More Adventures From Bed. (Umm that sounds bad. lol.)
Picture on the top left is a 10 minute walk from my husband's house where he walked daily for his exercise. It is now too dangerous to walk there. and you will find tanks and ammunition and camps of Taliban in that spot.
Picture on the right is one of the back alleys by the house my husband is in. Just through that alley is the market place, (Bazaar) where there are big signs that say "NO WOMEN ALLOWED". Shop keepers who allow women in will be shot. There are dead bodies hanging in the market, within vision of the food markets in the streets. That would lower your food bill! It would make you too sick to want to buy food! There are other things hanging there but I dare not mention it here, because it is disturbing to sensitive people.
The bottom picture is one of the destroyed schools. ALL schools are now destroyed or closed. Last month it was only the girls schools. This is directly against Islam's beliefs, who believe that education is the only way to learn about God and how you are supposed to live. I think Education is second on a Muslim's list of priorities. God, then education. So the Taliban are NOT upholding Islamic law.
Interesting fact: One man who belongs to the Taliban is called a Talib. It is the singular for the plural word of "Taliban". "A band of Talibs are called Taliban". They do not only attack "the west". They attack anyone.
I think I have been am a bit S-T-R-E-S-S-E-D by this war for 2 years now. I know we all are stressed, but this is a very unusual stress for someone in N. America to be going through, to be spending my days proofreading documents that talk about horrific atrocities that often send us to the bathroom to be sick, or we just have to stop for a break because of the shock of what we just translated. I feel almost as though I am in the war with him, but to a lesser degree. I am not alone in the fact of worrying about my husband. Every person in the world who has sent a military person there is going through that, and I feel like family with them. I know their thoughts and feelings.
This stress makes my illness worse...but its nothing compared to the strong people who are living there! I am learning all of the side affects of war and how it affects people's health in so many ways and how it changes day to day living and thinking. This area of people are a different culture of people than those in the same country surrounding them. They are so secluded they are called "A country within a country". They were very protected, innocent people about violence. Their culture forbids abuse and teaches courtesy in the EXTREME. They call it a tribal law and most people say that tribal law comes even before the Quran. Women have the rights to choose their mate and get divorced and to have careers, unlike most Muslim countries.
It seems ironic (and hard to understand) why the Taliban would bring horror to the most innocent people in that part of the world.
I am looking forward to getting my husband out of there, and we will no longer be doing documents each day that describes each atrocity in detail. We will change our translation work to more every-day documents. We have done our very small duty in helping to protect people from the Taliban. It does feel good to have been able to do something of global importance in this life. I think even prayer has great power and global influence. If that's all a person could do was to pray, it would be doing something that will have global influence.
Yes, the Taliban are evil people just like Al Qaeda. They bring the terrors of war and atrocities to innocent people. I pray to the Lord that your husband will be spared of the horrors of the war in Afghanistan and will be able to reunite with you in Canada. I pray that the Lord will heal you completely, so with your mother and brother. God bless you all.
Mel Avila Alarilla said... Fri Feb 06, 01:05:00 am GMT-7
Thanks for visiting my blog. I am very sorry to hear that you are not well.
Your an inspiration to everybody that even with your poorly condition you can still do and help people by your own way.
God bless you.
SHIELA said... Fri Feb 06, 06:08:00 pm GMT-7
Sheila--you and your husband are heroes for the work that you do--trying to bring to light what is happening in Afghanistan, even though that is the last place you would wish to be, you are both still trying to do what you can to help!
I wonder what advice you and your husband would give to President Obama now that he has to make decisions on the future of the American effort there. Many are saying that our mission is unclear, and there is no possibility for a significant improvement no matter what we do, that in fact we are causing much loss of life just by our presence. What is your assessment, and recommendation? Given, as is apparent to most of us, that the Taliban are truly evil, still is this a fight that the US should be undertaking? Originally we went in to pursue Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, what now?
Yes said... Fri Feb 06, 08:22:00 pm GMT-7
Hi Sheila :)
Very inspiring post.
The Taliban are mad men and the nations of the world did a grave mistake in allowing them to grow in the firs place. They started in a small way and grew so big and strong to terrorize an entire nation and even send terrorists to other countries to kill and destroy.
Women are the worst affected under Taliban dispensation. They are treated very brutally. If the UN had acted in time this terror organization could have been nipped in the bud. But then every nation has an axe to grind. They want to sell their arms, they want to sell their food, they want to build their infra structure, extract oil etc. and therefore they closed their eyes on the doings of these evil men.
US took the initiative and brought some semblance of an order but yet there is much to be done. There are still many nations who are just watching as passive spectators and even criticizing the countries doing something positive to eliminate the dreaded terrorists because the Taliban has not caused destruction in their countries. These are the culprit nations.
India has been very badly affected by the Muslim terrorists. Recently in Mumbai attacks several people were killed and our land mark buildings were badly damaged.
You are an inspiration to every one who read your posts. People like me moan and grown over petty ailments due to age. You give me courage.
Many, many thanks.
Joseph
Joseph Pulikotil said... Sun Feb 08, 04:24:00 am GMT-7
Firebird, I don't have any answers. Its such a mess. Today troops from the UN went into his city (You didn't hear THAT on the news did you, because the USA are supposed to be the heroes that go in to save everyone.) And now the shelling and bombing and machine guns are so horrible that the majority of people are evacuating their homes on foot. Others who live in the house my husband lives in are dividing up and going to different cities, and I wish he could go too. I wish I was rich enough to get a special forces team go in there and take him out with a helicopter. The shooting and bombing and shelling are horrible and making everyone too scared to think or eat or move. The fighting doubled intensity in 1day. For the first time, he started talking about what I should do if he doesn't make it. It hurts to much to think of that, and to think of what he is suffering, and to keep proofreading this Taliban document stuff.
Joseph...thankyou so much for your kind encouragment. We sure are hard on ourselves and think little of ourselves, so we need others like you to tell us we are doing something good and to get credit for the courageous things we do.
Blessings,
Sheila
Bluebirdy said... Sun Feb 08, 02:59:00 pm GMT-7
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