The Center for Creative Ability

Yesterday was the grand opening of the Center for Creative Ability at Marastoon, and there was a great ceremony to commission the building. We had worked hard to clean the area up prior to the occasion. We lugged hot metal pipes out of sight and handled a minor catastrophe when the ditch in front of the Center overflowed. After all of the effort, it was nice to see the place filled by smiling faces.

Before long, we were all taking a tour of the rooms with Andrew Patrick, the representative from the British Embassy, and Fatima Gilani, the head of the Association of the Women of Afghanistan. The before and after pictures of the building were truly amazing: what was once the ruin of a building has become something warm and friendly.

We all packed ourselves into a hot room for the speech section of the program. The sentiments were nice, and it was great to hear about the goals of the Center and the personal stories that make it so worthwhile. That being said, I could see a number of people fidgeting in the heat (myself included) by the time we were done. The drinks and food was a welcome reprieve from that stuffy room.

After the ribbon cutting, we all milled about for a while. I practiced my broken Dari with lots of people, and they in turn responded in much better English. What really struck me about the day was the feeling of kinship. The opening for the Center was a lesson in the infectious nature of PARSA projects. Of course they fill their primary purpose of improving the lives of those hit hardest by war, strife, and poverty, but PARSA also bridges a cultural gap. It brings together Afghans and foreigners in a way that few other organizations manage to do. It’s a valuable trait, to say the least.

-Connor