2007.02.10: February 10, 2007: Headlines: COS - Afghanistan: COS - Mauritania: NGO's: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Mauritania RPCV Jiffer Bourguignon writes: Afghan winter cold, but not like home
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2007.02.10: February 10, 2007: Headlines: COS - Afghanistan: COS - Mauritania: NGO's: Green Bay Press-Gazette: Mauritania RPCV Jiffer Bourguignon writes: Afghan winter cold, but not like home
Mauritania RPCV Jiffer Bourguignon writes: Afghan winter cold, but not like home
In Afghanistan, it is said that the winter is the calmest time of the year because "it's just too cold to fight." After the cold Green Bay has felt in the last week and the many weeks of subzero temperatures I have felt in Kabul, I think we can both see the logic in that. The water pipes in many homes here are frozen solid, as are the wells, and the remains of a snowstorm that hit town three weeks ago still blanket the city. The heat from the boukhari, the wood-burning stove that warms my office — - as well as roasts almonds and makes a mean espresso — begins to wane and I hike my shawl up around my shoulders, just as an Afghan colleague walks by in flip-flop sandals and no socks, a brash contrast to my Green Bay sensitivities.
Mauritania RPCV Jiffer Bourguignon writes: Afghan winter cold, but not like home
Guest column: Afghan winter cold, but not like home
By Jiffer Bourguignon
Guest columnist
As a Green Bay native, you would think I could take the cold. Yet here I sit, shivering in the blistery white winter of Kabul, Afghanistan, a world away from Wisconsin, where this week some schools were forced to close due to frigid temperatures.
In Afghanistan, it is said that the winter is the calmest time of the year because "it's just too cold to fight." After the cold Green Bay has felt in the last week and the many weeks of subzero temperatures I have felt in Kabul, I think we can both see the logic in that.
The water pipes in many homes here are frozen solid, as are the wells, and the remains of a snowstorm that hit town three weeks ago still blanket the city. The heat from the boukhari, the wood-burning stove that warms my office — - as well as roasts almonds and makes a mean espresso — begins to wane and I hike my shawl up around my shoulders, just as an Afghan colleague walks by in flip-flop sandals and no socks, a brash contrast to my Green Bay sensitivities.
Much like the lakes of Wisconsin, the Kabul River is nearly frozen over and children are shoe-skating across small off-shooting ponds, not unlike how I spent my youth in Green Bay. However, the similarities stop there.
In Green Bay, despite a few days of school closings, classes will continue. In Kabul, the cold means a long winter break from school, from early December until March.
While formal schools shut their doors for the winter, Save the Children, where I work, fills the void, providing students with an opportunity to read, discuss and learn so they may sharpen their skills and get ahead before the start of the coming school year. The children here understand that education is integral to long-term peace building, a concept almost as foreign to them as wearing sandals in winter is to me, as many have only ever known the violence of war.
The fifth and sixth grade boys I work with meet in a neighborhood home to study. Plastic insulates the windows and a wood-burning stove warms the room. Most children are barefoot with nothing more than a sweater pulled on over their shalwar kameez, the traditional light cotton pants and long tunic shirt. Argyle sweaters and "First National Bank" sweatshirts have made their way to the local markets via garage sales and clothing drives from afar.
The children are amazingly attentive, so eager to volunteer information, to share their opinion. They are respectful of others and take turns speaking; with wide eyes, they take in every word and absorb the praise of their instructor. "Awffereen," "Good," he says when the discussion, punctuated by coughs and sniffles, turns to the topic of the Save the Children library books that the boys are reading.
Library books are returned and new titles are given in exchange. The boys scramble for the return pile, trading last week's reading in for popular copies of colorful story books such as "The Golden King," which tells the story of a wealthy king who is granted his one wish — that everything he touches turn to gold. The king soon discovers however that his fondest wish has brought a nightmare; he cannot eat his food or play with his children — everything has turned into gold! He is forced to beg to recant his wish. "The moral of the story is that people should be happy with what they have, instead of always wanting more," said sixth-grader Mansour.
This group meets once a week for two hours. During their winter vacation, the boys say they like to continue their studies and enjoy getting together for study groups. Science, math and languages are among their favorite subjects — and doctor, teacher and engineer are the future vocations of choice for most in the group.
Come on, I prod, you must do more during your winter vacation than just study? They smile sheepishly and shyly concede that kite flying is also fun. So is playing cricket. But we love our books, they insist; "we would love to have more books."
About the writer
My house may have frozen walls, but it is all worth it to see these children empower themselves, and hopefully one day, they will contribute to the continued reconstruction of a stable, peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.
Jiffer Bourguignon is a native of Green Bay, attended Resurrection Catholic Grade School and graduated from Notre Dame Academy in 1993.
After completing her undergraduate studies in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania,
West Africa. She completed her Masters degree at Columbia University in Economic and Political Development.
Bourguignon worked with the United Nations' Joint Electoral Management Body Secretariat on the 2005 Parliamentary Elections in Afghanistan before joining Save the Children in Kabul in 2006.
She coordinates the "Rewrite the Future" initiative - a global Save the Children Alliance initiative implemented in 20 different countries to ensure that children whose lives have been affected by armed conflict are able to access quality education in order to learn and grow.
Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 28 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 110 countries.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: February, 2007; Peace Corps Afghanistan; Directory of Afghanistan RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Afghanistan RPCVs; Peace Corps Mauritania; Directory of Mauritania RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Mauritania RPCVs; NGO's
When this story was posted in March 2007, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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Story Source: Green Bay Press-Gazette
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Afghanistan; COS - Mauritania; NGO's
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