Kabul: Turquoise Mountain Project. day two

Kabul: Turquoise Mountain.

I have enjoyed being back with the men at the workshop today, they are poetic, respectfully flirtatious, full of stories and jokes and teasing. Always a delight to spend time with them. 

Started new designs ... 

Went to the old bazaar which is fascinating, all the faces,Uzbek, Turkman Panshir, etc all in turbans, hats and heavy shawls, making bread, iron mongers, wooden tool makers, fruit and vegetables many men with no arms ar legs from the wars. Beautiful children .. 

The work the foundation has done is remarkable, womens clinic, the only medical centre for 60,000 people in the huge slum, school, employed and trained 400 people a day from the community. 

It looks amazing, real clay paint, wood carving earth architecture with courtyards and balconies for schools, workshops, offices, meeting rooms, libraries, all painfully restored, or built new in old style, great to see after I saw for the first time about 4 years ago, now finished!

Only a few internationals left here, and work of foundation is really done. 

Great to see how much money the jewellery brings in to help all this. 

Its surprisingly half a million dollers last year!

Went to get some silks today to make with the jewellery .. Lovely colours 

Had another bad night,  anxiety attack for some reason.......

Now the call to prayers from all the mosques around, and dog barking, the low helicopters and occasional bang of gun fire, but oddly........ peaceful 

Lots of love x P

Kabul: To work with turquoise Mountain

Nose pressed against the window of the plane peering out at the shades of browns and undulating hills and bare mountains, valleys with narrow parched looking rivers and snow laying in patches.

The air was sharp and cold but the sun warming and I was collected and driven to the Fort by Haun.

The pomegranate trees are bare and look a little sad, but it is good to be here and lovely to see all the people who work here, from cooks to guards and the small team of internationals still here.

After a dinner and long talk about the project and where the work is going etc I collapsed into bed and was heavy with tiredness. There is a simple and effective heating which is a large drum with a pipe and you put in saw dust and it burns slowly for about 6 hours. I late mine and crawled under all the blankets with sweaters and shawls wrapped around me and curled into a tight ball. I fell asleep quickly. At about 1am I was feeling drugged and tire but my throat was burning and eyes streaming I woke and was totally confused the smoke was so thick in the room that I could not see my hand in front of my face, and my heart was racing and I felt sick. I couldn't breath. I got up and managed to find the door and get out and get some air - eventually I had to go back in and break open the sealed windows and let the freezing air in and smoke out. It seems the pipe chimney thing had come loose and was pumping the smoke into the room. If I had not woken then for sure i would have been found dead this morning.

I did not sleep much after that! the fort is over 10 years old, all wood, mud, and woven straw ceilings – simply fire trap........

Working with Javid and the men today although it is the opening of parliament today so expecting riots and violence so have not been allowed out yet…….
Sending love