questioning. Such actions were deeply humiliating. The rockets we had been dealing
with were retaliation.
I too would be pretty upset if someone had
done that to me in front of my family.
“What else did you learn?” I asked.
“They want their kids to go to school,” he
replied. “They only have one tiny building for
500 children. It has three walls and no roof.”
We saw this as an opportunity to build a
bridge with the community.
Working together with local leaders and
parents for Afghan children was a key part
of our game plan for building relationships.
When families and friends asked what our
unit wanted in care packages, we encouraged
them to send school supplies such as notebooks, pens, and pencils. They responded
generously and within a few weeks we had
collected truckloads.
I asked Sher Ahmad if he was willing to
return to Saw Village to bring the supplies
we had collected to the school. He agreed
eagerly.
The very next day, the Saw Village elders
walked 15 miles to our Forward Operating
Base. They wanted to meet.
The large, rectangular meeting room was
adorned with carpets and pillows and pictures of Americans and Afghans working
together. The elders stood to greet us. They
each wore the pakol, the famous round, flat
headgear of eastern Afghanistan, and the
traditional shalwar kameez, a long shirt and
trouser outfit. Many gray beards were present, as well as a few younger representatives.
The chief mullah, or religious cleric, and the
school headmaster were there, too.
The shura (council) leader handed me a
stack of papers. “Commandant, these are
34 | JOURNEY OF HOPE
from our children,” my interpreter translated from Pashtu
as he handed me the package.
Not knowing what to expect,
I thanked him and unfolded
the top sheet of lined notebook
paper revealing a neat and precise Arabic script.
“They are thank you notes,”
he explained, “written with the
pens and paper you sent.”
I was stunned. “There would
have been more,” he continued,
“but many children did not believe their handwriting was good enough to
show you.”
The humility and kindness of this simple
gesture was touching. We spoke for