Bpeace in Kabul

You know you've been too long in Kabul, when you start noticing the difference in burqas.

We stumbled upon a VERY BIG opportunity in the past few days. One of our shiny apples--Bakhtnazira--won over Laurie and our guide Wahid with her initial interview because her work was very good, she was innovative with her needlework designs, and she was a very poor Pashtun (where the Taliban came from). She really shined through her tough life. In Toni's class she was also the "A" student, the one who always had the answers and asked the right questions.

During the course of our interviews with local influentials, we found out that CARE had issued an RFP for a local woman to run a dress salon and manage 30 seamstresses for a year. CARE will pay the rent, the salaries, the cost of fixtures, furniture and materials, and the cost of a business consultant to help the local woman learn to run the business. At the end of the year, the local woman will own the business. This is the equivalent of winning the lottery for a local Afghan woman. We met with CARE and they were happy to hear of our involvement in Kabul and our ideas. As a result, we are submitting Bakhtnazira's name for the program and Masuda stayed behind in Kabul to help her work through the proposal and business plan. The deadline is tight, but we're confident we'll submit it in time.

So this morning, Laurie, Ray and Toni left Kabul for Dubai. Masuda and her 18-year old sister Sara are still in Kabul till Wednesday.

While trying to negotiate our way through immigration line at the airport, we met a young woman with Bearing Point, who works in the Afghanistan Ministry of Commerce. After we introduced ourselves to each other, she said, "Oh, you're Toni Maloney. I've heard so much about you." Toni demurred, however, Laurie gloated with pride that in less than 1 week, Ms. Maloney has made a name for herself and Bpeace in the highest level of influence in Kabul. Not bad for a bunch of neophytes.

As we write this, we are elated to be safely in Dubai, having been greeted at the airport by an air conditioned Range Rover and a driver with cold towels for us and ICY cold water. Heaven.

Try as we might, we couldn't find any gold jewelry to buy today so all of you out there who are expecting something....you're not going to get it. Sorry. No one wanted to bargain with us today. As Afghani's, we have learned how to be expert bargainers...but if no one wants to play ball, there's nothing we can do.

By now, Corinne and Wendy are home. We called Masuda and all is well in Kabul. Those of us in Dubai are going to have a REAL DRINK and a light dinner, and go to bed early in our AIR CONDIDTIONED rooms. Tomorrow, Monday, we fly home to JFK.

We'll keep adding to this blog over the next few days. THANKS FOR READING. We really appreciated your support. It meant a lot to us on the first official Bpeace mission to Kabul. Because as determined and as tough as we were, it was comforting to know you were rooting for us.

xxoo