School Bus

Today I came across this old school bus that is now being rented by the Army to transport soldiers on base to the airfield. I'm not sure how many modifications have been made since it was used as a school bus, or if this is how it looked as a school bus, but the license plate in front says "Taxi". Every seat is numbered and the #1 seat in front has a heart and arrow painted on it. That must be for the "well behaved" child, none of the others had hearts.

I asked Mike about school for the children, do most of them go to school? He said it depends on the financial situation, many of the children in the poorer families have to work and do not go to school. The kids start school when they are 7 or 8 and graduate from school when they are 18. They go to school every day, but Friday, and their school day is 4 hours long. They have a 2 or 3 month break, but it is not in the summer like ours. It is in the winter, when the weather is bad and it is difficult for the children to get to school. With the weather I've seen here at Salerno, the kids could go to school year round, as they don't get much bad weather in the winter.

Once they graduate, they can go on to the University. In the past that meant the University in Kabul. Now there are more universities around the country. In fact Mike told me there is a very nice one near here in Khowst City. It was financed and built by the President of the United Arab Emirates and is named after him.

Another example of how slow things move here, today, Mike was taking some scrap metal off the base. I had to take him to the gate and also had to meet him when he returned. He left around 10 am for what he told me was a 15 minute trip each way. I began to wonder if he was coming back today when he called and said he was at the gate. It was 2 pm, 4 hours later. I asked him if he stopped at home for lunch, he laughed and said no. The US forces had blocked off the only road available, so he decided to drive down the wadi (dry river/creek bed). He said that was not a good idea, it was rough and slow. And we complain about 6-8 lane freeways that are congested during rush hour.

When Mike got back to the work site at 3:00, all his workers had left for the day. I told him, when the boss is away the workers will play. He thought that was pretty funny, though he seemed truly surprised his guys had left.