…so, what to say without saying too much.

The staff here are excellent! From the first day they’ve been switched on and ready to work. Though work has been somewhat delayed not only by pressing meetings with provincial and municipal leaders, but also by rain.

Canal cluttered with winter debris.

Spring storms have rolled through Northern Afghanistan creating a carpet of green on the normally dusty brown hills. The “desert” near Mazar is a riot of flowers and families enjoying picnics. Sadly, all this beauty comes at a price. Canals, uncleaned throughout the winter, now overflow. Unable to hold the rushing water flood walls have failed and communities south of the city have lost lives, homes, crops and livestock.

Local government officials and international agencies have met and are providing immediate aid, but longer-term solutions are still needed.

I think this is where I get lost in the weeds of what makes the news and what does not. I get that we people are a generally fickle lot – but that people are both living extraordinary lives and dying needlessly and news outlets are providing up-to-the minute coverage sports and celebrity gossip. Don’t get me wrong – I’m guilty of feeding that machine myself…but I’m shocked at what makes the news and what does not. Seems that people (news casters and viewers alike) are programmed to send and receive only the most shocking news from Afghanistan. In other words, a few hundred Afghanis losing their homes, livelihoods – is entirely lost in the shuffle.

[Okay…I just read the a Security report for Afghanistan and nearly deleted the rant above.]

In April there were more than 400 incidents from kidnappings to SVIEDs (Google it) that were reported across Afghanistan. I get why the floods didn’t really hit the radar – and it sucks! New Rant: how absurd it is that a country is torn by war for YEARS! This is so far out of my frame of reference about all I can do right now is to sit indignantly in my chair looking out over a seemingly peaceful city. A city, that based on all I have seen, just wants a shot at normal.

I can hand onto indignant for quite a while, but ultimately it must give way to hope.

Hope that things will continue to improve. Hope that the program I’m working on will help to alleviate the impact of the flooding on the already vulnerable families it struck. Hope that each minuscule increment of change will build a platform for lasting change.

Hope. Easy for me to say.