As I am posting from my phone all week on possibly the world record holder for slowest internet, I am keeping photos on the blog to a minimum. My apologies if you're looking for more.
Today we visited a girls high school for a distribution assignment. We took blankets mostly and, after unloading the truck, spent a great deal of time with the head of school discussing the hope, accomplishments and needs of the students. I was floored by the stats - 12,000 students taught by 200 teachers over three shifts per day. No water, no heat, no air, no fans. The government brings water in twice per week, otherwise the children have no water supply. Outside tents are needed to accommodate those numbers. Desks and chairs are in short supply. And, of course, they could use a ton of school supplies. The redemption is the absolute joy from these children. Just a decade ago, girls couldn't set foot in a school. Now this one school has 12,000 of them, all eager to get an education and enter a world of competitive workforce. I also had the opportunity to demonstrate how the camera on my phone worked to a couple siblings of a student. They were fascinated to see their own faces on this tiny piece of technology. Definitely a little slice of heaven for me.
The head of school was very grateful that the challenges being faced in Afghanistan are being shared in the U.S. Part of what our short term teams accomplish is raising awareness to those easily capable of helping. We go inside the borders to see and experience those needs so as to better reveal the ways they can be redeemed. It's an eye opening ordeal, and I am excited to return with this perspective and opportunity to share more deeply.
I want to take the opportunity mid trip to once again thank you for supporting all this. None of it gets done without that support. I wish you could be here in such a great country full of history and hope!
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