Sister in Afghanistan!

My sister, Susan, is a Marine and is currently over in Afghanistan with the FET.  They are an all female group that is a go-between for male marines and Afghan women.  The women over there aren't allowed to talk to males other than their husbands, and I might assume possibly their brothers?  Anyway, certainly not male marines.  So the FET goes in to assess their needs and ease tensions.

Susan with son, Carson and bro, Wesley

My sisters and I have enjoyed putting together boxes for her and sending them, things like canned food and snacks, baby wipes and face wipes, etc.  Susan also told us that we could send things like shoes and socks and gloves, especially with winter on the way for Afghan children.  So Calysta has been sending over some of her famous Babushka dolls (she cut out 60 in one day!).  It's nice for Susan to have little gifts to pass out to kids, so we try to think of safe things that can't be used by enemies, like pens.  =)  Interesting point that Susan made is that the grandma's often have an education, Ph.D's even, because back in their day, things were much less oppressive for women.  I can't imagine how it must feel to have daughters and granddaughters growing up with so much less opportunity.

Recently, Susan called Calysta and told her about an Afghan family that is their "favorite".  I don't know how many children they have, but their youngest is two months old.  Apparently the mother is the last to eat, and since there's not much, her milk has mostly dried up.  So this little baby is getting fed weak chai tea.  Period.  Suz says the backbone is just sticking up on this little girl baby!  I could hardly sleep last night for thinking of that poor mother and her poor baby.  How to solve such an issue?  Well, of course I ran to the store and got a huge can of formula to send to Susan, but the needs go deeper.  More food for the family?  Birth control options?  It's just so sad.  Calysta passed on that the FET girls brought the family strawberry shake powder and a few other things they could glean from the base.

I've you-tubed all the videos I can about the area, and the Marine involvement.  I'm trying to take a deeper interest, but it can be really depressing.  Some of these hurdles are just so huge that stand between everyday families and their basic needs.  I walk through my house and all of a sudden there's so much WASTE and EXCESS!  I haven't crunched the numbers, but we could probably support several families easily, without changing our current bills.  I guess for now I'm just glad that I can know about a problem and at least send a little band-aid.  I'll be looking at my closet full of baby blankets in a whole new light, and some will go on to fulfill a better destiny than sitting unused on a shelf.  They'll go from being dearly loved, to really needed!