3rd and 4th day in Afghanistan

Herat

Yesterday was a kind of calm day. I went in the morning with Barkatulla to the center to get a sim-card and to change money. Everything went smooth.

In the afternoon I was busy to write all the articles for the blog. Barkatulla had to work. So I had the upper room in the second floor of the family house for myself. Mohammad, his brother showed up here and then, to see if I am fine. The room has a window side to the east and to the west. Wind was coming through. Wonderful.

In the evening lots of his male relatives came for a chat. Also his younger brother Abdulla, 17. He is selling watermelons on a mobil stand at the streets. Yesterday was a very good selling day he said. Abdullah is always a happy person and mentioned in the beginning, that I was looking angry. I should come to the mosque. The prayer makes calm and happy. You get so calm, he said. And he is so much on love in the moment. He always ask his relatives to help him to marry soon. Abdullah father also showed up later, sitting silently on the wall. He also radiates happiness and calmness. And he was silently repeating prayers, counting by a prayer beads, hidden under a fabric.

Very nice harmonic evening. I slept again under the sky on the roof of the house. Only problem. The sun wakes you up early.

In the morning Barkatulla was already up and nowhere to see. I enjoyed being by myself, praying, meditating. I already made plans how to make the place even more beautiful, today or tomorrow.  A first step could be to clean the windows?!!!

Finally my host with his brother Mohammad showed up. It was not easy for Barkatulla to speak up. The neighbours are taking. Like a wildfire the news is spread, that there is a foreigner in his house. And that’s dangerous. His house is not within the borders of Herat, even though his village is grown together with the city. It’s only some 100m to the city border. He mentioned that the neighbours are strange. A lot has to do with people being uneducated. Out of his locked courtyard there where 2 new motor cycles stolen just two month ago. And somewhere, he pointed somewhere in east direction, there happend a kidnapping. It’s not safe for you anymore. You have to go to the city. For Berkatulla this was very hard because he loves to host me. And if his house would be in the city I could stay 1 week, a month….. no problem. It’s safe in Herat. He and all his relatives like to sell there house there, too. They want to leave the village and move to the city, too. And, when he picked me up, two days before, he had to sign a paper at the police checkpoint. It said something like, that he is now responsible for me and if something happens, he is in trouble. Also the police is calling him all the time, they want to know, if everything is ok. So he wants this paper back.

We continued chatting a bit more, before I packed my stuff. How could the situation in Afghanistan change? It’s all about uneducated people, Barkatulla says. In the cities it’s fine, but in the villages. The evening before we spoke of Islam, the religion of peace, and that everything beautiful is ruled in the Qur’an. No killing, no stealing, being nice and helping each other…. Sometimes the government opens a school and it gets burned. But the education about behaviors should be also taught in the Mosque, I say. Yeah, but….. helplessness….. It should…… And the government has to enfors there education programs……

We are leaving to the police check point. The commander is now somewhere else. To the police head quarter. I get some more instructions. So everywhere in the city it’s safe now. I can go everywhere. It’s safe. So you are free. Then, they say, if I leave the city, I should bye some Afghanian dress. It’s a comfortable trouses with a top, with goes nearly until the knees. This will give me some security. And the best would be, that I play a deaf mute, a person, who can’t speak. Because if they know I am a foreigner, not so good. Even Barkatulla is asked by his family several times, not to go to villages, but for the pharmaceutical company he worked for, he still want to. To see the doctor’s and hospitals on the country side. Then he even grows hisself a beard.

We are looking for a place for me to stay. He does not have any idea for a privat place, what would be perfect, so we are looking for a cheap hotel. But Mohammad and Berkatulla always stop in front of more expensive hotels. After a while I say, just find me a hotel, where Afghanis stay. Anyway, even if everything is ’safe‘ in the city, they want me in a secure place. And it’s very beautiful and sweet and touching to see, how they tell the hotel owners, that I walk and work for peace. Barkatulla has a peace bird in his hand and shows it to all the people behind the receptions, explaning this is a symbol of peace also, and I did it. And that I walked all the way to Afghanistan.

Finally we found a place. Also not a cheap hotel, but they have a kind of cheap room. For 600 Afghani, what is about 9 $. It’s a nice room, but not really with windows and a connection to the outside.

I fall into a long sleep. Then a long prayer and meditation. When I leave the hotel just before sunset to get a watermelon (and I also found mangoes) the people told me, come back soon, because of security.

I like good information. So I can ajust to the situation. I love also caretaking a lot. But when it comes to worrying and especially over worrying, that’s not my thing.

The safest place in Afghanistan seems to be a plane.