Darkness

No pictures today - I have one, but the internet is not working good enough to download the pictures. I thought since it's been a couple days since my last posting I would go ahead with out the picture.

We've been talking about how dark it is here at night this week. We were reminded of that yesterday, when the base sent out a general reminder to use our green/red/blue flashlights when walking at night. Salerno is a blackout base, so no lights at night, not even the headlights on vehicles, only the colored light. Someone was trusting their night vision the other night and walked into a big concrete barrier, banging up their teeth and lips, leaving a trail of blood all the way to the hospital.

One of our team members told us he explained how dark it is to his wife by telling her that he could walk naked from our living area to the office and no one would notice. However, as we told him don't try that when there is a real full moon out there and we thanked him for that image!

That's enough about the dark. I was visiting with Mike (the contractor) yesterday and telling him that I noticed one of his workers was a very hard worker, especially for how young he looked. He told me that he was about 14 or 16 years old. When I said he should be in school, Mike explained that people in this area have it pretty rough, it takes everyone to support the family. Mike said he does what he can to help as he pays his workers about twice the going wages. He pays the general labor about $6 a day. This should give our children a better appreciation for living in the US.

I don't know how much things cost in Afghanistan, but I imagine $6 a day goes a little further than it would at home. When I was in the Finance office yesterday, I noticed the exchange rate posted on the wall, $20 US is equal to about 1000 Afghani. However, even with the cheap labor and the exchange rate, our construction costs seem to be about in line with the costs at home. Of course the work environment has a lot to do with the higher costs.