Today we visited a couple of projects in one of the local towns. The Czech PRT team occasionally will take the project engineer out to the sites since they usually have projects in the area as well. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the project engineer speaks Czech. After a quick roll call (we had a briefing the night before so I sort of knew where to be from the pictures in the presentation) we loaded up and headed out the gate. I was lucky enough to get a civil affairs guy in my truck that spoke great English. If it wasn’t for him I probably would have been pretty bored. After we got down the road a ways we actually crossed a river and I saw some green stuff in the field for the first time. At first I thought I was seeing things, but a double take confirmed that green plants were actually growing. Along, the road little kids that were outside playing would run up to see the trucks and give a thumbs up sign. I think that was the only time I saw any little girls while we were out. Our first stop was a big Afghan National Army compound that we’re building. Everything looked pretty good, the only issue is finding water. They are at 150m on their second well and not having much luck. Below is a picture of a cement mixer with all the latest accessories; a wood fired block heater, a hand crank starter, an elevated gravity fed fuel tank and a barrel radiator.
After we left the compound we stopped to look at a site where a possible road and bridge might be built. After jumping out of the “Dingo” we were attacked by children seeking candy and pens. Unfortunately they had a mob mentality so it was hard to get the little ones any candy and pens. I had to wrestle one of the pens back to give to someone that hadn’t been given anything. The boys that had little brothers were very protective of them and would turn their stuff over to them. I had to convince one older brother to keep some for himself.
After that we stopped at the Ministry of Education building for the province. The Czechs were helping with some small education projects and stopped to tell them that the supplies had arrived at Shank and to arrange a delivery time. The civil affairs guy that was in my truck (pictured below) is working this project. He said that they typically identify humanitarian and quick impact projects that are needed in the area and work with the local government to complete them.
Next we walked to an ANP project that we are building. There were supposed to be some demonstrations in the area today so the Czechs figured it was better if we walked the 2 ½ blocks to the next site rather than drive. Other than staying away from the cars on the road and the firefight that was taking place some distance away, it was a pretty nice walk. I enjoyed seeing a little bit of the everyday life outside the FOB. We walked passed some little stores and café/diners, gave out some candy and took a few pictures. Pretty uneventful.
On a different note, we are gathering supplies to take to one of the local school in about 6 weeks. Anything from pencils, pens, paper, new/used coats, winter caps, gloves, shoes, soccer balls etc would be great. If anyone is interested in sending anything you can send it to me and I’ll post some pictures when we deliver the items.
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