3 April 2008 - Shame about the concrete walls

Been in Afghanistan contracting for 5 weeks now, and it don'tt look like I will ever see more than the inside of the compound I'm working at. We have some local guys working with us, we sit in their tent at night drinking green tea and they tell me about their homes and families. I am starting to build up a mental picture of what life was like for these guys before the invasion, and then the impact it has had on every aspect of their lives. There is a massive emphasis on honour amongst the communities, something that seems to have departed from British society. The work ethic here is far from what we know at home, its work or starve, to the point where they might be submitting themselves to an employer whose very presence may be the reason for their desperation, a lot of people could do to learn from these guys.