How Do You Get to Jalalabad?

All still well in Kabul.  Most of our time is spent in the hotel these days, writing reports and working on the Training Manual, but we've had at least one important meeting each day; at the Embassy, the US Institute for Peace, the Theatre Department at the University...

We'll be doing some follow-up training with the Kabul theatre artists, and lots more meetings before heading back on the 5th.  In the mean time, should any of you be wondering what the heck we actually DO with these actors, I decided to detail one of the exercises to give you a backstage look.

How do you get to Jalalabad?

This is based on a little remembered Abbot and Costello routine from one of their old TV shows.  Kudo's to John Towsen for calling my attention to it about 15 years ago (and a shout out to our peeps currently playing in the NY Clown Theatre Festival):

Costello is on the street waiting for Abbott to return.  A women approaches him and asks:
(the dialogue is to the best of my memory)

Woman:  Excuse me, can you tell me how to get to the public library?

Costello:  I'm sorry, I don't know where the public library is.

Woman: Oh, well, if you go down Main Street and make a left at the corner go to the end of the street and make a right and...

Costello (confused): What a minute, wait a minute... I didn't ask you, you asked me.

Woman: I asked you what?

Costello: How do you get to the public library?

Woman: That's what I'm telling you! Go down Main Street and make a left at the corner go to the end of the street and make a right and....

Costello:  Wait a minute, Lady! I don't care about the public library!

Woman:  (Angry) Then what are wasting my time for? Who do you think you are bothering poor innocent young women on the street, you fat little potato!  I should call the police!  You are nothing but a masher!  (she smacks him with her purse and storms away).

Costello:  (completely bewildered) I'm a mashed potato!?!

Abbott: (walking up) Who was she?  What did she ask you?

Costello:  How do you get to the public library?

Abbott: Oh, well if you go down Main Street and make a left at the corner...

Costello runs off screaming.

It's a completely absurd bit, and one of the reasons we decided to do it was to get the actors to play "outside-the-box".   Also, it's vaudeville!  It's my roots.

Joanna and I would do the routine in English, with our translator translating line by line.  Since there aren't many public libraries around, we use "Jalalabad" instead.  Also, we dropped the masher / mashed
potato joke, as the pun never worked in translation (and they don't have mashed potatoes here).

Even with the awkward English/Dari or English/Pashto presentation, the actors understood the comedy immediately and always laughed.

For a simple, silly little bit it was a challenge for them to duplicate it.  They, of course, would do it in their own language.  Because the structure is so tight, we always knew what they were saying, or supposed to be saying.  But it would take about 15 - 20 minutes for them to get the structure correct: who entered when, who was asking what and who got angry at which time, and who stormed off when.

We would rotate everyone through the different parts, focusing on the subtle comic timings:  "Costello's" confusion, then annoyance, then really confused post-assault, then the build to completely losing it as "Abbott" starts to give him directions again.  The Stranger (does not have to be a woman) is absurdly matter-of-fact until they get to yell at Costello about how wonderful Jalalabad is: "what do you mean you don't care about Jalalabad! My mother lives in Jalalabad!..." etc.  A chance for the actor to improvise.

Some caught on faster than others.  A few never caught on at all, causing as much confusion and laughter as the routine itself.  Thing is, they all LOVE this exercise.  As far as I can tell from all the years of watching Afghan theatre, while they do comedy, they don't do absurdity, and maybe that newness has appeal.

They loved the bit so much they wanted to keep doing it, and we had to come up with "as if" variations:  same dialogue, but  doing it as if the characters are spies, or martial artists, or singing opera, or suddenly in love, etc.

Even months later, when I would see one of the actors again, they might catch my eye just the right way and say, in halting English (which they might not actually speak):  "Michael, how you get Jalalabad?" and we would launch into the routine in half English, half Dari, clearly playing the parts in the language of theatre.

Kandahar Theatre Update 3: Another Job Well Done

Michael writes from Jalalabad on the work with Kandahar Theatre.

After the ten day training and rehearsal period here in Jalalabad with Maiwand Theatre Company both the men and the women have done their first productions, and now are heading back to Kandahar to arrange four more performances each.

Despite losing a day over the recent anti-film protests (not here, as far as I can tell) we accomplished a lot. Having the Kandahar team here 24-7 meant we could have more time with them, and they were motivated enough to train and rehearse on their own some evenings and early mornings. For the men's group, we decided to use a script written by our Nangahar Theatre collaborator, Zhwandoon; and for the women we used the script we developed last year with the Nangahar women's team. The men's show promoted the civil and religious laws that favor the rights of women (forced marriage not allowed, no violence), and the women's show called for unity among women and an end to the "backbiting".

This was a good opportunity to revisit past work. Both shows were previously produced by other teams, and the directors of the previous versions were on hand to help remount the new adaptations. Thus they got to see how we adapt and direct based on the strengths (or, in some cases, the lack thereof) of different actors for the same material. We also could delve a little deeper in acting technique without having to create new material.

The men performed yesterday at the Lincoln Learning Center to 75 appreciative high school and college age students, while the women performed early today at a women's training center (I forgot to get the stats from Joanna, sorry).  Both shows went very well, in our humble opinions.

There are a great many new insights and stories associated with the process, and I'll try to get them down in future updates, but here is one from rehearsing the guy's show. Though the basic story line has serious intent, one actor played the clownish nephew, and he was pretty good in the part. The central object in this tale is a government published book on the laws of the rights of women. At one point the nephew is holding the book up by his face as the teacher points out this and that law. His uncle comes up and slaps him on the back, and he closes the book on his nose. Funny comedy bit (if they get the timing right, which is about 65% of the time). Well, in our last rehearsal before the performance, one of the actors points out that the book also has Koranic laws written in it as well (NOW he tells me) and some members of the audience might not think it so funny. Well, I tell them, you guys gotta be the judge on this; if you think it's a problem then we don't have to do the bit, BUT (deep breath here), if the point of the show is to see how much the audience really knows about what is written in the law, this will give you an indication of what they know. I bet most of them never heard of this book, much less know what's in it, that's what you are trying to tell them. So maybe do the bit, and see if indeed you get a reaction. Well, they understood my point, but the consensus was maybe they shouldn't do it.

Of course, come show time and the actors clearly forgot the entire conversation, because they did the bit anyway, and nobody stormed the stage. It didn't get much of a laugh either, despite the timing being pretty good. I think more than anything else the whole concept of live theatre is still new to live audiences, and they don't quite know how to react until the end, when they applauded enthusiastically.

We'll be here in Jalalabad until Friday with some follow-up with our local teams, and then head back to Kabul to check in with the teams there.

Despite whatever is going on around the world, it's still a pretty big world, and it's been safe and sound in our neck of the woods. Still, we'll keep our eyes open and ears close to the ground, and follow the advice of our friends.

Much love,

Kandahar Theatre Update 2: Safe Haven

Dear all, 

Things have been a bit dicey lately.  Our Afghan partner called us at 5:30am this morning to tell us to pack our bags and we were to evacuate Jalalabad for a few days. He would come by and take us to stay to his house in a small village outside the city.  We hadn’t heard a thing about this nasty film (and it is really awful – I am appalled even as an artist) so it was all a shock.  Now we are on lockdown at the hotel.  We decided it would be more dangerous to get in a car and drive to the village and endanger his family.  We are such a liability!  We put everyone in danger.

So the program is on hold for today and especially tomorrow, Friday – the usual day of prayer and protest.  

To put our friends at home at ease, I do think our hotel is a safe haven. We are staying in our rooms with meals delivered up from the kitchen.  There are a bevy of guards at the front gate and they have added more.  Then there is a long driveway (through a very nice garden) up to the front of the building.  They frisked our male escort on his way in, and stopped even the women… so they are really being careful.  

One of our partners came over to deliver burqas for me and Monireh, and some additional details to add to Michael’s Afghan attire.  Meanwhile the Afghans have been telling people (and only few people know we are here) that we are from Australia.  I usually say Canada, but whatever.

The trainings were really going well – we were all very pleased!  It’s a shame to make this break in the process right now.  We had just started discussions on what topics the shows should address.  The Kandahari group is really learning a lot.  Besides the obviously new stuff – our crazy warm-ups, the stilts, funny routines, etc. – many of the acting techniques are very new… even the mime.  They had some image theatre from Kayhan, but we are dealing with purely actors’ training first, then we will move into the conflict resolution work as we develop the play.  So we are focusing on body language, precision of gesture, focus,… all detail work that they haven’t been exposed to.

That’s the news from the front….  We will let you know how things develop.  I am a bit concerned about tomorrow, but we will, as ever, keep our heads down.  (Under my burqa, I have to… or I’ll trip).

Cheers –

Joanna, Michael, and Monireh

Kandahar Theatre Update 1: Making it Work in Jalalabad

Michael writes about the process of traveling to Jalalabad to work with Kandahar Theatre, setting up the houses, and the challenges of electricity and running water.

All is well, we are here in Jalalabad. Joanna, I and Monireh (our Kabul-based collaborator) are staying at a local hotel, while the Kandahar Theatre Company is staying in a house directly across the street. The most dangerous part of our project is crossing that street each morning and afternoon.


The journey here from Kabul was interesting. The car that was sent to pick up the three of us was not nearly big enough for us and all our luggage, but it only took about a half hour for Ahmad Zia dismiss the first driver and car (at a cost of $40) and hire another, bigger passenger van. We drove for about forty minutes out of the city and through several small towns; when we slowed for a speed bump in the middle of one market area a bunch of surly guys started to pound on the car with sticks. These brutish, grunting Neanderthals turned out to be the toll collectors.

Interesting system. The toll was 4000 afs - $80 - and you'd think at those prices they could at least afford uniforms, if not actual toll booths. Reluctantly, the driver paid the toll. Then, about a mile down the road, the van broke down from a shattered fan belt. So, a third vehicle was called, slightly smaller than the second but still managed all of us and our stuff. It's a shame the van didn't break before the toll.

We got through the mountains and two hours later were dropped safely at the hotel. I paid $100 for the third vehicle. So if you were keeping track, that was $40 for a car we didn't use, $100 for the car we did, and in there was a $80 toll which no one asked me to pay. There is much that is inscrutable about the economics of Afghanistan.

Our local Jalalabad contact worked out an arrangement to rent a house for the Kandahar company, thinking it would be better than a hotel -- cheaper (potentially) and they can cook their own meals. That of course assumes that the house has water and electricity - which, when we arrived, we found it did not, though it did have excessive dust covering everything. No worries; we are assured it will all get better soon. The group arranged to stay the night in a local hotel (not our hotel). Although it did have water and electric, the hotel was so stifling hot that the house was deemed preferable despite its limitations, and they moved in the next day - the six women on the top floor, and the five guys below.

The plumbing and electricity were mostly fixed in a day. The limited electricity comes from a rattling old generator in the yard, as there is only 1 hour of electricity supplied by the city. While this keeps the water pump churning, the electrons don't seem to flow to any of the ceiling fans. Still, the Kandaharians seem satisfied with all that. 

Our hotel does have pretty good AC in the rooms; a luxury in this country, but without it we would go mad. Especially because we didn't have any water for three days due to a big problem with their pump. Well, we didn't have water in the pipes, they did supply us with big buckets of the
vital liquid. Cold water.

We are rehearsing in one of the rooms of the house, so our view of Jalalabad this time is extremely limited to crossing the street.
Next update - the training process.  Watch this space.

Much love,
Michael and Joanna

Actors on Stage: Jalalabad Update 8

Michael writes from Jalalabad, where the team is working with Nangarhar Provincial Theatre.

A scene from the men's show, The Law of the Jungle

As of this writing our male and female teams of the Nangahar Provincial Theatre have three performances each under their shalwar kameezes!   As of this morning our women's team has performed at the Support Center for Widows, the AFCECO safe house for children, and this morning at the Nangarhar Women’s Prison.   I saw the show yesterday at AFCECO, and I was very impressed with their performance and the reception they received by the women and children.  Considering they have never appeared on stage before, and the challenges they face as women performing at all, they are doing an exemplary job.  Two new actresses in particular, YYY and ZZZ, are amazing (yeah, I'm not sure about using their names yet -- there is still a veil of secrecy).

Last Tuesday the men's team performed for the National Police Department in Jalalabad.  It turns out that the base commander, Abdullah Sanakzay, saw our Kabul team performing for ANCOP last October and quickly set up the performance for a meeting of all the regional commanders.  It was pretty impressive.  The team has also preformed at the Juvenile Correction Center and the Jalalabad Hospital Drug-Addiction Center, all very diverse and appreciative audiences.

This is our post-performance "photo-op" with the head of the police information department (basically the press department - he's the one in the uniform).  When we first met him he seemed aloof and official, like they all do, and then when he heard that we were a team of actors he completely softened up: turns out he used to be an actor too!  And make-up artist and poet!  He studied Persian poetry at Kabul University during the war years, and was particularly impressed that we worked with Anisa Wahab in our production of "Beyond the Mirror".  Of course, there's little money on the Afghan stage (or poetry cafes) and so he fell back on police work.  He's now a big fan.

I can't believe we're in the last leg of this project.  We'll be leaving Jalalabad for Kabul on May 1 or 2, and then spending the remainder of our stay in Kabul working with Papyrus Theatre until our flight out on the 11th (many thanks to CEC Artslink for the support of Papyrus phase).

Watch this space...

Love from Jalalabad,

Michael and Joanna

Afghan Stars: Jalalabad Update 5

Sahar writes from Jalalabad.

Dear friends,

A long overdue update on my time here in Jalalabad! It’s been a whirlwind – beautiful and challenging and every swing of emotion.  But overall, it’s been really amazing. I’ve been journaling as much as I can because we don’t have great internet access. The hotel connection is slow and then we have limited access where we hold the workshops.

I’m writing you now from my room in the Spinghar, an old government-run hotel with a lovely garden abloom with the city’s famous and very aromatic orange blossoms. Jalalabad is known as “evergreen” for its year-round lushness and warm weather. And indeed, it’s a fresh respite from the dry and cool weather of Kabul.

How I dress in Jalalabad

In many ways, it’s vastly different from Kabul. It’s a predominately Pashtun area and you only hear sprinkles of Dari, which actually makes me feel good about my Americanized Dari (I tease my new friends here: Dari is my second language too). You also see much fewer women on the streets here, at least in the city proper, which is the only area we have visited so far. Most of the women cover their faces or wear the full burqa. You also don’t see many foreigners here, so Michael tends to stand out (Joanna and I are fully covered). 

Also, because of its proximity to Pakistan, Jalalabad is heavily influenced by Pakistani culture. The main method of transportation is the rickshaw, most women wear the shalwar kamiz and most families fled to Pakistan during the civil war.

As for the work, it’s really great, and all because of our colleagues here.  We’ve gathered a group of twenty teenagers from two schools. We work with one group of 15 in the mornings before school and then four in the afternoons following their school. In Afghanistan it’s generally like this, with school times varying before or after lunch.

The men’s group consists of members from the Nangarhar Provincial Theater, which is well-established and very active. Their work spans comedic and dramatic theater. Their ages range from 20 – 50 or so, and most have to have a second or third job since they cannot sustain themselves on theater alone. The company also has a film wing, which is extremely active and you can like them on Facebook at Afghan Stars!

The men's group!

☺ They are incredible--please check them out on YouTube too.

We work with each group daily for 3-4 hours. The first ten days constituted the training period, which included warm-ups, theater games, physical and dramatic theater techniques, Theater of the Oppressed techniques (including lots of image theater,) and lots and lots of dialogue. And, of course, fun! These are all new for the girls, while a few of the men participated in a similar workshop last fall in Kabul. 

The goal is that those girls who are interested and able will go on to create a play, which they will then perform in various local institutions for all-female audiences, such as women’s shelters, orphanages, rural shuras, etc. The men have more flexibility, but will perform largely for all-male audiences.  For example, they just did a free show at the park (for men only, except Wednesdays, when it’s women’s day) on the implications of the international community leaving Afghanistan.

The girls were really shy at the beginning, giggling behind their hands or saying they couldn’t or feeling totally ashamed to even so much as jump in front of each other (even though they’re all friends, or maybe because of that).  It’s taken some time, but it’s been beautiful to see them come out of their shells and feel uninhibited and now even lead exercises themselves! 

A scene about the Turtle and the Hare.

We did one exercise where we stand in a line and imagine a mountain ridge. Each person then steps forward and yells their name, tossing it over the mountain. Then all of us behind follow suite, stepping forward, yelling and throwing their name over the mountain. The person then does it facing the group, imagining the group as the mountain. The mountain of us then responds. It’s really empowering to hear one’s name like that. Afterward, many of them mentioned how courageous they felt doing this. Hearing their life stories, they already are some of the most courageous individuals I’ve met, but I think this is a new outlet for them to demonstrate that. They’ve also been so incredibly creative, coming up with wonderful scene work on subjects like illiteracy, gender equality and abusive teachers—issues that they self-identify as important to their lives--and proposing feasible solutions.  It’s so inspiring!

Oh, but there are challenges! For one, the girls are, I think understandably, extremely fearful about the implications of participating in theater at all. In Nangarhar province, which is very conservative compared to other parts of the country and still under a lot of Taliban influence, it’s just not done—it’s scandalous and implies inappropriate entertainment. The guys from the Nangarhar Provincial Theater though have been active for many years now and have worked hard to dispel these ideas. When the Taliban were in power, they performed secretly at weddings and such. But for the most part, they have been successful and are now ell-respected in town. Of course, some people still stigmatize their work and there are limitations with having to hire Pakistani actresses (which has its own social implications). But, comparatively, the girls really have a long way to go with gaining social approval for pursuing this art. They are the pioneers.

Stay tuned for more!

Springtime in Afghanistan: Jalalabad Update 4

Good Morning America,

A quick missive here to acknowledge that we have indeed heard the recent news (that is, about 30 minutes ago) about the excitement (okay, attacks) in and around Kabul. Good thing we're in Jalalabad. Whenever something happens everybody gets locked down. As for us, we're here in a quiet residential side of town away from any government buildings or markets.

We're in the "Yellow House", so named because it's yellow. It is the current rehearsal studio for Nanagahar Provincial Theatre. As is typical of the houses in Afghanistan, we are surrounded by a high 8 foot stone wall enclosing a quarter acre court yard.

The Yellow House is an oasis for the Nangarhar artists, founded and supported by the Australian filmmaker George Gittoes and the actress Hellen Rose. Hellen tells a fascinating tale of their work in Jalalabad here:

http://issuu.com/stagewhispers/docs/may_june_2012 see pages 12 - 14

As for the artists themselves, check out:

http://www.gittoes.com/ and http://www.hellenrose.com/

We're about to go into rehearsal on the new show, so whatever goes on out there it's business as usual in here.

Safe and sound and keeping out of trouble,
Your friends,
Michael and Joanna

A Deeper Look at the Women's Workshops, from Michael's Perspective

Last week, Joanna wrote about working with the female workshop participants in Jalalabad. Here, Michael checks in with his experiences.

In the morning we are working with 14 young women a few blocks down the street at a local NGO. Our workspace is their cellar, which reminds me of a small 20-car parking garage; concrete floor, large supporting pillars, kinda echo-y. Well lit, though, and not completely “damp” feeling.  Pretty okay by Afghan standards.

The girls (high school and college age) have no theatre experience whatsoever, but they do understand our project, have seen films, and want to do social outreach. Naturally they are a bit shy and cautious (given the conservative society) but they didn’t run away after the workshop; in fact they asked us if they could invite more friends!

We’ve been taking their backgrounds into consideration when planning the curriculum—we didn’t want to hit them with sixteenth century Italian Commedia or 1930’s Russian bio-mechanics right off, but we didn’t want to pamper them, either.  Still, you can never anticipate the effects of even the simplest exercises.

For example, on the second day we were doing an exercise called Passing Impulses.  The group stands in a circle, facing inward.  One person imagines having a great ball of energy – could be something mimed in their hands or more abstractly as a ball of fire in the belly.  With a tossing motion and energetic sound the person “passes” the impulse, or energy, across the circle to someone else who then “receives” it and energetically passes it off to someone else.  This impulse should move quickly: pass-receive-pass-receive-pass… not only are you “passing an impulse” but you are working “on impulse”.  There shouldn’t be any thinking or planning, don’t try to be creative or clever; and there shouldn’t be any time spent feeling silly, just DO IT!  It’s Physical Theatre 101.

Sound easy?  Well, yeah, if you’ve done it a million times, (as we have) but for sure these lasses haven’t done ANYTHING like this before.  Still, it was going along okay -- some pretty slow and weak impulses, but okay --  and then I passed a slightly more energetic impulse than I probably should have to someone who was clearly taken by surprised, clearly received the impulse, and then clearly did not know what to do with it.  I could see her desperately trying to remember what to do, and then trying to decide who to send it to… the clock was ticking… her eyes frantically darting from face to face…total brain freeze… until all she could do was turn away and burst into tears.

Fortunately our on-the-ball BST teammate Sahar (herself an Afghan-American and Dari speaker) quickly took her aside and gave her the ol’ “everything’s cool” speech, while I continued the exercise (me feeling pretty bad).   Our student was able to rejoin the group within minutes, and all again was well with the world.  For the rest of the workshop I tried to avoid making any unexpected sudden movements – only to discover that I actually DO make a lot of unexpected sudden movements regularly!

Interestingly, towards the end of that same workshop we were engaged in another exercise, wherein the students were asked to create “snapshots” of scenes, the first representing a problem, the second how that problem could escalate, the third a possible solution to the problem.  The students create the scenes themselves.  The same young woman from the earlier freak-out was playing a mother who was illiterate, who couldn’t read the expiration date on some medication (problem), who gives the wrong dosage to her baby who then dies (escalation). Pretty serious stuff, but for some reason I never quite understood everyone started laughing hysterically… not at the context, certainly, but at some side joke or slip of the tongue.  In any case, the day ended with both laughter and an appreciation of new techniques and their potential.  

Oh…a possible solution to the problem?  Teach the women to read, of course!  By the way – far from being scared off, the young lady in question is very enthusiastic about being on stage.

Persistence: Jalalabad Update #2

Joanna checks in after a few days of workshops in Afghanistan about the state of women’s rights and steps being taken towards hope…

We are in such a different land here in Jalalabad.  Really all women wear full chador and then burqa on top of that.  It's hard for me to understand why this is necessary. Sahar and I wear our scarves draped fully around our shoulders covering our front and then over our noses.  If we didn't do this, we would be the center of attention in a very dangerous way.

The Nangarhar theatre guys are just great.  They create plays about women's rights and take them into the real no-man's land in the rural areas and borderlands with Pakistan -absolute danger zones.  After one show about women’s rights, someone threw an explosive device at them and it landed a few feet from their car.  But they persist!

We have great talks about what to do; what can be done. The Pashtun areas are so deeply entrenched in these ancient traditions.  What will change this?  Yes, maybe the internet, maybe these theatre plays, more communication on Facebook and cell phones. But women are just not in the conversation at all.  The 200 women at Nangarhar University (among the thousands of guys) are plagued with one indignity after another -- you can't use the library, why are you here, don't dare come in this building, etc. But they persist too.  They are our hope.... and the great girls in our theatre workshops!

The girls are terribly withdrawn and shy, and slowly slowly are starting to speak out.  We were passing impulses today and one girl burst into tears when it was her turn – she just froze with fright and then crashed. A few are feisty and willing to try everything. We all hope they encourage the other girls and show them it's okay.  We have great talks with these girls too, but they have such a tough road ahead of them.  What advice can we give them that doesn't endanger their lives?  If they dare do anything to speak out, it is dangerous.... really, they will be killed.  It seems the law doesn't apply here.

There are also great NGOs working for women's rights, and they offer some hope too.  It's not that things are stagnant!  So we will have our women's theatre team and they will be the pioneers... and they accept the challenge.

All for now ---

Lots of love from beautiful (it is!) Jalalabad.

J and M and S

A Firebrand Named ______: Jalalabad Update 1

Michael writes from Jalalabad, Afghanistan, where the ensemble is working with the Nangarhar Provincial Theatre. 

Greetings from exciting Jalalabad.  We have only been here two and a half days, and it is total sensory overload.  Firstly, let me assure you we are safe, secure and in very good hands.  Jalalabad itself is a fairly green city... almost tropical, at least as far as Afghanistan is concerned.  Warm, lots of flowers, palm trees even.  We are staying in a "government" hotel - not exactly sure what that means, but, from the looks of it, it means they don't pay their staff enough to really keep the rooms nice.  However, there are a couple of acres of beautiful gardens out front, with lots of early morning chirping birds.  

Jalalabad is in Nangahar Provence and the people tribally Pashtun--  yeah, the Taliban are Pashtun, but
they're not here in force.  The amount of civil society work going on here is impressive.  The theatre company we are here to work with, Nangahar Theatre, are already well known and supported in the city and surrounding rural communities because of their work through the NGO's.   We came here with a list of people we should talk to -- but haven't even gotten to it because so many others have appeared to meet us... a revolving door of amazing and eccentric characters foreign and local, with wild stories and contrasting points of view.

Before we came down here we were pretty much told that, given the very conservative nature of the community it would be impossible to find any women to work with.  HA!  They didn't know about a firebrand named (um... name withheld until we're sure it's safe), a 19 year old recommended by an embassy connection who gathered together 14 high school and college age women who all seem pretty willing.   We had a meeting yesterday and our first day of workshops this morning, and while most of them are a bit reserved and had no idea what we'd be hitting them with, by the end of the 3rd hour they were loosening up and pretty game. 

We're still working out internet logistics.  As we get into the workshops we'll be pretty busy.  I'll certainly write when I can.  Going into our first workshop with the guys now...

Onward and upward,
Michael and Joanna