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22-4 (10); release dates: May 29-June 4 from The Mini Page © 2010 Universal Uclick
Getting to Know Each Other
Cultural differences One of the biggest cultural differences is that in Afghanistan men and women are often kept separate except within families. Sometimes even talking about a person of the opposite sex can mean trouble. For example, a man can ask how an Afghan man’s son is doing in school. But he could upset the other man if he asked the same question about his daughter. PRTs try to learn about the Afghan people. They may begin by sitting down with people in the village and having a cup of tea. The Mini Page thanks Lt. Col. Rob Golley and Capt. Robert Chamberlin, U.S. Central Command, civil affairs, for help with this issue. Next week, The Mini Page is about soccer’s World Cup.
A U.S. sergeant and a U.S. Department of Agriculture representative plant Afghan pine tree saplings at a demonstration farm on a U.S. base. U.S. agricultural experts use the farm to teach Afghan farmers about advanced techniques. National Guard troops from farming areas in the U.S. led the way in creating programs to improve Afghan crops. Troops help with everything from grape production to rice harvesting.
Helping women
Help from home
PRTs are helping to set up different job training programs for women. Afghan women usually have no way of earning their own money. In many parts of Afghanistan, widows cannot remarry. They can’t get jobs. Their male relatives must support them and their children. PRTs are setting up programs to help women support themselves. For example, U.S. military and Afghan doctors are training women to be midwives, or women who help deliver babies. One PRT program helped women start a poultry farm. The women live there, caring for chickens and eggs. Other programs might find women jobs sewing and knitting garments and weaving sheep’s wool into cloth.
U.S. military families collect most of the school supplies that troops give to kids in Afghanistan. Kids really need notebooks, pencils, pens, shoes and winter coats. Civil affairs officers say they often see kids running around barefoot in 3 feet of snow. They warn people not to send anything religion-based. This might be an insult to the Afghan people.
Look through your newspaper for stories about our troops.
photo by Master Sgt. Keith Brown, courtesy U.S. Air Force
Cultural differences, or different ways of life, can create misunderstandings. Civil affairs troops get training from people who have been in the country before them. But it takes a long time to learn about another culture, especially when it is very different from our own. In city areas, Afghan ideas about Americans might come from movies. They often think all Americans have gun battles in the streets and drive around in fast cars.
photo by Joint Combat Camera Afghanistan RSSC
Bridging the gap
A U.S. Army major gives crayons to an Afghan boy. Supplies were donated by a school in Algonquin, Ill. Crayons are so rare in Afghanistan that in one case, each child got one crayon from a box.
The Mini Page Staff Betty Debnam - Founding Editor and Editor at Large Lisa Tarry - Managing Editor Lucy Lien - Associate Editor Wendy Daley - Artist Please include all of the appropriate registered trademark symbols and copyright lines in any publication of The Mini Page®.