Bamyan

I'm in Bamyan and it is absolutely fabulous!!!

We spent the day around the hotel (my room overlooks where the Buddhas use to be). Very exciting stuff! Our hotel is wonderful; my room is furnished with beautiful Afghan furniture, I have a heater keeping me warm and running water, which I was initially quite worried about! Couldn't be more comfy! The hotel is called the Silk Route and is owned by a Japanese-Afghan women. The hotel is a cross between the two cultures - we had Japanese food for dinner!

I only have power for another 10 minutes so will write more tomorrow :) We are spending the whole day at the hospital. I met with the Head of the Hospital for dinner this evening and it seems like it will be an interesting experience. I'm expecting it to be an emotional day from the way he was talking about his patients and the community which the hospital serves.

Anyways, more later.....

Back in Kabul

Hi Everyone!

Hope you are doing well. Sorry for the delay in writing; things have been so hectic since I got back. Work is keeping me rather busy. I also started Dari classes (again), let's see if I can keep up this time.

I’m off to Bamyan next Tuesday to visit the Bamyan Hospital (operated by Aga Khan Health Services). Roshan has launched a Telemedicine project which connects Bamyan Hospital to the French Medical Institute for Children (FMIC). Through this link doctors can get a second-opinion on difficult medical cases. If the case is still difficult to diagnose, the FMIC can send scans through the Telemedicine link to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. I will be spending three days in Bamyan and am very excited to visit the region. Bamyan is famous for the Buddhas that were destroyed during the time of the Taleban. The Buddhas were included on the 2008 World Monuments Watch List of the 100 Most Endangered Sites by the World Monuments Fund.

In other news, the only known pig in Afghanistan, housed at the Kabul Zoo has been put in quarantine. The pig was a gift to the zoo from China. In Afghanistan, pork and pig products are illegal and people visiting the zoo are even more nervous because they believe they could be infected with swine flu.

An article from Reuters quoted Aziz Gul Saqib, director of the Kabul Zoo who said, "For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza. We've done this because people are worried about getting the flu."
Otherwise nothing to report. Happy Thursday!