Hello Again

Ladies and Gents,

Hello again. It has been much too long since my last entry. Over a month. A million reasons why I have not written. But here I am again. I just want to say hi to Natalie, Michael, and Anti and I hope you are having fun in NY.

What's going on here? Well, the Afghan presidential election will occur on 8/20. There are three candidates. Obviously Karzi is one. Abdullah Abdullah is another, and Ghanzi is the third. When I ask the Afghans we see who will be the winner they all think Karzi but they do not know if that is best for the country. None of the military even cares who wins but we would like to see it executed safely and changes instituted to curb the rampant corruption. Its incredible.

The average Afghan is a pawn. He makes about $100 (us) monthly and rent is typically 400-500 (us) dollars. So, multiple generations live together in small house in Kabul. I suspect it is much worse in the countryside. Probably living in tents.

The average lifespan is @ 42 for men and 40 for women. Childbirth hemmorhage is the leading cuase of female death 265/1000 live births. Infant mortality (children that die before the age of 5) is the highest outside of Africa. Malnutrition and access to clean water are some of the worst in the world. There is been no effort in upgrading infrastructure since the early 70's because there has been continued fighting since that time. Pretty depressing if you think about it.

Anyway, 8/17 marks my 2 month mark here. After that only 4 months remain. The days go by slow but the weeks fast.

I want to thank you all for keeping in touch and sending the many emails and letter. Keep it up. I miss Natalie and the kids more each passing day and look forward to getting home.

Love and best,

Fran