ghazni

band-e-amir

bamyan

afghan people

kabul

moments lost?

“all those moments will be lost in time like tears in the rain”

i saw blade runner recently, a bizarre movie at best, but this comment towards the end changed the aftertaste. it stuck in my mind. all these moments... what better way to preserve the Moment than with a photograph? they say pictures say more than a thousand words. a thousand words i have said, so, to sum up the words of last year, in the near future i will try to post a few images from selected experiences of 2006.

said robert frost: "two roads diverged in a wood, and i took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference"

exactly one year has passed since i started the episode of my life called Aiming Hoping Trying To Make a Difference in the Physiotherapy Profession of Afghanistan.

the past months have witnessed numerous ups & downs...

the thrill of challenges waiting to be tackled
the impatience with challenges which take sooooooo much longer to tackle than i would like
the satisfaction of being able to offer something that is needed & desired
the insufficiency of my ability in the face of the magnitude of the Mountain of Needs Hopes Expections, wondering if all my efforts make any difference at all
the frustration of being stripped of independance, of freedom, of the joy of running in the forest or jumping on my bike & heading nowhere in particular
the joy of meeting & getting to know one amazing interesting person after another
the fascination of peeling away another layer of this amazingly complex context

the sum of it all comes down to the priviledge of being part of a little sliver of this intriguing complicated country. being here inspires many dreams and hopes; at times they pull in all kinds of contradicting directions. then the (in)sanity of what i am doing comes around, and i wonder what drives a routinehappy perfectionistsoul to leave a well-organised life in the comfortable developed unruffled world of sweden...?
i guess robert frost pretty well sums it up. the unknown waiting to become known, the fascinating scenery, the variety of faces on fellow travellers. the Road Less Travelled continues to beacon with it's unpaved potholed undulating path, & the thrill of flying down the slopes are well worth the arduous climbs uphill!

so, forgive the philosophical ponderings. the halfway line has been crossed & it is with anticipation (& my share of butterflies!) that i wander into the already well-filled months of twothousandandseven.

anything & everything can happen.