LOL:D:D
Maybe with a few more patterns and colours:D
Will try and get some pics up, although mine weren’t that good today.
Happy biking folks - enjoy the rides and the BMs. I might be on Field Leave for 2 weeks in Dec, so if someone can loan me a bike, and if I can actually get out of Kabul (winters are cold - minus 27 I heard) will be well up for a visit to Blighty and a ride about.
laters
H:)
It’s great to hear from you Hels and great to hear what life is like in Afghanistan at the moment, both for you and the Afghani’s, fascinating stuff.
I’m reading the Kite Runner now, it’s a great book, would be very interested to see some pics of the real kites.
On the subject of the Burka, my guess would be that those women in the UK who are fighting for the right to wear it are probably UK born and therefore haven’t witnessed or suffered from the oppression that you mention in Afghanistan. To them it is probably more of a symbol of there culture and faith, which they feel is important enough for them in the UK to make people aware of how devoted they are to their faith, maybe not even realising that in their native land it is used by men as a symbol of oppression? I could be completely wrong of course and I don’t wish to patronise a section of society that I freely admit I have little understanding of, religion and me don’t really mix.
Just my two penny’s worth…
Anyway, as everyone has said, stay safe and keep the updates coming. 
Hey Tim - will def get some pictures of kites, The Kite Runner is a very good book - better than A Thousand Splendid Suns, i thought. Seeing all the kites today from the roof was quite amazing - will have to get some decent pics and post them up!
I think it is interesting about the Burka (and this leads me onto another long discourse) because it is complex and is about religion, culture and gender. Even though it is not necessary to wear it as a Muslim, many Muslims do feel it protects a woman from the eyes of men, preserves her honour and modesty. Because Islam is under attack in the UK, many women are also using it as a way of asserting their beliefs and rights. When women have been prevented from wearing it in their professional life in Britain, then it becomes an issue about freedom, the freedom to be able to express ones own beliefs in a diverse culture.
However, these days people are considering global issues in their daily lives, for example not buying cut price clothes originating from Vietnemese sweatshops etc. There’s a move towards thinking about the impact of beliefs and attitudes on a global, not just a national level. Most of the women fighting to wear the Burka in the UK have had an education, they have jobs, they are able to choose what to do, what to wear, where to go, who to see. So the Burkha for them is about their own individual expression of faith. However, the issue is, that in Afghanistan the majority of women who wear Burkas do not do so by choice. This is because a woman is her husbands property. Therefore it is his choice as to whether his wife wears a Burka. In many cases it is beyond even the husband’s control - he might decide his wife need only wear a headscarf - and then his wife maybe murdered, as is not uncommon outside of Kabul.
So I think when choosing a symbol of faith, it is important to look at it globally. To think about how many women may have been murdered because of this symbol, to see how many women actually want rid of this symbol, how many women want to be free to actually see, move, eat, earn money, go outside of a house. In the west we are lucky because we can choose our symbols, but other people have these symbols forced upon them and are murdered because of them. Many don’t have a voice, or a choice.
So that is my concern - that the issue of the Burka in Britain is a matter of educated people defining their choices. But this does not take into account its role globally, as a method of oppressing women and even murdering them for refusing to wear it in many fundamentalist states.
Well am on fire tonight!
Back to kites - will get those pics posted up :)
and also some more non Burka stories too:D:P
Very interesting to read these views about the burka. My knowledge of these things is limited but, as I understand it, it seems to be a sign of a culture that hasn’t yet reached maturity, along with female circumcision, stoning, honour killings and other stupidness of that ilk. It’s comparable to when we were burning witches. This lack of cultural maturity gives rise to a lack of confidence that gives rise to such silly control measures, all in the name of religion or culture.
Hey Hels. Glad to hear you’re doing well.
Your posts make fascinating reading - keep them coming!
The term ‘Guest House’ sounds like it should be a pretty little B&B with hanging baskets, floral bedspreads and matching curtains . . . somehow I think reality for you is a little different!
Stay safe.
I’ve just recently finished reading Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, loved both books but agree that Kite Runner was the better of the two, I would also love to see pics of the kites after reading it. It was these books that made me properly realise how bad things were there in Afganastan!!
Well done on your 10 K Tiggi!! Am impressed and a good time too, don’t think I’d manage it!! Probably take me at least twice as long. Hope you got some good sponsorship as well.
Yes, I liked both books - and I think they were the first real best seller globally popular books about Afghanistan. Both stories were very well told - if bleak.
I like the Guest House, mainly because it gets the sun and has a place on the roof to sit out on and watch the kites. There are a few issues around water and dodgy gas ovens, and in the winter we will have wood or sawdust stoves in the rooms, as it gets down to minus 27 and there’s no central heating, however, I like my room. I went and got a really beautiful bedspread from the Afghan Women’s Refugee Centre and it really brightens up the place.
It’s quite nice having a few days off for Eid too - am going to meet a couple of people soon at the Kabul Coffee shop. I noticed at Eid lots of the women in Kabul suddenly started wearing really bright colours, pinks and purples and really vivid outfits.
The city is very dry and dusty, lots of stony roads and modern buildings interspersed with bombed out shells and bomb craters. There are a lot of soldiers and officials toting guns around town and getting into anywhere means a thorough search. Have been to meetings at the Minsitry of Public Health, the UN (which is funding our landmine education project, run by Afghan people in the south), the bank and various places and have had bags, person, everything looked through with a toothcomb. However, you can understand why !!
Am lucky to be working mainly with Afghan people, as they have been very kind and have had a few dinners at work etc. I think the Pashtun people are noted for their hospitality, and I have been made to feel very welcome here, which is nice!
Anyway - it really is lovely weather here - it’s been sunny every day, and not too hot either, about 20 degrees. Perfect.
Miss biking big time - so happy biking all!!
Cheers
Hels xx
Hi Hels.Great to hear from you again. From reading your posts, i’m certain that you’re going to make an impression on the people in Kabul.:). Knowing how passionate you are on the subject of local womens issues, don’t forget it may be wise on occasions to keep a low profile.;). But i’m sure you’re fully aware of that ! Just want you back safe, :D.
If you get home in December, i’ve no doubt we can sort a bike out for you to ride.
Keep the updates coming.
Take care.‘Charlie’…over and out.
Don’t worry mate - am hardly going to be having stand up rows with the Taliban about Burkas!! 
Women’s issues have been on the agenda here recently, as a policewoman was murdered in Kandahar - for the crime of being a woman with a job - so the debate is a big one here right now and local women are also voicing their opinions. Anyway, have lived all over Africa and Asia and, apart from an incident with a truck and a bridge in Papua New Guinea, have not come a cropper yet:) 
Touch wood !!! So will be back safe and sound, no worries. I don’t reckon my number’s up yet, not for a while anyway!
Every three months we have two weeks off, which is good, as it’s 13 hour days here mainly. So I hope to tag my field leave onto the second Eid holiday in December. So will be travelling back prob end November, stopping off in Dubai to see a fellow biker for a day or two, then will be in Blighty for about ten days. So if anyone can sort me out with a bike to borrow, would be great. (That’s hoping I can acually leave the country as Kam air is not the most reliable)
Catch you all later:)
