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