Vision Quest

34. Afghanistan off Base Part 3 New Friends

POV: Roger

    The family was thankful and insisted that we join them for iftar that evening. Iftar is the breaking of fast after sundown during the month of Ramadan. Sundown was still a couple of hours away, so the nephews invited us to join them in playing soccer. They saved their games until this time to work up an appetite before the feasting that would come after sundown.

"I don't know how to play," I explained.

"We teach you," Firash the wounded man's oldest nephew encouraged me. He had a fairly decent command of English. Aazar his younger cousin was also nodding his head encouragingly. Ben was game, so the four of us went outside and started kicking the ball around. Ben had obviously played before. I had obviously not.

"Hey, American. You supposed to kick ball to someone," Firash laughed.

"Hey Afghani. I'm trying to," I responded. Aazar shouted something at me in either Dari or Pashto with a laugh. "What did he call me?" I asked Firash.

"You not want to know," Firash laughed. 

   I gave Aazar a thumbs up to acknowledge his comment. Aazar frowned. Firash began to laugh, "American, you know in Afghanistan thumb up is the same as giving someone the middle finger."

"Crap. Tell him that is not what I meant."

"No. He deserved it," Firash laughed.  

We continued to play until sundown, and everyone continued to make fun of my clumsiness.

The iftar feast was great. The food was tasty and abundant. It was not just Firash's family, but Ahmad and several neighbors also joined us. There was a young girl Mina who constantly asked me questions to practice her English despite the obvious disapproval of her father. Although conversation between females and males not in their family was not prohibited, it was definitely frowned upon. Clearly Mina was of a more liberal bent.

Ahmad explained to me that the village used to have a young female teacher who taught the girls in the village some English as well as some of her more liberal views on a woman's place in society. Mina's mother died when she was young; so, the teacher became a surrogate mother for her. Mina greatly admired her. Unfortunately, the teacher was captured by the Taliban and never heard from again. They say she sacrificed herself to protect her students.

Mina was about twelve years old and dreamed of someday going to the United States. Watching the way that she looked at Firash, I think she also dreamed of him. He was fourteen and I don't think he had any idea of the crush she had on him. Observing teenage love life was quite a pleasant distraction from the surrounding horror of the war.

After that day, my trips to the village became frequent. I would bring medical supplies, school supplies for the kids, and even some new soccer equipment for the boys. Ben would occasionally join me and give health checkups to the villagers. Some of the families would invite us into their homes to share a meal. They would try to teach me their language and I would help them with their English. We shared laughs at each other's difficulties in pronouncing each other's language.

Mina became my star pupil. She even offered to help me with soccer so the boys would stop making fun of me. Her father immediately vetoed that idea. He not just disapproved of her teaching me. He did not allow her to play with the boys either. She assured me that she was a better soccer player than the boys. I assured her I was not going against her father's will.

It actually got to where I was more comfortable in the village than I was at the base. This environment being surrounded by friends and families was more comfortable than the base's strict military environment. It was good to know that even in the midst of a war, people could still treat each other decently.