Bpeace in Afghanistan (Again)

We're in transit, but we have lots more to show and tell you. About Kamela and Latifa. About Paula and Farah's overnight at Suria's. About what the faculty and students at Dubai Women's College said when they saw the associates' products. And of of course more of Paula's special photos of Kabul.

Toni and Ray arrive back in New York on Sunday. Pam is already back in Allentown, PA. Wendy is on her way to Sri Lanka. Paula leaves Kabul on Monday for Boston. And Farah stays in Kabul for another week.

So please give us time to catch up, and check back on Monday for more blog. In the meantime, check out Pam's blog for her newspaper at: http://blogs.mcall.com/varkony/
and read of her efforts to help a sick little girl she met--Zarghoona--get a heart operation.

Thanks.

What 25-year old do you know who holds down a full-time admin job, and owns her owns and operates her own women-only fitness studio?

If you follow Bpeace mission blogs, you first read about Nargis and her Venus Gym during last December’s Bpeace mission when Kate Buggeln connected with her and also tapped her own trainers in Nyack, New York, as Nargis’ mentors. Jeff and Julie Castaldo sent along work-out videos with the mission team to give to their highly entrepreneurial mentee.

Nargis' beauty is slightly marred by her worry over her business. She would like to quit her day job to focus more on the gym, but doesn't want to give up her salary yet. Nargis’ business struggles are the same as any fitness studio owner. Bringing in clients and keeping clients. She is thinking of making new customers sign up for a minimum of three months so they have a realistic period of time to see results. But some of her marketing issues are different than those faced by Jeff and Julie in the USA. It’s difficult for Nargis to get her message out to women because other than work or shopping, there is nowhere that Afghan women, even in Kabul, “hang-out.”

Most of Nargis’ initial customers came in through flyers she posted in the neighborhood. They are Afghan housewives and teachers, who never before exercised, interested in weight loss and firming up their bellies after having 5-7 children. While we were interviewing Nargis at her gym, a woman entered from outside, whipped off her burqa and went in the back to don her work-out outfit. (Although fitness is not totally unknown to Afghan women. Rahima, another Bpeace associate, said when she was a young woman, years before the Taliban, she used to go jogging with her husband. And Najib, our guide, said women used to run around their enclosed backyards. We can't imagine where even a man could jog today given the bomb-ravaged sidewalks and crater-sized holes on most streets.)

Nargis recently built a beauty salon area in the front of the gym and hired a hairstylist to woman it. The beauty salon is a good cross-selling tool. It captures a greater share of wallet from her customers. And Afghan women come in to check out the salon, which is a concept they understand, and then go on to visit the gym.

Via email, Jeff coached Toni to advise Nargis to use her limited marketing budget to educate her potential customers, not target them. Jeff said Nargis has a great opportunity to make awareness/knowledge her real business and convince Afghan women they need fitness. The more she gets out there the more she becomes a resource for fitness, health club, trainer, videos, books, articles, journalist, columns.

At Toni’s request, Nargis prepared a $500 marketing budget. Nargis included 20 radio spots, 6 TV spots, posters, flyers and brochures. (Guess you get a big bang for your media buck in Kabul.) Bpeace will cost-share that marketing budget with her. She has used radio before, but plans on using TV for the first time with a client before/after approach. Just think, fitness infomercials coming to Kabul TV. What a world.

Nargis would also like Bpeace’s help with getting her Venus Gym logo on work-out wear for her clients, and pens she could distribute in her neighborhood. She thought about logoed T-shirts, but then thinking out loud she said women would wear the shirts at home, not on the street, so their marketing effectiveness would be limited. Smart cookie, our Nargis. Now does any Bpeacer or friend reading this know anyone who could produce these items pro bono?

Nasima and the slilk weaver.

Big news. Our Nasima was just elected the vice chair of the Afghan Women’s Business Federation, a coalition of 35 businesswomen’s groups across Afghanistan.

To us, Nasima is the gateway to the re-emerging Afghan silk industry. The silk thread comes from Herat and is dyed, then woven in Kabul. Farah, Pam and Paula visited the weaver’s operation today where he gave a very detailed account of the production of Nasima’s beautiful silk scarves, beginning with how the silk worm larvae are placed in their “beds” in Herat with a needle. When Toni learned that the weaver was using chemical dyes, she suggested that he show Nasima what is possible with vegetable dyes, since that might make a better overall marketing “story” for the scarves.

Earlier in the day, in Nasima’s tiny shop, Pam redressed the mannequins in the window with fresh ideas for scarf uses sent by Nasima’s mentor Gwendy Feldman. Toni delivered a special package to Nasima from Gwendy—pink tissue and “Nasima Silk” labels to package the scarves for customers. “Oh,” said Nasima in delight, “I have been waiting for these.” Wendy showed up to join the fun, and showed Nasima how to use the new packaging. The first scarf wrapped was a gift from Nasima to send home to Gwendy.

Nasima showed us the shopping bags she had been using, a pretty small pink paper bag. We asked her if larger bags were available in Kabul. She said “we make these bags.” And sure enough, if you looked closely they were handmade from sheets of paper. Laila chimed in and said there was a poor woman she knew with 14 children with nothing to do and Laila had already secured a “bag contract” from a local bakery for the woman and her children so they could earn some money.

Nasima would like to add silk dresses to her line of scarves and wanted to open a workroom. Toni encouraged her to instead outsource production to one of the other Bpeace associates or at least to a tailor so that Nasima wouldn’t have the burden of managing a workroom and workers in addition to managing her shop.

Business is going well, so well that Nasima is moving to Flower Street, #2 only to Chicken Street in terms of shopping traffic in Kabul. Her rent will jump from $100/month to $300, but she will have a larger shop in a better location. (But those brand new “Nasima Silk” labels and business cards will have to be reprinted, Gwendy. Nasima's address is changing. Sorry.)

Burqa bread.

Wendy and Farah spent three days with Bakhtnazeria. BN is excited about incorporating window treatments and uniforms into her business. They talked about market segmentation and how to market to different segments. Once BN determined that she wanted to focus on providing window treatments to the new office segment, they started talking about how to approach this market.

Wendy asked BN about her contacts and she said she had none. HOWEVER, as they talked some more, it seems that she met a contractor who needed uniforms made. In addition, after the training session, we learned that both Kamala and Latifa’s consulting firm as well as Virginia Sheffield business center in Kabul could be an ideal sources of leads. So BN learned that indeed she does have contacts! They made an appointment to see the uniform people the next day and went to lunch, where BN noticed that while the walls and floors were decorated with tribal textiles and rugs, the tablecloths and napkins were plain white. She took it upon herself to suggest to the waiter that she make napkins and tablecloths. Wendy and BN spoke with the owner who said this is exactly what he too had in mind and asked BN to contact him the following week once she has a source for the fabric. The owner told us that he wants to employ Afghan women who are starting businesses.

We were all thrilled!!

The following day Wendy, Farah and BN went to the uniform contractor and learned that the person we needed to see was in Dubai. He will be back on Thursday and we were told they would call us to re-schedule a time for Thursday. They were discouraged that the man we were to meet with wasn’t there, but it turned out well as his assistant filled us in on exactly what they were looking for. We are now very well prepared for Thursday.

Afterwards we went to BN’s home, a light and open place where she has her workshop. She prepared a FEAST!! Wendy and Farah met her BEAUTIFULLY behaved daughters and son – American parents, PLEASE TAKE NOTE!! – and sat around on the rugs eating this delicious Afghan meal. There were even pieces of bread that looked like burqas!!

After lunch they spent time in the workshop. BN’s sister works for her and was making Laurie’s Chock’s scarf when we entered. It was interesting to see the working conditions and equipment that by our standards is antiquated. There are still quality issues to overcome and it is so very helpful to see everything as we can learn what is needed and what needs to be done.

Habiba runs a daycare center for 40 children ranging from 1-6 years of age. The kids are simply beautiful. When we arrived, we were treated to some of the older kids in native Afghan dress, and songs, “God is good” in Dari. Pam had secured a large donation of crayons and drawing pads from Binney and Smith which she presented to the tots.

Habiba was forced to relocate her center when her landlord rented out the entire building from under her where she had rented a few rooms. So she moved the day-care center to her father-in-law’s house, who said, “I am an old man, I want quiet, why did you bring all these children here?” And Habiba cried.

Business partnering outside the family is not in the Afghan DNA. But at yesterday’s training session, the Afghan genetic code may have been rewritten. 11 of our associates have decided to cross family lines and invest and partner in a joint retail store. This is big news. At first, their recommendation was that Bpeace buy them land to build the store. LOL But it may have been a bit of a negotiating ploy, because instead Toni suggested that perhaps Bpeace would cost-share their rent for a limited time, after we reviewed a business plan for the store. After a bit of discussion, they thought this was a good idea.

There are many hurdles. Toni threw out several. Will you pay your salespeople straight salary or salary plus commission? The discussion was fascinating. After starting with straight salary and offering the salesperson small gifts if he/she did well, they moved onto salary/commission so that the salesperson would have a vested interest in the growth of the business.

And what if one of the partners can’t pay her share of the rent that month because her products didn’t sell that month? They came up with the idea of a “charity box.” Each partner would put in 1% of sales into this reserve fund, so that a partner could borrow from it in any given month to pay the rent.

It was WONDERFUL to see the associates debate different aspects of the store. Toni suggested that they submit a plan to Bpeace by the middle of June, so that they could get the store opened by October when the next mission is here, so Bpeace could attend the grand opening.

We have been promoting partnership among the associates for a while, and the December Bpeace mission suggested a joint store, but got a cool reception by the associates at the time. Seeds get sown. Eventually something sprouts. If Bpeace is patient enough, our messages break through.

We all celebrated the associates’ completion of their first year of their three-year Bpeace program with a “pin ceremony,” attended by Rian Harris from the US Embassy. The final pinning was Palwasha, who Toni also presented with her acceptance letter to Bucknell University for a full four-year scholarship facilitated by her mentors, Jim Reitzig and Tara Fabiano. It was a very emotional moment for many of us, tears coming to our eyes even as we write this.

The Bpeace B2P (Business to Peace) team had sent the mission team with a discussion guide to delve into how the associates describe their visions of peace, and what they think their role could be as businesswomen in the peace process. The discussion could have run on for days. Peace to many of them is “peace of mind” build on education, better health, justice, equal opportunity, freedom to succeed, music/art/culture and men and women working together. They believe women can have a substantial impact on peace through the unity of women working together. Wendy broke the group into small peace discussion groups and the conversation within them was intense. Scooting out of the peace discussion, Ray donned his best blue blazer and Hermes tie and went calling on banks in order to assess their interest in making loans to our associates. Kirsten Weiss of Shorebank, who we only met for the first time on Wednesday night, was good enough to accompany Ray on his rounds. With two meetings under his belt, Ray (and Marla who he phoned to report into) are pleased with the response. Today’s banker said he can offer loans from $7,000 up to $250,000 and an interest rate that is very competitive, even without Bpeace guaranteeing a part of the loan. Our associates will have to qualify to the bank standards. Ray “show me the money” Maloney has several more appointments coming up this week.

The associates viewed the first of the training videos today—“How to Write a Business Plan,” produced by Bpeacers Yasmin Ibrahim and Karine Baczynski. At first Asmat was concerned that the videos wouldn’t afford them the opportunity to ask questions. But Toni explained that the videos were no substitute for in-personal training and advice from Bpeace. The videos provide a base of knowledge while Laila, Rosemary and the mentors provide the “consulting” to help the associates get the specific assist they need.

Rosemary and Ray interviewed an accountant today to help the associates get their bookkeeping in order, while Toni in the next room showed the associates a cool Excel spreadsheet tool that Yasmin developed. The Excel tool accompanies the “How to Track Your Money” workbook developed by Bpeacer Sabra Richardson. Bpeace associate Kamela and Toni walked the associates through the workbook and tool. And to finally round out the money portion of the day, Toni sent the associates home with a workbook to read, “How to Finance Your Business,” developed by Marla and Bpeacer Liza Pullman which takes the associates step-by-step how to apply for loans. Kamela, who has her own consulting and training business, was most impressed by the training materials and wants to use them in her work with Afghans in several provinces.

The liveliest part of the day was when Toni asked the associates to “bet” on how many new jobs they would create in the next year. Amazingly, the associates “bid” between 8 and 20 jobs each.

As the first day of training closed, Toni and Rosemary reviewed products to pass onto the Dubai Women’s college. Hanifa Skar Ali brought blockbuster handbags we hadn’t seen before, and scarves with a unique ribbon embroidery design that Rosemary thought would be a big seller in the right Kabul market.

An evening treat for the team was dinner and ice cream with Rian Harris of the US Embassy, whose knowledge of business in Afghanistan both informed and entertained us. Yes, there is cotton being produced here. All the cashmere is washed in Herat and taken out of the country. And silk is making a comeback as many NGOs bring silkworm larva to farmers with mulberry trees.

Don't forget to check Pam's blog in her newspaper at: http://blogs.mcall.com/varkony/

Bagram Air Base is a dusty, bumpy 25 miles north of Kabul. We’re not sure how many American service people are there, we think 8,000, and you have to be proud of them. Polite to the nth degree, fit, calm and cool in layers of clothing and gear in blistering heat. The Bpeace team traveled there today to the weekly outdoor “Friday Bazaar,” organized by First Lieutenant Darrell Pearman and his Civil Affairs team as a way to put money into the local Afghan economy. A majority of the service people stationed at Bagram never leave the base, so the market comes to them and is an important part of their day-off entertainment.

Bpeace associate Nasima is one of only two women who have a booth at the bazaar and Lt. Pearman smartly has them alternate weeks so they are not competing with each other. Nasima’s booth features her signature silk scarves, along with Latifa’s tunics, a few dresses from Sara’s, and embroidered table linens. We made the trek to understand this military bazaar, these military consumers, and how Nasima is leveraging this opportunity. Paula initiated the idea because she wanted to photograph Nasima there and Pam wanted to interview some servicepeople for her newspaper's blog. For lots of texture on today's trip to Bagram, see Pam's blog. ( http://blogs.mcall.com/varkony/)

Nasima's booth is one of perhaps 50 there. Male Afghan vendors sell rugs, jewelry, antique guns and knives, and artifacts. Nasima is in a prime location, right next to the popular DVD booth where the service people can buy DVDS of TV programs like CSI or first-run movies. To get to Bagram, Nasima leaves Kabul at 5 am, has to go through several checkpoints, and when she finally merchandises her booth, is subject to a dog search before she opens at 10 am. We were very proud of her and how she had set up her area, the array of wares, and the way she handled her military customers. We watched as she took a special order, asked for a deposit. She was poised and charming.

Lt. Pearman and his team have done a great job providing a service to both the men and women based at Bagram and the local Afghan community.

We left the heat and dust of Bagram and drove back to Kabul through the battered Shomali Valley, once the home of thriving vineyards when Afghanistan was one of the world’s largest exporter of raisins. Most of the valley has now been demined, opening the way for the refugee farmers to return. It was sad to see the rubble and remnants, but encouraging to see life returning.

The team disbursed today to their various projects.

Toni and Laila happily delivered a purchase order for 30 hand-knit baby hats from Sons & Daughters, a children's boutique in New York City. Suria's mentors Ellen Lubin-Sherman and Laura Bradford sent along instructions, yarn, and a cash deposit from Sons & Daughters. Suria committed to the June 1 deadline and felt confident that more orders would follow once she successfully delivered. Then, with a discussion guide provided by Ellen and Laura, Toni had a brand-development session with Suria so that Ellen and Laura can develop a logo and clothing tags for Suria's business.

Toni left Suria in Paula's good hands to meet up with the rest of the team. Paula was conducting an audio interview with Suria for a multi-media piece she is developing. Later in the day, Paula also interviewed Nasima for the same project.

Ray measuring for the future.

A mile or so away at Sara's shop, Ray, Najib and Rosemary had tape measure and camera in hand. Several Bpeacers have recommended that Sara remerchandise her clothing shop, and so their job was to build a 360-degree layout of her shop and garments so that a retail store designer in New York could make suggestions for improvement (by the way, we're still looking for such an expert in case you know anyone).

Proper merchandising or not did not deter Pam from making a substanial purchase of 10 items for her friend's Sage shop Allentown, Pa. She was so thrilled with beauty of the jackets, suits, and decorated camisoles, and the reasonable prices, that she spent four times as much as she intended.

Wendy and Farah were at Bakhtnazira's on Day 1 of an intensive 3 day mentoring session. Following the lead set by Julia Sloan and Masuda Sultan (in pre-mission cross-cultural training in New York), Wendy and Farah began the meeting in high context mode:
"Good Morning BK jan" "How are you?"
FINE
"Your dresses are so beautiful"
THANK YOU
"Oh, I’d like to buy something to wear to the Bpeace gala"
NO PROBLEM
And after 2 hours of tea, cookies and cake, looking at and trying on the clothes, outlaying several C notes and talking, talking, talking, we got down to business. Bakhtnazira's new designs using the new fabrics she bought from India are gorgeous!! Very chic! (Kate, even you would approve.) Farah, who used to be a seamstress in Tehran, showed BN how to refine her finishing although it was already quite good. BN is going to start to design window treatments to supplement her income and she is excited about doing this.

Toni and Pam swept in at noon and within minutes, Pam proceeded to clean out BN’s entire accessory inventory as Chanega (BN’s husband) looked on in total disbelief!

The entire team, including BN, Chanega and Suria went off to B’s for lunch. Ray then went off with Laila to a meeting at the First Microfinance Bank trying to determine which banks in town are open to making loans to our associates. Then he picked up the training workbooks we printed in Kabul! The quality looking quite excellent.

Toni and Pam met with Mary Beth Wilson of Altai Consulting who had just finished a major research project on Afghan handicrafts. By the end of the meeting, Toni had recruited Mary Beth as a new Bpeace member! Pam had one of BN's purses in hand, and Mary Beth said it was something she and her friends in the States would immediately buy.

By 4:00 pm, we were back at our hotel to host a focus group. Bpeace has always advocated that the associates attend to their local market in Kabul. But in addition to Afghans, the local market includes ex-pats, i.e., foreign nationals working in Kabul. Rosemary and Laila helped us invite 14 American and European participants some of whom were quite vocal about their shopping Kabul habits. Many of the people who work at NGO's (non-profit organizations) spoke of security contraints that prevent them from going to local bazars to shop. As a result, they often send their drivers shopping. T hey said they would buy more if shopping came to them. We responded with the idea of a Style Caravan, a shoppingmobile that could go to guest houses and other places.

The focus groupies voiced a desire to support the people of Afghanistan and want labels that say "Made in Afghanistan" and want to know the true story and source of products. There were complaints about prices and quality and the lack of things to give as gifts for men.

A big AHA for us is that 90% of the expat population is male (and they are not interested in embroidery) . A big (and very pleasant) surprise to us was there is "Kabul Shopping List Serve," sort of The Daily Candy of Kabul edited by 2 young women who claim their greatest passion is shopping.

Here we are, the morning after the rocket attack which we heard in the distance that sounded like thunder. From left, standing: Paula, Farah, Toni, Laila, Wendy and seated Pam and Ray.


Yes, we're ok. A rocket was fired at the US Embassy on Wednesday night about 11:00 pm. Rian Harris, our Embassy Contact, said she had to spend the entire night in her bathroom which is where the staff is told to go when the alarm sounds in their apartment building on the Embassy compound.

For Bpeace mission veterans who have now been to Kabul three times (Paula, Toni and Ray), the city feels fine. More roads are paved, the traffic moves better, more women in the streets without burqua, lots of shops open, and trees in bloom. It's not Paris, but this April in Kabul is probably the best the city has seen in years.

Before Toni, Pam, Farah and Ray arrived from Kabul on , Wendy, Paula and Najib were off to the Women’s Garden.

We drove through Old Kabul – dusty little shops with colorful people. And seeing women in burqas is still something that astonished Wendy.

The Women’s Garden was created about 100 years ago by the King. Only women and children are allowed in – there are some shops as well. We stayed there for the morning and met the manager – Nilab Sadat. Nilab is only 22 years old and extremely articulate and educated. Beautiful girl too.

We interviewed her for almost ½ hour and it was fascinating to hear the views of someone so young and yet so mature. She organizes projects, finds managers for the projects and then sees them through. She would be a great person for the second phase of Bpeace's associate program as she was telling us about non-traditional industries that women could get involved with. Her dream is to start a commercial high-end bakery and make baked goods that are not just the typical Afghan things.

Back to hotel where we greeted Farah, Toni and Ray and Pam. Toni reviewed the next few days and then we were off to lunch. We went to a place suggested by Rosemary which had a French flavor and was quite tasty. While Paula and Laila went off to BN’s for a photography session, we went to a lake outside if Kabul. Passed The Kabul Golf Club. Instead of "greens" they have sort of "browns"--each hole is set in a brown circle on a side-of the moutain course, best described by Ray as a "billy goat course."

Students and faculty of Dubai Women's College with, in back row, Toni, Pam and Ray.


So, a couple of months ago, Nao Valentino, a Harvard classmate of Bpeacer Masuda Sultan is making a speech in Dubai, and asks for a clip from “Thread,” the upcoming documentary that Bpeacers Laurie Chock originated. The clip was seen by Monica Gallant from the Dubai Women’s College who reaches out to Bpeace saying she would be interested in talking about how the college could get involved. Fast forward to yesterday, when Toni, Ray and Pam Varkony stop to meet with Monica in Dubai before flying onto Kabul. Monica brings other members of the DWC faculty and a few students. Before you know it, the ideas are flying, and here are excerpts from the email we received from Monica today. The bottom line: there’s an excellent change our Afghan associates will now have Dubai Women’s College faculty and students helping them grow their businesses through visibility, retailing and training!

From Monica: “We are very inspired by your commitment to this worthwhile project!

“I will list the ideas by time frame:

“Upcoming Academic Year (Sept 2006-June 2007)
• Provide market entry strategies for businesses into Dubai (explore partnership opportunities)
• Provide designs for packaging, logos etc (our graphic design students will likely get involved here)
• Work on building a brand identity around “Rangeen Kaman Afghan Trading” concept (Editor’s note, this is the networking group our Afghan associates formed)
• Design web site for retailing
• Design web site for training modules
• Write some training modules on specific topics (eg cash flow, IT, retailing, etc)
• Host Afghan women for training at DWC (if funds are available to cover transport costs)
• Start a Bpeace chapter on campus

“Longer term
• Provide materials and design ideas and commission Afghan women to produce products for purchase in Dubai (requires funding and/or connection with local retailers)
• Provide fulfillment services in Dubai
• Send some faculty members and/or students to Afghanistan to provide training
• Find business women in Dubai to mentor Afghan women (might be possible to find a few in the short term)

“I hope that we can accomplish all of these ideas but even if we could complete half of them, I think it would be great!

“Say hi to the Afghan women from us!

“Monica”

Visitors to Kabul City Centre, which features Afghanistan's only escalator, gingerly negotiate their first trip up the moving stairs.


Paula -- (low context)
I started off yesterday standing next to dusty exhaust ridden traffic circles, recording audio and traffic noice and taking pictures of all manner of vehicles at rush hour in good light. It was a blast!! The object is to show that Kabul is a bustling city these days and not the quiet place with more creaking donkey carts than cars that it was under the Taliban.

This morning our guide Najib and I went to various bustling markets for more audio and pictures. Midday found us at the posh Kabul City Centre -- Afghanistan's answer to Houston's Galleria, Boston's Copley Place and New York's Fifth Avenue -- well you get the gist. Imagine the only escalator in Afghanistan and photographing the Afghans gingerly trying out this new mode of transportation. Later in the afternoon photographed locations were construction sites which contrasted with destroyed buildings. Extraordinary for me was to see the vast changes since the fall of the Taliban -- Kabul is indeed rising from the ashes.

Wendy -- (high context)
I boarded the Indian Airlines flight to Kabul and was wedged between 2 men in the middle seat in the last row of the plane. The ratio of men to women was at least 15 to 1. Towards the end of the flight, I moved up front and discovered an empty seat, which I immediately commandeered. As we passed the majestic snow covered peaks I took out my camera and started snapping photos. A woman seated behind me asked me in English what work I was doing in Kabul. I told her about BPeace. Well it turns out that many of the women on the plane were BPeace associates returning home from an exhibition where Afghani embroidery and handicrafts amongst many other things were showcased. I recognized our associates from their photos!

When the plane landed, we were so busy hugging and kissing each other that we held up the disembarking passengers!! This was my introduction to my mentee, Bakhtnazira (BN). Had we not met I honestly do not know how I would have made my way through the maze of Kabul’s airport! Eventually we made our way outside where BN had to call Laila on the cell to find out where she was. All worked out and Laila and her driver took me to the Ottawa Resorts where I unpacked and then went out again to check out the shops with Laila. Back to the hotel where I collapsed and experienced my first Kabul blackout – the electricity sporadically goes out. Paula knocked on my door and we went downstairs where I met Najib, our trusty and trusted guide. Dinner at the Ottawa. Tomorrow the rest of the group arrives and then the fun really begins!!!

Women in Burqas sort through items for sale at busy Mandawi Market in Kabul.

Brand new houses rise next to the rubble of buildings bombed in the 1990s in Kabul.

Bpeacers are getting to be experienced Afghan travelers. Back in 2004 when we fielded our first mission, we worried about what clothes to pack so that we would conform to local customs and not show an extra inch of ankle or neck. Now that we have ongoing relationships with the 20 Afghan businesswomen who are associates in our program, we instead stress about how are we going to fit all the training tools and quality-of-life gifts into our back-breaking rollaways.

"How to Finance Your Buisiness" is just one of the training decks and videos we have been developing for the past 6 months that we will preview during this mission. There will be several training DVDs for each of our assoicates, nestled in someone's luggage next to the BenGay for Suria, the time management book requested by Neelab, the moisterizer creme requested by our guide Najib for his wife, and the 30 boxes of Crayola crayons, just a small part of a huge donation by Binney & Smith.

So please return to this blog on or about April 17th, and live and laugh this new Bpeace Afghan mission with us. Get aquainted with our Afghan associates all over again, and take in the evolving Afghanistan through the talented eys and lens of our own Paula Lerner.