Diana

Women are not exactly at the forefront of the new Afghanistan. But I get to work with a young woman, Diana, who is an engineer, and she is making a real difference.

Diana designed a Safety Park for children in downtown Kabul. And not only did she design it, she supervised the construction of the park which is unheard of--a woman actually supervising men. Really, what’s the world coming to?

Unfortunately, turning things over to the City of Kabul to maintain is not exactly a good idea.

Workers for the city don’t exactly have that dedication to public service spirit. They also make around $5.00 a day, so they aren’t going to be all that motivated. (They pretend to pay me, I pretend to work seems like the appropriate observation here).

So I asked Diana if she and a co-worker would contact local businesses—cell phone companies, airlines, the usual suspects. And guess what—Diana was able to sell a cell phone company on

the idea, and they are going to take over park maintenance, maintain the little cars that the kids will be driving around, and even plant some flowers and things. WooHoo.

I cannot tell you how happy Diana is. She was honored at the hand-over of the Safety Park, and the look of pride in her eyes was really wonderful. In a country so filled with problems, it is really a nice win.

The pictures here are of Diana and some of our staff’s kids at the opening of the Safety Park.