Out of the City

To experience a new country you must get out of the capital city. On weekends we took the van and driver provided by CARE MEDICO and traveled into the countryside usually with some tourist attraction in mind. We stopped whenever we saw something we wanted to photograph and every time the van overheated.

A shepherd gazes his flock along the road. Irrigation ditch in the foreground.

Outside the city, few Afghans spoke English. The author's daughter Anne, age 12, tries to converse with local boys using a Dari phrase dictionary. The kind that give phonetic syllables for useful sentences like "No, the soup is too peppery." Her attempts failed, but the boys seem fascinated with this young American. Looking at this picture I wonder where these boys are now: dead, packing a gun, or trying to protect their families is a refugee camp. War is not good for people.

A view up a mountainous farming valley. Notice the houses on the slopes.

This young boy riding on his donkey, posed for a picture with Anne. He is carrying some food in a bag. Notice the farmer to the left walking toward his field with the team of oxen.

Shops line the main street of a small town patrolled by soldiers. Upstairs on the right, the man is tanning a hide.

We found these children playing along a ditch. The boy in the foreground was naked. Perhaps he had been swimming in the water to the left. This is probably the water supply for the small group of houses behind. Note the electric pole to the right.