GED English
Excerpt from “ My First Deployment ”
By Beqir Uke Gjoka
… The flight lasted 12 hours including one stop in Ankara , Turkey . It was a very dull flight , long and boring . We landed in Kabul at 1400 hours . As we exited the plane , we could smell and feel the weight of the war . It was dark , filthy , dry and sad . It was dark not because it was night but because it was incredibly dusty . It was dirty not because of Afghanistan itself , but because of the previous wars that never ended from the Russian occupation . Years later , the Taliban took over and destroyed Afghanistan ' s infrastructure which was never really there to begin with . It was sad not because the people weren ' t healthy and happy , but sad because of the wounded culture that showed in their faces .
You couldn ' t tell the different ages of people . From age 20 to 60 , they all looked the same . The way they dressed was different from us , the way they spoke was different , and the way they functioned was so very different , but what we had in common was human body language and the smiles on their faces . A little while later , two buses were waiting to pick us up . While on the bus , I happened to be sitting next to the driver who was Afghan . He was wearing a long dress and a turban wrapped around his head and his beard ran all the way to the center of his chest . Once in a while he turned his head to look around and he smiled . I could tell through his smile that he wanted to say something . I smiled back at him and asked our interpreter to tell him that he looked like the happiest person I have ever met . After he translated , he looked back at me and kept talking to the interpreter so he could respond to my statement . He said , ' We are born and raised with war , thus to us , happy nor sad doesn ' t make any difference .'
On our way to our installation , we saw no grass anywhere ; the density of the dust almost blocked our vision . I was wondering how this man could drive under these conditions , but then I remembered when he said that he was used to living his life like that . When we reached the urban areas , it was the most horrible slum I had ever seen in my life . As we drove through the city of Kabul , the sun was almost going down and the streets were full of people . There were buses , cars , motorcycles , and other types of vehicles where people were exceeding their capacity . For instance , in a bus , if all seats were occupied then those who didn ' t have seats inside the bus would climb on top of the bus and ride up there for hours . Additionally , we saw three people on a motorcycle . The streets had no signs , nor traffic lights . People drove by their instinct alone …
38 In Our Own Words 2016