Saturday 7 September 2013

What a day! Lots of news to share.

Beginning tonight it seems we are going back in to battle rattle because this coming week has the highest record of attacks annually, with both the anniversary of 9/11 and the anniversary of the death of General Massoud. We picked a great week to try and redeploy :-/

The base is likely going to be put on the highest security threat level we have yet experienced and rumor is we will be in 24 hour battle rattle, something I've not experience before in 4 deployments.

Later today, I went to visit my friends at the Korean Hospital to inquire if I could donate any of my clothes or bedding to the hospital. I spent almost an hour chatting with Director who caught me off guard by asking if there was any way I could help them on a last minute project. 10 days ago they acquired a 12-year-old Afghan girl dying of bone cancer. If she does not receive life-saving chemo and radiation the oncologist states she will die in 6 months time. The hospital cannot afford the drugs so they want to ask the Bagram base community to contribute to raising $10,000 for her treatment. The Director asked if I would interview the girl and her family and write an article to distribute to the Bagram community. So tomorrow morning I am going back to the hospital to meet Fatimah, her parents and her 4 younger brothers and put together a short article to share with the Bagram community.  I am so thankful for one last opportunity to assist the Afghan people.

And then tonight was the Bagram's Got Talent show hosted by the USO and MWR. The Red Cross was asked to set up our Lemonade stand and together with about half a dozen volunteers, we served refreshments during the show.  The event was  blast with about 20 people performing from the base community.

As exhausted as I am, it's days like these when the thought of leaving Afghanistan fills me with regret...

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