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Newsletter July

Dear Friends of PARSA,This is our second month is our new location in Maristoon which is a large, large compound inthe middle of beautiful farm fields. The wheat was harvested this week and we are picking

apricots off the orchard trees in our frontyard. Thursday afternoons, the men on

our staff play a ferocious game ofvolleyball with kids from the residencesand it is hard for me to go home from workit is so beautiful at work.

In a timeworn Afghan way, being acceptedby the Afghan Red Crescent SocietyARCS staff has not been easy as theywonder whether PARSA has come to taketheir jobs away. Many of them haveworked on the Maristoon through the war.

It is hard for them to understand what we have to offer as this staff has worked with disabled,widows and orphans since Mary founded it in 1996 and we are delighted to join forces with theMaristoon staff. We have had a number of relatively comical incidents including a sheepbeating broo-ha-ha. I wassitting in my office and Icould hear outsideshouting, as a crowdgathered. I went toinvestigate and Gulam Ali,our operations managerrushed up to me in

indignantly to report thatthe farmers that rent ARCSfields to grow crops werebeating our two little sillysheep, and threatening toslit their throats. I had towonder at his theatrics ashe was acting like this was

PARSADiscovering the Afghan Spirit

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an unconscionable act of cruelty and as if he had never eaten a sheep kabob in his life. To myembarrassment, all parties except me, endedup in Fatima Gailanis office. A dear friendof mine, and president of ARCS she istypically handling major emergencies and

catastrophic events, life threateningscenarios of which there are plenty all overAfghanistan and I really did not want her tohave to handle this issue. However, magicwords were exchanged and now we seem toall be living together without wallsseparating us and slowly coming to mutualrespect as we work to create a communityfor the destitute and troubled people here.

Our two silly sheep are part of our activities program for the women living in the asylum for

mentally ill. My husband, Norm, has started a therapy program for them with our staff(described later) and one of the inmates endlessly cuts grass for her invisible sheep. We will betethering them outside this week to see if she can make a connection, and as part of ourrehabilitation program to give them small responsibilities and activities to fill their days.

One of my biggest puzzles is how to connect with all of our friends and families through thebarrage of media that makes up so much of the Wests impression of Afghanistan. The mediaalthough accurate about events here, in my opinion is not accurate about Afghanistan. And thepress coverage mostly seems to serve by keeping people at a distance, under the impressionthat somehow Afghanistan has become a lost cause. My son, Colin, was here for a month andmany of you read his journal. He was so surprised to discover how different the problems hereare from what his impression was from what he learned in the US. I simply do not know howto penetrate this veil and it becomes discouraging as people in my life literally assume I amtoo busy, and in some kind of chronic security crisis to correspond. And in fact thecorrespondence is such a life line for us hereAnoosha interviewed the orphans this week andthis is what they said:

Last week I took the letters to the orphans from their pen pals. I told them about posting my letter

at the web journal. They asked me that they want to write something too; so I told them that this

week I would be posting their letters instead of my letter at the web

journal.Below are some lines that these orphans wished to share them witheveryone.Hi, we are Faqria and Samargul,We wish to see America one day.Hi, my name is Neela,

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I wish every body to be always happy and to hear from everybody.Hello, my name is Fahima.I would love to have a letter from anybody.Hi, I am Gulmeena.I really thank my pen pal for writing to me. I always wish to communicate with others.In my opinion if we cannot fulfill wishes of these orphans, at least we should try to reflect their

wishes.Anoosha WahidiJuly 2007

So, PARSA friendsplease know from all of us that we so appreciate your support and please

do not forget us! Or think your contribution is too small!Best wishes from all of usMarnie

About PARSA and the Afghan Red Crescent Society Maristoon Established in 1929, by King Nadir Shah Maristoon is an Afghan term, which means a

place to provide assistance for the destitute, homeless and needy people in the Afghan society.It is a program of Red Crescent Society that provides shelter, food, and health care for thedestitute, disabled, and mentally challenged people. Three decades of war seriouslycompromised ARCSs ability to provide resources and sustain a program for the residents of

Maristoon that resulted in reintegration of the residents into their communities.

PARSA now resides at the Kabul Maristoonthanks to a grant by the New Hudson Foundation. Thisyear PARSA is initiating an exciting new trainingprogram in partnership with the Maristoon staff, todevelop a program of services for Maristoon residentsthat will increase the quality oftheir lives and result inemployment for those residentsable to make the

accommodations to succeed as a wage earner. PARSA and ARCSstaff will implement this new program. All principle components willbe staffed by a member of each agency as Maristoon directorsdevelop a model Maristoon to be a demonstration to otherMaristoons around the country. Features of the program willinclude:

Social workers and case managers who will work with each

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Donations can be made to PARSA through Pay pal

on our website at:

www.afghanistan-parsa.org

or by sending a check to

PARSA

3246 39th Avenue SWSeattle, WA 98116

All contributions are appreciated and all are tax

deductible.

resident to create a plan for the future that will include disability accommodations andrehabilitation, medical care, on the job skills development and psychosocial training.Staff will support each resident for at least 6 months after they leave the Maristoon.

An opportunity to work for wages while living at Maristoon. 75% of earnings will go into abank to be cashed in after leaving Maristoon and reintegrating into the community.

A rehabilitation program for the 40 residentswho live in the asylums for the mentally ill.This program will include medical therapy,activities, and possible reintegration for someof the patients residing in Maristoon. Forthose who are permanent residents the goalis to enhance the quality of their life, and towork with them so they can be included inthe Maristoon community in a useful

capacity.

Early childhood development program and avulnerable children program to augment theeducation program now available to theorphans who are living with their widowedmothers at Maristoon. This will provide thebest possible start for these children who havebeen born into such difficult circumstances.

When this program has been implementedARCS staff and PARSA will work with Maristoonstaff from the other four maristoons to train themin this program model and support them through

the implementation of this program in Heart, Mazaar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, and Jalalabad.

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A Story about working at MaristoonMarnie Gustavson June 2007

PARSA moved into our newly renovated building about four weeks ago, and my staffgreeted the residents as if they were old friends. In fact, when Mary MacMakin, the founderof PARSA, started her work in Kabul PARSA worked at Maristoon also. Yasin, our national

director, is a physiotherapist and he found some of his old patients still residing at Maristoon.There hasnt been much of a turnover here in this, last place of safety forthe disabled in Kabul. I stood at the door of one of the many buildingsthat make up the Maristoon and realized it was a house that makes fewAfghans want to come into Maristoon. It has many names but the mostcommon is the crazy womens house. Fatima Gailani, president ofARCS, told me that one of the reasons that she took the job of beingpresident of this agency was to somehow make a difference for thesewomen. During the wars, soldiers would come to this house and commitunimaginable violations. Fatima told me that she has been able to keep

them safe but no more. For four weeks I worked withmy husband, a clinical psychologist, and director ofAmerican Friends Service Committee, my staff and theARCS doctors and medical staff to assess the womeninside and come up with medical therapy that could domore than merely sedate them. For years the illiterateattendants had been giving them a sedating anti-convulsent simply to control their behavior. As a resultof our new plans these medications had been takenaway so that they could be started on medication morelikely to help them.PARSA staff member, Salia had been chosen by our

ARCS/PARSA team to dispense medications for thenext month while the medical team titrated themedication so that it worked for the patients. Saliaand I faced a thin, angry female attendant; armscrossed who was refusing us entry. She wasthrowing time honored Afghan curses on our heads,and telling us that Allah would punish us for us fordistressing her-a widow. Behind her I could hearshrieks, wailing and the breaking of glass. We hadhad a tough few days removing all previousmedications from the attendants and it wasimperative that Salia and I begin the newmedication therapy so that the attendants couldcontrol the inmates. I called the supervisor, thesupervisors supervisor and finally Fatima to gain

The front yard of theasylum forwomen

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entry as the attendant was simply doing what she hadbeen trained to-protect her women. Any change inroutine was highly suspect especially by a foreignagency. Three hours later, we finally walked throughthe doors, and as inured as I am to suffering I realized I

had been avoiding visiting this house with its chaos ofhuman minds gone awry. Salia, very comfortable withthese women professionally set about medicating them.The attendants were affectionate also but had varioustough methods of restraining the agitated ones. A number of the women were naked, talkingto themselves in a language that only they can understand. But the images from this first visitthere still haunt me. Salia and I and the attendant walked out to the courtyard to the far backcorner where the attendant took out a key and unlocked a door. Into the doorway stepped abeautiful, unclothed young woman, with startling blue eyes and long black hair. She stared atus, took her medication and juice and the retreated back into the dark hole that was her roomand the attendant closed and locked the door after her. Two months ago, she had bitten off

another inmates lip and now this dark room is her life.

My husband says that we may experience some miracles with our new therapybecause they have never been treated. Salia and the attendants are beginning to addactivities. Salia has designed a pretty uniform with Velcro fastening for the inmates that feelcompelled to rip off their clothing from time to time. We collect small gifts for the attendantsand try to make their work easier. This has to be one of the darkest most unconfrontablecorners of Afghanistan. We hope that if we can change something in the quality of thesewomens lives, it will change the ARCS staffs notion of what their job is from the work ofprotecting residents during the war rehabilitation and the giving of hope to their residents.

\

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PARSA in the Hazarajat C o m m u n i t y V i ll a g e S c h o o l s The Village of Jawzjareen

The Village of Golden Oats

Last fall I was traveling through Bamyan province on a survey project and on my day off, my

translator, Hassina and I decided to tour up a valley that was recommended to us, nearBamyan City. We stopped our car at the point the road ran outand started up the valley on foot. Halfway up the pathway weencountered two little girls, and a donkey carrying 200 pounds offlour, stopped in the middle of the path. The girls were tugging, pulling and beating the donkey that was not to be persuaded tomove one inch. Upon examination we discovered the donkey wasvery sick. Reluctantly, I decided to get involved and sent Hassinaup the hill to find another donkey. We unloaded the sick one andwaited for Hassina to get back. I asked them where their parentswere. The older girl said Our father was killed by Taliban, and

we live with our mother and two other sisters at the top of the valley by ourselves. Our brother is a sheepherder high in themountains and we are able to live because of him.

Hassina arrived with the other donkey and a youngboy; we loaded up the donkey and walked up themountainside, stopping at our benefactors house fortea. I decided at this point to continue on up with thedonkey to see where these two little girls lived.Discussion over tea with the Afghan man about thecommunity situation revealed that about 60% of the

families were trying to support widows, war victimsand orphans. I asked if the girl children were able toattend the public school 2 kilometers down the valley

and he just laughed. Of course! He said, but they are needed by the mother to do the work ofthe house and to tend the animals -if there was time for them to go-they had no male relative to escort them!

After tea this gentleman escorted me up the mountain introducing meto various families, giving me an account of the people of his village. A father without legs from a war wound struggling to support hisfamily, a fourteen year old girl taking care of six siblings living in the

ruins of a house-both parents dead from the war, a man caring for hisown family and three widows with their children-his three brothersdead from the war. I was very moved as I walked through thisvillage, not by pity but by pride in these people as they struggle aftersuch loss to care for one another.At the very, very top of this community was a little tiny house. Wepanted our way up to meet two beautiful older sisters of my two littlegirls. They ran to get their mother, who was younger than I but

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looked twenty years older-a no-nonsense, snuff eating, hard working woman who wasastonished to see me show up on her front door. As I sat with these women my resolve towork in the Hazarajat crystallized and I promised to come back in the spring with a programand work for the women. Hassina and I distributed what money we had with us to the poorestwomen, which is something I just do not do here any more. I did it that day because I was so

present to the imminent harshness of approaching winter and so impressed by the sweetstrength of these families.

Descending the valley, Hassina and I extracted a promise from the leader of the shura for landand a place to make a community garden.

Last month I returned to Jawzjareen with my son, Colin with a sun oven donated by the NewHudson Foundation. The little girls, faces so hardened by workand responsibility had a smile for me. Bibijan, the hard bittenmother looked at me as if I was nuts, bringing her thiscontraption as well as showing up to keep my promises to her.

(The sun oven reduces their work by hours everyday as well asexpense) We spent a leisurely afternoon, learning about the sunoven, discussing plans for the Community Village and the garden,negotiating with the shura leader for land to build. I told Bibijan that it was her responsibility to learn the sun oven so she canteach others when I came back. She noted that I was putting a lotof responsibility on her. I agreed with no apology. The two oldergirls drew me aside to ask me for face cream. They addressed meas auntie and as auntie I answeredHelp your mother figureout how to use the oven and I will teach you to make face cream,and you will go to school! Jawzjareen is now part of our work, our community, and ourfamily. We have begun it together. Our first Community Village School in the Hazarajat.

Marnie Gustavson, Spring 2007 For more information about our Hazarajat Community Village Schools please e-mail Marnie atmgustav@mac.com

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Alluhoddin Orphanage:In Afghanistan, there are 5 million children at risk. of the population of Afghanistan is

under the age of 19. Against that scenario, it is difficult to understand why we are so stubbornabout supporting the rights of 400 children in this government institution. We have to startsomewhere, and say that it is our job as adults to care for these children of war and there is noexcuse for their neglect or pain. And this is where PARSA has taken our stand.joined bymany now, Afghans and internationals including the vice president of the country, Dr. Khalily.My son, Colin Hume wrote a journal entry about it from his perspective that I would like toshare with you. This project has not been easy. It is by no means over. Yesterday I was toldthat our protocol with the orphanages has been canceled meaning that we do not currentlyhave permission to do our work with the children because of our report on the conditions inthe orphanage. We have deeply appreciated your support and we will not stop pushing forreform.

(Most of Colins journal about his trip to visit us can be read atwww.marniegustavson.blogspot.com)

5/16/07Journal entry by Colin Hume

Yesterdays big adventure was a visit to theAllahoddin orphanage in Kabul. This is theorphanage that the staff of PARSA has beenworking with for the past eight months. It isbecause of the conditions found here that we

had a meeting earlier with the deputyminister in charge of Martyrs and SocialAffairs, along with several other internationalNGO's in the first week of my trip. PARSAstaff, with my mother at the helm had blownthe whistle on the conditions at theorphanage, inciting a larger investigation intothese homes in Kabul and throughout the rest of the country. I was curious to see first-handwhat these poor children are dealing with. When we arrived the PARSA Well-Being staffheaded off to start their childrens program of health education and yoga with the boys that hasbeen going on for a while. Yasin, my mother and I toured around the common area and the

boys dormitories with a woman from theEuropean Commission, who was here tosee first-hand the conditions of the orphanage.The European Commission is in control of 30million euros in donations to Afghan socialcauses. This woman will be presenting herfindings and could possibly recommend that usethe information gained here to leverage the

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ministry in acting swiftly and concisely on the recommendations of the recently formedcommittee investigating conditions throughout the country. The dispersal of this funding couldbe conditional and tied to the ministry acting on the recommendations of the committee formedto investigate the problems. This is potentially the leverage that my mom has needed,

helping to legitimize PARSAs role in the matter as the

initiating voice for systemic, long-lasting change. As we touredthrough and our presence became known I could see thechildren running through their rooms straightening up theirbeds and making it look nice. There looked to be fresh newsheets on all of the beds, which Yasin said was a very recentchange. He commented that it appears that the pressure theyhad put on the minister had started to pay-off a little. On thesurface things looked to be in better order, much nicer thanpreviously described. However, the smell of dirty bodies andunclean facilities permeates the buildings. Its much harder todisguise these things and this tells the real story of the

orphanage and basic needs gone unmet. At one point westopped in and observed what the PARSA staff were doing intheir program. It started with some discussion on basichygiene; washing hands, brushing teeth, covering your mouthto cough etc.. The children would be asked a question andgiven turns to answer. They very proudly stood up andpresented what they knew on the topic at hand, obviously

loving the attention and commendation this brought. The program then continued with somebasic yoga presented by a newPARSA staff member, an AfghanAmerican named Molly. She was aYoga teacher in the States and has aMasters in education. She has greatideas and will be a greatcontribution of knowledge toPARSA. At first the boys were alittle squirrelly and self consciousabout the class, but as it went onthey became more centered andserious about trying to do the movesright. They were obviously havinggreat fun, despite any initialembarrassment. My presence withthe camera was contributing to theembarrassment soI didnt stay long. As I exited the room I came out into the dark hallwaywhere Yasin, mom and the woman from the EC were talking with about 15 little boys. She wasasking questions such as, when was the last time you were allowed to bathe? How doyou like it here?. The boys had no problem voicing their complaints, though they saidthat the staff had threatened to kill them if they did so. The kids were not to talk of theirproblems to outsiders anymore. They said they werent afraid of this, likely because they have

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learned they have support from outsiders that will watch out for them. Several had medicalproblems that were unattended to, one boy had blood in his urine, and several had footproblems. When asked about the last time they bathed they said that the shower facilities werenow working, but when they had requested access from the staff they had been denied. Theboys said the last time they had bathed was when it had snowed (months earlier). I could see

myself, when entering the compound that children were using the water pump in the middle ofthe courtyard to wash themselves, though obviously not completely, with soap. There was laundryhanging off of playgroundequipment in the courtyard andgirls washing clothes in theshade of slides, apparently theystill have to do this themselves.Hopefully they are not still beingforced to do the boys laundry as

had been previously discovered. Ikept watching the ECconsultants reactions and couldtell she was distressed. I had atfirst thought she might be duped bythe tidiness of the rooms andclean sheets on the beds, thinking that all was well. But in conversation afterwards she wasmore appalled at the conditions than I was. Again, you cant cover up the smell, or ignore thecomplaints of the young boys we talked to. Despite the small changes there are so many moreneeded. The buildings themselves look terrible, the outsides and all the rooms need re-painting.

Though there is more pressing needs, Ibelieve this to be important too. It iscrucial to a childs feeling of self-worthto be in a place that is comfortable andlooks nice. When this is the case theyvalued, that people care about them andwhat happens to them. This is especiallyimportant to a child with no family.These children deserve to be treatedwell. I was not allowed to visit the girlsdormitory so most of my interactionswere with the boys.

They were gregarious and fun. Theyloved having their picture taken and getting to see themselves on my camera. They jumpedaround, walking on their hands performing all sorts of acrobatics. They started getting moreadventuresome, jumping off beds and I started to worry they would hurt themselves sostopped taking pictures of them.

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My husband and I arecoming home to Seattle!!!And we will be bringingYasin Farid, our AfghanDirector for his first visit.

Join us for an eveningAbout PARSA Friday, August 17

6-9 at theMercer Island Community

Center

We so look forward tomeeting all of you and talkingabout the real story in

Afghanistan.

Marnie and Norm Gustavson

Instead I tried talked with them, they loved displaying all the English words they knew. Todaysome breakthroughs were made. Enough pressure has been put on the minister that he isapparently starting to enact some changes, even without the Committees report. The Nationaldirector of the Orphanages has been moved into the orphanage to intervene and monitor thegoings-on more directly and to begin implementing what changes can be made immediately. It

appears that through all of the difficulties, positive change is beginning to occur, at least in theAllahoddin orphanage. This is only the start of what is needed, but its something. I am soproud of my mother, Mahbouba and PARSA staff for taking the problem to the Ministry andnot relenting, despite what was at times strong opposition. Though a small organization theyhave gathered enough international pressure tostart things rolling in the right direction. At theheart of it, through all the political wrangling,everyone really does want the children to be welltaken care of. It is a testament to what power asmall grass-roots organization of concernedpeople can have when they are invested in

making a difference. Colin Hume(Colin_hume@yahoo.com)

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Our advocacy work on behalf of the children hasdoubled our workload.as worthwhile as it is. Weare working with 105 children and Molly Howitt;our child specialist has begun a sponsorship

program for our orphans. It is a bit different as itprimarily covers PARSAs costs of developing theprogram and making changes in the orphanagesystem here, but our sponsors are helping us

pioneer programs that are new to childrensprograms in Afghanistan. And by becoming asponsor you can connect and correspond with one

special child. Please contact Molly Howitt if youare interested in becoming one of our sponsors.Thank you!!! Marnie

Friends of PARSASponsorship Program for Afghan Orphans In Alluhoddin Orphanage

We invite you to support PARSA in this pivotal year of program development bysponsoring one of our children at $25 dollars a month or $300 for a year. This

will allow us to complete this pilot program so that it can be replicated in otherAfghan government institutions caring for children.

Sponsoring a child will allow us to train and develop our staff, providesupplemental medical care, clothing and other necessities dependant on eachchilds needs. We will introduce you to your child and they will write a monthlyletter, which we will send you along with our monthly report. Detailedinformation is available about our program, our budget, and our advocacy work

with the Afghan government on behalf of the Afghan children. PARSA is

registered as a 501c3 tax deductible non-profit and your contributions will be taxdeductible. Please e-mail Molly Howitt, PARSA child specialist, atmollyhowitt@gmail.com if you are interested in this sponsorship program. Pleasego to our web journal atwww.parsakabul.blogspot.com to read more about thechildren who are participating in our pen pal project Young Friends ofPARSA.

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Our Artisans have beenworking hard and THE GIFTSHOP is Open with new items.PARSA G i f t S h o p i s c u r r e n t l y developingproducts that will sell nationally as well asinternationally so that PARSA disabled, and

widows can learn a craft that they will be able to earn a

living from after they leave PARSA programs. PARSAEconomic Programs are dedicated to long-term supportto our patients so that they achieve self-sufficiency.

All items in the PARSA Gift Shop are part of an EconomicProgram that supports disabled and widows to self-sufficiency. Contact Palwasha Madomi at

p_madomi@hotmail.com for more informationabout the artisans products.From all the PARSA staff.our best to all of

you!www.Afghanistan-parsa.org www.parsakabul.blogspot.org www.marniegustavson.blogspot.org

Main Office:Maristoon Red Crescent SocietyKargha Road, Kabul, Afghanistan

0799020588