Thursday, November 12, 2009

Maiden Shahr, Wardak

Dani also took a trip to Maiden Shahar in the Wardak Province. This is about an hour to two hour drive depending on traffic, or a 20 to 30 minute helo trip. Here are some of her photos.


Picture of the Kabul International Airport terminal and "gates."


More of KIA (Kabul International Airport).


Near KIA - the "mounds" of dirt are actually conical homes.


Kabul River running through town.


A fort or ruins on top of a hill in Kabul.


View of the city - Kabul.


Between Kabul and Maiden Shahr - a valley of life.

Dani, Gareth and Nova at FOB Airborne. (FOB = forward operating base) This is in Maiden Shahr.


Nova and Dani at FOB Airborne. Look at the beautiful hills in the background.


Picture of one of the large project sites in Wardak Province. This will be a National Logistics Training Center (NPTC) for the ANP. It's one of the ANP Program's flagship projects. The contract value is almost $100M.


Another view of the NPTC. This shows the foundation excavation.


Another view of the NPTC. This shows the foundation excavation with the perimeter wall.


A valley with lots of greenery and trees between Kabul and Maiden Shahr.


Here is a reservoir! There is a lot of water in Afghanistan but there is very little control of the water. So, a larger body of water like this is rare. Dani found it interesting that the height of the dam would imply the water level has been significantly higher than shown in this photo. For that to occur, the inundation area behind the dam would flood what appears to be populated areas.

Another populated corridor between the provinces.


Arriving back in Kabul - the buildings don't even stop at the foothills. . .

Halloween Fun

Just because we were in Afghanistan didn't mean the MWR committee couldn't throw together a fun Halloween bash. Check out the photos below. (Captions are below each photo, names from left to right.)


The ANP Gang: Nova, Rebekah, Alan, Dani & Paris



Rebekah, Nova, Dani, Jean, Carde, Paris & April



Our girl from Arkansas (Tabitha) - barefoot an pregnant! (with Alan)



Dani and Alex Almeida (from Walla Walla District!)


Decorating the office for the holiday.