working directly with the children, including the cook and principle will be responsible for a group of 10 orphans. They will become the “parent”, and work with the children for a minimum of 1.5 hours a day following a “life skills” curriculum that we are training them to develop. We hope that this direct involvement with small groups of the orphans will change the work culture of the orphanage. Yasin speaks very directly to the staff, talking to them about the difference between an Afghan home and the orphanage as a place for a child to be raised.

“In the Afghan Family, children learn about life from being around their parents. Girls learn to cook, and care for the family or even how to aspire to a professional job by observing their mother, talking with their mother, and sitting with her female relatives. Much time is spent doing this.

The Afghan boy learns how to be a man from his father and male relatives. He watches them work, and care for the family and he finds his place, his value and his profession by following them.

For an Afghan child without a father or a mother who can care for him/her there is no opportunity to learn these things. In the national orphanages, children go to school for maybe 2-4 hours a day. The rest of the time of the day is spent sitting or playing with other orphans. There are no opportunities to learn about life from a loving Afghan adult or older sibling.

What happens is that girls are not prepared for being the mother of a family or a professional in the work community. If they do not know how to care for a household if they are married, they can be beaten, or ostracized from her husband’s family. If they have no support for developing themselves as professionals to learn how to work and make a wage they become dependent on others as an adult.

What happens when boys are not prepared for their responsibilities as fathers and wage earners is that they can be vulnerable to bad influences from adults who want to take advantage of them. They can live a failed life as an adult with no hope for a happy future.

The Healthy Afghan Child Program is a program designed to give orphan children living in an institution access to an adult who will care for them like a mother or a father. We call you “Good Mother’s” and “Good Fathers”. You become responsible for training the children assigned to them for life. Health, education, and discipline are your responsibility.”


To our satisfaction, the orphanage staff is quite inspired by the idea of this “Good Father/Good Mother” arrangement. Afghan’s are so family oriented. We chose this idea to see if we could elicit more compassion from the staff if they think of themselves as foster parents instead of government workers. Also, all staff members can participate, as the requirements are not education but the life experience of being a parent. Yasin is used to the resistance of the Kabul orphanage staff and is hopeful that their response indicates that they will adopt the new idea. It means a lot more work for them but they say that they know their work with the children is inadequate but have not known what to do about it.

Yasin spent the balance of the afternoon helping the staff divide the children into groups of ten and assigning them to staff. Orphanage “teacher’s will have 3 groups of ten as their time is dedicated just to being with the children.
We complete the day by touring the orphanage. Lithuania is building a new orphanage for the children this year, to be complete in September. After talking with the children we learn that they were evicted from the orphanage last November (winter) because there was no money coming from Kabul Ministry. A terrible time to be ousted from the orphanage. Apparently, they boys went to stay in the Mosques. We are hopeful that this year this won’t be the case but we make note to take this up with the Deputy Minister, Wasel Noor when we return to Kabul. We also learn that they do not even have an outhouse, and they are using the hallways as a bathroom during the day because of privacy.

There are only 150 boys enrolled in the orphanage and no girls. Yasin and I take a quick poll of the boys asking them if they have sisters and where their sisters are. Five boys had six sisters “back in the village” living with “uncle” working for the family. In our next component, Atiq and Mohsin are going to work with the orphanage staff to conduct assessments of each of the children to make sure that the children in the orphanage are the most vulnerable in the region. Plans for the new orphanage include a residence for girls.

Ministry strategic plans move away from residential orphanages and towards supporting families to keep their orphans in the villages. Unfortunately the public school system is terribly inadequate, especially in regional areas. No education for the children means no future. As orphans in the village they are often just relegated to labor, which can be their lot the rest of their life even without the possibility of marriage, as they have no immediate family to support them.

Thursday, May 8th

Yasin and I continue the training “Good Mother/Good Father” with the staff. The staff is very clear about their new roles but they say that the head of “DOLSA” –the ministry director for the region has rearranged their responsibilities and removed two staff members from the program. I stop the training and drive over to the DOLSA headquarters to find out why. I am prepared for interference and argument. I was delightfully surprised to meet with a young Mullah who listened very carefully to our case and then told us: “I am completely in support of your program. Having the staff work in this way with the children is the best way to have them be responsible for their care. I even want the principal to work with a group of ten. I just removed two staff members who are not directly accountable for the children and who only wanted to participate because of the bonus system you are providing.”

I was delighted with his cooperation, again so different than our experience with Kabul orphanage staff. He completely comprehends the program, thanks to Dawn’s lengthy time with him on the prior trip and I feel that we have a real partner.
Yasin and I went back to work with the staff and today we talk about the difference between being a teacher and a “Good Father” (or Good Mother). Yasin facilitates the discussion:

“What is the difference between a teacher and a father or a mother?

The staff came up with these answers:
The teacher’s job is to teach the children:
How to read, write and how to be good citizens.

“A father’s job is to teach the children:
How to use reading, writing and to be a good citizen.”

“A teacher’s job is to teach the children:
How to be a good Muslim.”

“A father’s job is to teach the children:
To be a good Muslim.”

In the afternoon, Yasin works with the staff by himself, while I work on reports. With the head of DOLSA’s support and with the teacher’s apparent enthusiasm for the program we know have a means to distribute items to the children such as tooth brushes, clothing and school supplies. National orphanages are notorious for staff stealing these items from the children, but I am confident, as I watch the training unfold that the context of being a “Good Parent” the staff will insure that his/her children will get the items they need. Down the road we will reward the staff member with the best cared for children. Changing the context from a school model where the children fend for themselves, to a family model where the adults are responsible for specific children is going to be a great innovation in the orphanage social protection system. We have created “case manager’s”, but using Afghan family values so everyone can understand what is expected of them.

After the afternoon session, Yasin reports that the teacher’s worked hard to learn the seven parts that we expect them to conduct when they are spending the 1.5 hour with their group of children. He was inspired to demonstrate by working with a group of children directly, and teachers and children had a great time.


Time Activity
Step One 10 minutes Children sit quietly in a circle. Instructor tells them what the schedule for the afternoon is and what is expected of them.
Step Two 10 minutes Instruction on the objective for the day.
Step
Three 30 minutes to 1 hour Activity related to the objective of the day.
Step
Four 30 minutes Exercise or inside group activity such as kids yoga.
Step
Five 20 minutes Writing in journal or other creative project.
Step
Six 5 minute Clean up
Step
Seven 5 minute Sit in circle –Instructor complete session with story or acknowledgement of children.


He saw a forlorn beggar child watching from the sidelines as Yasin was playing with the children. Yasin asked him if he was part of the orphanage. Apparently, the boy and his brother were from another province. They were living with a man in Chagcharan, who told them to beg and bring him the money in exchange for room and board. Yasin is going to try to get them enrolled in the orphanage.

Teachers appear to be on for the work and excited about the new program. They finished the day by “brainstorming” on the theme for the month “Healthcare and Self-care”. We will have them start their program next week when Mohsin and Atiq can support the initial week, but we need to find toothbrushes and soap, as lessons about brushing teeth without access to a toothbrush are pointless. Dawn is working with Afghan Red Crescent Society to locate some hygiene supplies for the teachers to distribute to the children.

Friday, May 9th
Today is a day off and Yasin and I take a trip into the villages to locate rugs for our office and to see how the people are different from other regions. We had a great time in the village. The people are pleasant, tolerant and pleased to spend time with us. The countryside in springtime is beautiful with lush green valleys juxtaposed against the desert hills.

Saturday, May 10th
Our last day of training for this trip. Yasin is working with the teacher’s to develop a day-by-day plan for the month. He reported to me that the teacher’s had a big discussion about the program. They realized how important it was going to be to the children that they do the program everyday. Yasin was delighted with their realization, and feels that now they really understand the program. He also, created another level of accountability, through the journals that the children are going to write in everyday. He told the teachers that PARSA would review the children’s journals randomly as a way of monitoring whether they are working with the children. The teacher’s did not resent this but seemed to feel that it was another indication of how important the program is. Yasin also teaches the children how to make a plan for the day in their journal. He is very satisfied with the work of the training and feels that the staff will take the program on.

Yasin and I finish up arrangements for our office and prepare to leave for Kabul.

Sunday, May 11
Yasin makes an unscheduled trip to the orphanage before we leave for the airport. He has promised to check the children’s journals. He reports that the teacher’s were very busy getting organized and doing all of the right things. We prepare to turn over our work to Mohsin and Atiq, who will be arriving Tuesday for a two-week stay. They will start the “Good Mother/Good Father” program and begin detailed assessments of the children as well as train the staff to make “training plans” for the children.

We are very satisfied with our trip, especially the response of the staff and the head of DOLSA….
Marnie Gustavson
Chagcharan
May 2008