Countries

Like everywhere else we went, in Tanzania we spoke (and listened) to people from all walks of life about their views of the United States. Around Arusha, several people mentioned an American we should talk to, a guy named Pete O’Neal who had been living in Tanzania for over 30 years. It didn’t make sense […]

Yesterday – August 19th – was Independence Day in Afghanistan. It marks Afghanistan’s liberation from Britain in 1919, following the third British-Afghan war. The Afghan people have fought back so many invaders, it seems they could celebrate it every day.
According to the International Herald Tribune:
Karzai delivered his Independence Day address in a stadium that was […]

We were so happy to hear that Alan Johnston was free. He was on our side, he was innocent and he had nothing to do with the occupation.
Palestinian journalists
Palestinian journalists celebrate the release of Alan Johnston
It is not the Palestinian way to treat guests badly; it was shameful to make him suffer like that.
We know […]

This morning Carrie and I both woke up incredibly early- because we couldn’t sleep we went down to he hotel restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast was a combination of Japanese and “American” food- eggs, cereal, yogurt, pancakes – and then there was also some sort of smoked fish, Japanese eggs, miso soup and many other […]

Today I left for Japan- and I am so excited! Of course I didn’t pack until today, so I was a little stressed because of the time - but I got to the airport on time and met up with Carrie, Dominic and Joel. Our flight was overbooked, so it was packed. […]

We arrived in Kabul on Tuesday and all is well. Joel and I had a great visit here last winter and things have picked up where they left off. Local folks have been wonderful and gracious to us despite what continues to be one of the toughest spots on earth to make a life.
The security […]

I think we had quite possibly the strangest interview scenario of my life today. We decided to take a drive out of Kabul today and head into the countryside to get a sense of things out of the big city. About an hour out of town we spotted a huge field full of red flags. […]