kites, soil kits and basic living skills

Hello all,

So I’m writing because I need some help. (don’t worry I’m good) We are trying to build relationships with the locals. If you didn’t know kite flying used to be a big thing out here in the Stan. But when the Taliban came into power they banned kite flying…. I know what a bunch of jerks huh? So I need help trying to find a company that will donate and ship kites to me out here. I can’t stay online too long and I just don’t have the time to dedicate looking and making phone calls…..forget about it. If I can’t call all of you I won’t waste my 10 min call a week on a company. So I hope some of you can look into this for me. Flying kites is kind of like the 4th of July and Baseball to the people. They used to have a big tournament in Kabul every year in the Fall. I’d like to have them out here and give them to the kids. For one they are so dirt poor they can’t afford to buy them. 2 the shops here (if you can call them shops) don’t sell them anymore. 3 it will be part of my I/O (Information Operations) campaign for the people. Flying kites will be like a symbol of flipping the bird to the Taliban! I know cool huh? I’m all about defiance! It’s one way to fight the War on Terror without firing a shot! I apologize to all those Marines who are reading this….I too would rather be shooting the bad guys instead of flying a kite but it’s all about winning hearts and minds out here. I can’t tell you how challenging it is to be creative in fighting a war that is driven by drugs.

I’m also hoping you can help me out with something else. I need to find a soil examination kit(s). The soil is so salty out here that when it rains the salt rises to the surface. I have pictures that look like we are walking on fresh snow fall but in reality it is the salt rising to the surface. I know crazy huh? I’m trying to find a way to help the local farmers with replacing their poppy fields with other crops……..they are NOT going to be able to grow poppy for much longer and I’m trying to find solutions to their problems because they won’t look for them without our help. It’s tough love over here with a bullet! I just hope we have more bullets than they do (we do trust me….if it’s one thing we have a lot of its ammo!) So cheap reusable soil kits…….if there is such a thing. Our computers block most websites so I can’t see a lot of things Google pops up. Damn Government blockers! And we are not the Army so we don’t have all these special groups…….and there is only one Agricultural Army unit in the country……and they don’t like to get into the Marines part of the sandbox.

One last thing: In the book “Three Cups of Tea” (toward the end) it talks about 5 basic things that can help improve the child mortality rate. I can’t remember what all five are and I need that info too. I know that the skills I’m talking about do not require professional medical aid. They are like: 1 proper hand washing and bathing, 2 clean water….etc. Can any of you who know what I’m talking about and/or have this type of knowledge look into it for me? We are going to host an information day (knowledge is power and 95% of the country is illiterate) and we are going to help the people decrease the infant mortality rate…..1 out of 5 children die before the age of 5 due to lacking these basic skills.

Ok all is well on our end……..well the Marines are good. The ANBP….one shot himself in the leg the other day. Not the smartest group I’ve worked with out here but at least he learned his lesson and no Marines were shot!

Thank you for all your love, support and help.

Semper Fi,

ws