An Exciting Trip Through The Mountains

Lois Kitsch, regional manager of Europe and Asia for the World Council of Credit Unions, sends her regards from Afghanistan, where she’s exploring credit union development. Check in each month at creditunionmagazine.com for Lois’ latest dispatch.

Dear Friends,

This is the third time I have typed this message. Electricity leaves a lot to be desired here. You type a message and poof--out goes the power and away goes your hard work. There are no back-up power units.

Last week we traveled to a city in northern Afghanistan. We traveled about eight hours through the Solon Pass to a place called Mazar-I-Sharif. It will be home to Afghanistan’s first credit union. We’re making this trip to scope out living arrangements, a credit union location, and an evacuation route in case of emergency.

The day went well. We made it through the Solon Pass with no incident. This is important because the pass is high up in the mountains. There’s only a gravel road for a good part of the trip and there’s a drop of at least 1,000 feet off this unprotected road. As usual, I slept along the route. The road is so bad that the potholes and many speed bumps literally throw us about the car. I sleep through all but the worst of it. My companions are amazed I can sleep. I can sleep through most anything.

We arrive at our stopping point for breakfast. For the first time I’m not up to the stares I always get when I travel in the rural areas. I decide to stay in the car while Sherdil and Obite [her married companions] have their breakfast. There’s no breakfast there for me anyway. I don’t eat meat, and a standard breakfast here is lamb kabobs. I brought granola bars, protein bars, and crackers from the states with me to Afghanistan. A granola bar will be my breakfast.

We arrived in Mazar-I-Sharif just in time to visit the first of many public markets. I found a wonderful bag in one of the shops. It was handmade from bits of carpet, macramé weaving, and buttons sewn all along the top. I found out it was a wedding bag. The bride’s mother will make her such a bag. The bag is prominently displayed at the wedding or at the family home before the wedding. Their guests are welcome to add a gift of silver, money, or other items to the bag for the bride.

Getting married here is a major thing. Unless a family is wealthy it may take many years for a couple to finally wed. A big wedding is expected, along with a dowry for the bride. The dowry can be as much as $5,000, which is a huge amount of money here. Additionally, the family must hold a huge engagement party, which also costs a lot of money.

We talked to the shopkeepers and found them very interested in this new credit union idea.

We found a place to stay in Mazar close to the Blue Mosque. This structure is amazing. One must be grateful that with all the fighting, it hasn’t been damaged. More than 1,000 years old, the building is covered with aqua blue tiles. I’m allowed to walk through the compound but nowhere near the mosque.

The hotel is only four years old but very modest compared to our standards in the U.S. Our rooms on the fifth floor (no elevator;108 steps up) have no bathrooms. There’s one bathroom for the entire floor. Upon further questioning, we find a suite of rooms with a private bath. I’m in heaven. Of course, the shower is just a pipe sticking out of the wall that pours water over the entire room. The water is actually warm so life is pretty good.

The hotel promised me vegetarian food, which is rice with raisins in it. My first bite contained a huge bone--so much for no meat. My dinner is the same as breakfast and lunch: a granola bar from home. The next day we visit the wheat and rice markets, buy fruit and nuts from local vendors, and find a perfect location for the credit union. The spot is located in a new building within the public market. The huge windows overlooking the market would be perfect for displaying marketing materials. Of course, the rent automatically doubles when the owner sees me. Sherdil will go back and negotiate without me.

Our next order of business: find places to live. We can’t live in the hotel because it’s far too expensive. We found a newly remodeled house but the owners want $2,500 per month. This also is too much. We have visited a couple of real estate people who will continue to look for us.

Our day’s final activity is to determine an evacuation route. If things start to heat up we need to be able to leave the country quickly. Uzbekistan is only 30 minutes from the city center. We drive over and see for ourselves that this is true. Our project staff will need long-term and multi-entry Uzbek visas. If evacuation is ordered, we should have an easy time leaving the country.

We head back to Kabul early the next morning. Upon reaching Puli-Khomerai we find the Solon Pass has been closed for two days. I’m distressed because Puli-Khomerai (our second credit union location) is very primitive. I know if we’re forced to stay here we’ll be sleeping on someone’s concrete floor. I have eaten nothing but granola bars and a bowl of beans (God knows where it came from) in three days. I want to get back to Kabul. I suggest we push forward and see what happens at the pass.

Sherdil and Obite have friends that work for the company maintaining the pass. They call ahead to see if we can be let through. We arrive at the pass around noon and find more than 1,000 cars stranded. Tempers are short, as people have been waiting in their cars, buses, and trucks for more than two days. We drive straight to the front of the line. My conscience bothers me, but not enough to stop our journey to Kabul.

Upon arriving, we find the road crews have been waiting for us. The guards allow us to move forward into the pass. Fifty lucky cars also will be allowed to travel through the pass, which has a series of about 20 tunnels the Soviets built in the 1960s. The longest of the tunnels is two miles.

This was the most harrowing trip I have ever taken. The brightness of the blowing snow made it almost impossible to see. The biggest hazard was the 1,000-foot drop-off on the left side of the car. If we got stuck, we couldn’t give the car much power or we’d fall off the cliffs to the valley below. Several of the turns were blocked with snow. We’d wait for the plows to clear a patch of road and then move forward. It took two hours to go through the pass but we made it back to Kabul. I later learned the pass was still closed three days later.

I arrived at the guesthouse tired and ready to rest. No one had been in my room for three days, however, so there wasn’t any heat. It was so cold I could see my breath. I turned on my portable space heater and did some aerobics to stay warm. The heater also serves as my stove. I opened a can of spaghetti and a can of corn for dinner. It was a feast compared to what I had been eating.

So many things we take for granted aren’t available here. Yet, this country possesses such a feeling of hope. People are looking forward to tomorrow and the exciting changes that are to come.

Lois