Afghanistan Trip

Many events have changed and shaped my life, but one in particular was my second trip to Afghanistan. In October – November of 2007, I took a trip to Afghanistan and realized that life is not what it seems to be. During this trip I saw how different people on opposite sides of the world are.

Seeing how much my grandparents had changed during the course of five years hurt, but time is something you can not stop, no matter how hard you try. Seeing the unfairness of life upset me and everyone around me as well, but it changed who I am, for the good.

Soon after visiting my grandparents, I decided to check out the village they grew up in. I had no idea what an adventure it would be. Roads to the village were very unsafe. In fact, I can say that there were no real roads at all. Nothing was paved. Some strong hearted volunteers had taken the initiative to kindly remove the rocks from the road, but that’s as advanced as the roads got. There were no stop signs, let alone traffic lights. The village itself was just as advanced as the roads were. I was baffled to find that there were no bathrooms. My idea of a bathroom wasn’t a hole in the ground, which was what the case was in the village.

 But the main thing that struck my heart was the “schools”. The school I visited was a wide plain, which had some pieces of plastic on the ground for the students to sit on instead of the dirt. There were no desks, chairs, or even simple school supplies. Each little group had one big chalkboard for their teacher to write on, but that was it. I was amazed at how high spirited these adorable little kids were. Even though they had nothing, they were still excited to come to school every single day. I thought about myself, and how often I made up excuses to not attend school. My heart flowed with guilt.

The Following day, my family and I went out to the bazaar to buy the children school supplies such as pencils, crayons, erasers, notebooks, and sharpeners. The twinkle in their eyes when they saw what we had gotten for them was utterly priceless; they were what made my trip worthwhile. Needless to say, this experience will stay in my heart for the rest of my life, and will affect the way I decide to live my life.

My trip to Afghanistan opened up my eyes, it taught me not to sweat the petty things, that in the end that, don’t even matter. It taught me to show more appreciation to the loved ones I look up to. It taught me that life is short, and to make the most out if it I can. But most of all it taught me to be thankful for what I have and take time to recognize what I have before it’s gone.