Flora's Mission
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CBC News: Sunday's Carole MacNeil journeys to Afghanistan to see if there is more to this story than troops, poverty and terrorism. This feature documentary goes beyond the military perspective, and explores the efforts of humanitarians, like former foreign affairs minister Flora MacDonald, working to help rebuild the war-torn nation.

Online photo essay with images of life in rural Afghanistan, rarely seen by Western eyes.

When Carole MacNeil went to Afghanistan in early May, she and her team were eager to find the “real” Afghanistan; the places not normally seen on the news, the people who were trying to make their lives work in the wake of decades of war and an American led invasion. Here are some of Carole’s early notes and impressions from that journey:

The first thing you should know about this trip is, we did not go as embedded journalists with the military, nor did we take any security. Why? Our mission was to find out what ordinary Afghans thought and experienced on a daily basis. Were they really making any progress? Are their lives getting any better? And, what do they really think about all those troops, including Canadian troops? Is the place really as tragic and hopeless as we could easily conclude from the nightly news?

My experience is not scientific nor is it broad based. We traveled the roads of rural villages, drove through the streets of Kabul, went into people's homes, not just for an hour or two, but sometimes we stayed for days, sleeping on their floors, breaking bread, traveling the back country for hours, climbing up on their roofs to set up our satellites, sharing tea....always sharing tea.

Almost two years ago now, I ran into someone I hardly knew at the airport. When I saw her, I thought, "Could it be.... is she still around?" It was Flora MacDonald. A former Tory cabinet minister from the Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney eras, Flora was the first woman to become a minister of foreign affairs in Canada and she was the first woman to make a serious run for the leadership of her party.

But Flora lost her seat in parliament in the federal election in 1988. After that, she faded from public view. But, as it turns out, she did not fade from civic life or lose her passion for governance. What very few people know is that she has been working tirelessly to help the people of Afghanistan since the late 90's.

"What are you up to these days?" I asked her at the Ottawa airport, out of a mixture of professional courtesy and curiosity. I don't quite remember anything else she told me except about her travels to Afghanistan and her work there. Her work for CARE Canada, her work for Future Generations and now her work for her own non-governmental organization called "Future Generations Canada".

An idea was born. I was already late for my gate, but I asked for her card and said, "How would you feel if, on one of your trips, I came with you? With a crew?" She said in her wonderfully articulate and deliberate voice, "That would be fine, Carole."

Two years later, I called her up and said "Hey, remember me? After two years of false starts and stops, I've been approved to accompany you on this trip. What do you think?" That would be fine Carole.

What followed was a 10-day journey in May, that changed not only my opinion of Afghanistan, but shocked me in terms of how little we knew about the country, this country where Canadian soldiers risk and sometimes lose their lives, where nightly we see the tragedy (theirs and ours) unfold on TV.

While that story is true and real and must be told, there are many other stories of people working so hard to get their lives back, to learn lessons from their past, people who are daring to break out of the chains of war and oppression and yes, many people who are grateful that Canada and others have come to their rescue.

For example, we visited one village where, during the time of the Taliban, the men of the village had been rounded up and shot after they had surrendered. Many of the women were kidnapped and used as sex slaves by the Taliban. When NATO came, those women were freed. But in this culture, to be touched by another man under any circumstances was a matter of shame. Unable to live with it, many of those women killed themselves.

Flora's Mission.

Most of Flora's work is in Bamyan province, just about 180 kilometers west of Kabul. 20 minutes by airplane. 12 hours by road. That's how bad and treacherous the roads are there. We met Flora at the airport and flew together. Flora, myself, Sunday senior producer Michael Kearns, cameraman Ed Middleton, and approximately 1200 pounds of gear.

When we touched down in Bamyan, on the gravel runway (which also substitutes as a roadway), there was nothing short of what seemed like a fairly substantial delegation waiting for us.

It's hard not to spot the Kiwis first -- in their big vehicles, combat outfits and WITH automatic weapons always at the ready. You may not be surprised that the New Zealand military was there, as they are the NATO representatives in Bamyan, but we sure were surprised to see them at the airport. We thought who are they waiting for? Us, as it turns out. They had orders to pick us up and take us to base. Good grief! Well, okay, let's go and see what this is about. It turns out the International Security Assistance Force HQ in Baghram got it mixed up. It's true; we HAD requested an interview during the time we would be there, but nothing more than that. We were not staying with the military; we were not relying on them for anything other than an hour of their time to explain their role there. Period. Once we explained it to them, they were good about it. And then we were on our way. We wouldn't see them again except for a couple of hours near the end of the trip, as we agreed. (After the initial meeting, my producer Michael kept making this funny gesture. Maybe I was too jet lagged to pick up on it, but I would notice it. It went something like this: He would lift his legs, slap his thigh and say "HOOKA!" At first I blew it off...but as time went on even our Afghan hosts seemed to get the joke and roar with laughter. Finally, I asked him what he was doing. He explained it was the cultural welcome dance of the New Zealanders and he jokingly wondered why we hadn't been received with it by the military. I thought he was having a mild stroke.)

Before we were scooped up by the military, we had a brief chance to meet Flora's staff in Afghanistan. A staff of one. Abdullah Barat. They call him the Chief here. In no time at all, we understood why. He knows everyone. He's nice to everyone. They respect him and he, in turn tries to respect them. Abdullah is getting hard lessons in democracy. Here's the way it works between he and Flora. He tells her what the village needs, whether it's electricity, clean water, a new truck to handle the dismal roads, and Flora travels around Canada talking to as many people as she can...charity-based clubs, wealthy patrons, whoever she thinks could help out with the funds they need for these projects. But not everyone will get electricity right away, nor will they get clean water right away. Some nights Abdullah is on the receiving end of a nasty call as villagers call to complain demanding to know why they were NOT chosen right away for a new project. As we were living with Abdullah and his wonderful family, we would sometimes chat at night, and I would tell him, this is the way of democracy. Ask any politician at any level in Canada.

Over the week we were in Bamyan province we traveled hundreds of kilometers. We witnessed the hardship. Many people had no formal homes. They live in caves. You know how you always hear about Osama Bin Laden living in a cave somewhere? Now it seems like a realistic prospect. Sometimes we would see a satellite dish attached to the side of a cave, and we met people who talked shyly to us about why they have to live there and how one day they want a real home.

Yet, we saw many new foundations being built. What are they? we would ask. Most of the time, it was a new school. At 8 every morning we saw young girls walking in packs with their black dresses, their white scarves and little knapsacks, all heading to school. Sometimes the girls and boys had to walk for two hours there and back. The kids who could sometimes rode their donkeys.

We met women who had many children over their lifetime. But because there is so little here, including health care, many of those children died and mothers too. Today, they are, for the first time, using contraceptives and the women are thrilled about it. They are able to plan for their children and have healthier families.

Let there be light:

One of the key improvements here is the introduction of electricity. For years, the people in this region had no electricity. Many still don't. Heat in the winter comes from diesel or bush fuel. But work would have to be done by the light of day. When the sun went down, the ability to work was over. Here's something we hadn't thought of.

Now that families are getting solar power through NGO's like Flora's it can mean extraordinary things for the people.

For example? Women and children can be educated. One of the things women do is make buttermilk, an important part of the afghan diet. Traditionally, to make it, they put milk in the skins of a goat and roll it in the sun for hours to achieve the buttermilk. Now, because of solar power they can do it mechanically, with some ingenious local inventions, in less than half an hour. It frees up their time and their children's time. Time for school becomes possible. Other chores like washing can be done at night. Again time for school becomes possible. Young children who weave carpets can do the work at night, and while they still must earn a living, during the day school becomes possible.

Are people making progress? I can only speak about what I saw with my own eyes. I met many people who are trying their best. They are achieving something and they appreciate deeply the NATO forces liberating them from the Taliban. Yes, they believe it is liberation, not occupation. They work hard to, first of all survive. And trust me, with the food crisis; with their level of poverty, that is a feat unto itself. Beyond that they seem to have a deep commitment to their children's future. The construction of schools is only one example. In many villages, they now have elected local councils where people can bring their civic concerns and their grievances. There are women on those councils, and sometimes they are elected leaders of those councils.

Speaking of women, if you went to Afghanistan you would still often see the burka being worn. But now, it is no longer the law. It is, publicly at least, a choice. The men can be clean-shaven if they like. (Under the Taliban, men were required to wear beards spanning the length of the little finger spread out to the thumb. If they didn't, they were subject to beatings). As for me, I wore my headscarf and learned quickly it may be part of the culture, but it is also definitely a necessity in the climate. Hot water was hard to come by. The scarf protected my hair from dirt. I could keep it over my face so that I would not breathe in the dust. Often men can be seen wearing their own scarves, formed into turbans, also covering the lower part of their faces.

At one point we were driving through the countryside and saw a group of kids herding their goats and donkeys. We thought what a great picture that would be! Ed jumped out of the van, pulled out the tripod and massive beta cam from the back of our driver's van and started to shoot video. Well, the children ran as fast as they could. We assumed they were shy, but Abdullah corrected us. He said, "Just think if an Afghan crew in turbans and tunics stopped in front of a farm in Canada and pulled out a big piece of equipment and pointed it at the children on the farm. Would THEY not run too?" Good point.

You may want to know whether we felt safe, considering we passed on traveling with security. Flying in, I wondered whether we would be. But Michael, our producer made contact with a fixer in Kabul, Aleem, who took care of us in the capital...He didn't hide us away. He took pride in making everything we wanted to do possible. He would simply say, "We can go wherever you want, and shoot whatever you want. BUT, when I say it is time to go, it IS time to go. No last shot, no lingering, just get in the van and move." Deal. In Bamyan, Abdullah sought permission from the Afghan police to carry an old Kalashnikov rifle. I later asked him why and he said, "Carole, you might be valuable to our enemies. Just a precaution." How surreal for Ed and Mike as they went to sleep at night in the room with the men. A mud brick compound in the middle of rural Afghanistan, with a former mujahideen fighter sleeping next to them, a satellite system on the other side of them and a Kalashnikov rifle propped up in the corner. Flora and I slept soundly at the other end of the compound.

Since we were traveling with Abdullah and his driver Sher, we felt safe from day one, right up until we had an informal conversation with a guy from the New Zealand military. He told us in no uncertain terms, that there are still ALOT of landmines in the area. Now, this was something we hadn't thought about in a while. Especially since we felt very safe. So safe that when Abdullah and Sher would go barreling off road through the hillside to get us to some other village in time for their meetings we didn't give it a second thought. I asked Abdullah about it later and he said, "Carole, look out in those hills. Do you see the animals?" "Yes Abdullah, I see the animals." Do you see any three legged animals?" No Abdullah, I do not." And that's how we knew it was safe. However, from then on we paid a lot of attention to the number of limbs on every animal we saw. Just in case.

See with thine own eyes

I must say the trip to Afghanistan, to Kabul and Bamyan, opened my mind and heart immensely. I got to know people and found very few differences between us. Often, the better I got to know someone, the more they would remind me of people I knew back here in Canada. The more I understood their circumstances, the more I understood and accepted their point of view, even if mine was different.

On the way back home I knew that if I or any of my friends or colleagues had been born in Bamyan or Kabul, or Yawkalang, there would be no difference in our circumstances. In Canada, we simply have more. More security, more food, more freedom. The people I've met are trying very hard to achieve the same things - if not for themselves, then for their children. Godspeed and Inshallah.

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