Kathy, DGE Kim Gramling, and I arrived back safely in the US on August 31 after an uneventful trip. We thoroughly enjoyed flying with Lufthansa Airline from Dubai to Frankfurt and also had great United Airlines flights to Chicago and GSP. Ramesh Ferris traveled to Dubai with the team, but he then flew to Copenhagen before eventually returning home to the Yukon Territory, Canada.
Our final days in Kabul were fabulous! We had very cordial meeting with the Deputy Speaker of the Afghanistan National Assembly (equivalent to the US Congress) who pledged his support to eradicate polio in Afghanistan. He offered an invitation to his home and for the Eid celebration, but we later learned that this is not a formal invitation but a polite gesture. We had an opportunity to view the photos of the National Assembly members and were impressed with the large number of female members.
We were also invited to speak at the CURE International Hospital residency morning report. I enjoyed talking with the residents and faculty about their curriculum and my vision for Family Medicine in Afghanistan. I was so pleased to see the continued impact of our work in this hospital during our 2008-2009 work in Afghanistan. The new hospital Executive Director, Joe Davis, shared my vision for Family Medicine. We also learned that Joe is a dedicated Rotarian (member of the Juneau, Alaska club) who wants to become involved in the Kabul Rotary Club. Ramesh did a great job sharing his story with the residents. The physicians recognize the need to push hard to eradicate polio in Afghanistan. Several of them shared their stories of how polio had affected their family's lives.
On our final night in Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad and one other member of the official Rotary Club of Kabul took us to an Iranian restaurant where we enjoyed wonderful fellowship and great food in a relatively empty restaurant. Most people were anticipating the start of the Eid holiday on Tuesday, August 30th and were already preparing for the holiday and leaving Kabul to return to their homes. Dost wanted to make sure we were in a very secure restaurant as well. We went through several security check points to arrive at this restaurant, so we felt very secure! I am still in a membership mode, so we invited several potential new members for the club that included two expatriates.
The Eid holiday did officially begin on Tuesday, August 30th, so we knew that no additional visits would occur with government leaders. Ramesh Ferris really wanted to meet with President Karzi or the Vice President, but this simply could not be arranged despite multiple attempts. Ramesh came up with a new idea that I think was actually much better -- Rather than visit with the country's president, he asked if we could find some polio survivors in the Kabul streets so we could talk with them, provide some assistance to them, and take a photo for the End Polio Now poster. The guest house driver agreed to take us on this journey, and we headed out into relatively light traffic for Kabul. We drove for over an hour and finally saw two polio survivors. Our driver asked them if we could meet and take some photos. They were grateful for some financial assistance offered. We came home with a renewed sense of the importance of eradicating polio from our world! Stay tuned to hear Ramesh Ferris's story at our District 7750 Conference on March 2-4, 2012. I suspect Ramesh will spend quite a bit of time talking about his trip to Afghanistan and showing you many more photos! You don't want to miss hearing Ramesh!
Here are a few more photos taken in Kabul that you might enjoy:
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