The Poor Man

My role here in Afghanistan is a special one as I am able to work directly with local Afghan nationals. I work with an organization called AGCHO - Afghanistan Geodetic and Cartographic Head Office. About a year ago a group of nine AGCHO employees were selected to learn how to produce map products. My organization has been sending over mentors ever since to continue to teach the students and to oversee their production. That is my role. I am lucky in that I have two additional people helping me while I am here, one is our first foreign partner from Canada (I tend to make fun of him alot). The other is a gentlemen from my organization who focuses on geographic names (the correct, local names for towns, cities, villages etc.)


The students work approximately six and a half days a week. But do keep in mind that their days are a bit shorter then ours. I would say they actually work an average of 4-5 hours a day. The students are rather young most being in their 20-30's. Many of the students have attended university and I would consider them to be a part of the professional working class. For their efforts/work they are paid a salary of $150 a month. This is enough for them to support their families and live a decent life.

Being American and living the lifestyle that I do $150 seems like so little to me. I want to feel sorry for them because they make so much less then I do and do not have the standard of living that I do. Yet someone who I felt sorry for very easily put things into perspective for me.

On Tuesday we had a going away party for the person who I was replacing and another mentor who worked with AGCHO. The Americans/Canadian all pooled some money (probably around $70) to buy lunch for everyone, approximately 18 people. We sent the students out into town to work their magic. They returned with 18 8x6x4 containers full of rice (mixed with carrots, raisins, and some kind of meat) 18 kabobs (a large piece of nAn (bread) filled with several pieces of seasoned meat (think Gyro)) a large pile of nAn (which is AMAZING!) a container of fresh veggies (onions and peppers mostly) a large bag of bananas, a large bowl of apples, and another large bowl of a small fruit that reminded me of peaches. The food tasted fabulous and we had a great send off.

Before and during the meal I noticed a man hanging around our building peeking into the door and windows. I assumed he was a gardner as he was in the garden area. His clothes were dirty and a little ragged, but he kept his shirt tucked in and his hat on. After the meal the left over rice/meat and nAn was piled together and handed to this man. (I had been told that the left over foods were given to the outside workers, so I was not surprised by this) The left over fruit remained in the room as many of the students were still munching on it. At the end of the day I asked the remaining students if they would like to take the fruit home as we were going to be away from the office for three days and I did not want it to go to waste. Instead of accepting my offer to take the food home one of my student got up, called to the man I had noticed earlier and offered the food to him. My student told me later that he was a very poor man. I felt extremely humbled and touched by this gesture. Here were people whom I felt were poor and in need of a helping hand, helping someone who they felt were in need of a helping hand. I could not have felt more humbled and fortunate that I did at that moment.