I have to admit that
I didn’t think it would happen. I simply didn’t think it was going to be
possible, but on Wednesday 13 March the high school girls’ basketball team from
our sister school, ISK, in Afghanistan arrived at Kunming International Airport
and thus began our week of hosting them.
This was a trip that
our schools had been talking about for years and planning for months. ISK spent
months fundraising and generating support for the trip. We spent months lining
up outings, projects, host homes, meals, etc. But about a week before they were
scheduled to fly to Kunming all of our hard work looked like it would be for
naught. Their initial visa application was denied. We worked from our end to
get special permissions but we were also denied. At this point I had written
off the possibility of them coming and instead of planning on hosting girls
from Afghanistan, I was planning on attending our high school service trip.
Again, they appealed to the leaders on their end and at the 11th
hour were given approval. I received a call at 9pm on Monday 11 March that they
were leaving the next morning. My first thought was, “O ye of little faith.” Why
do I still doubt? I have seen amazing things in this place and yet the doubt
remains.
We picked them up at
the airport early on Wednesday morning. They had traveled all night and
although exhausted, they were excited to be here. We jumped right into our
schedule: brunch at school, an afternoon at the Minority Village, and a big
pizza dinner at a host home. We got more comfortable with each other as the day
went on and they started calling me Ms. Valerie (oddly enough this led to Eric being
called Mr. Valerie when they met him later in the week).
Thursday we took
them downtown and I watched as they happily wandered through the market located
there. The girls grew up living in compounds, they were surrounded by grey
concrete walls and barbed wire much of the time so the freedom of wandering was
something of a novelty. That afternoon they played their first basketball game
of the year.
Friday we drove them
to the Stone Forest, a landscape totally unique and completely foreign to them.
Again, it was the freedom of movement that seemed to capture their attention.
We hiked for a while, stopped to eat a snack, and before I knew it the girls
had begun an impromptu dance session. They are seldom allowed to dance in their
home country and never in public. Freedom.
Their Saturday was
spent playing more basketball games in an afternoon than they had in the
previous two years. There simply are not enough girls high school teams in
their country. By now some of the girls were feeling comfortable enough to
forgo the long sleeves and full length leggings that they normally wore under
their basketball uniforms. Freedom.
Sunday morning we
drove up to a migrant center in the mountains and volunteered with their daily
children’s program. The children ranged in age from two years old to twelve and
they were all although Chinese nationals because of the system in place their
parents are considered migrant workers. We helped serve the kids breakfast and
then the girls were given a short presentation on the migrant worker situation
in China. Afterwards we led a traditional Afghan craft. The girls loved it and
the kids did too. I later talked to the director of the center and he said that
the kids talked of nothing else for a week. We spent our afternoon doing
something that I take for granted, but the girls loved- biking! They told me
that they weren’t allowed to bike at home and many hadn’t touched a bike since
they were very young. We bike everywhere here thus rounding up 11 bikes wasn’t
all that tough. They spent an hour biking around our neighborhood, riding in
circles on the pathways. Freedom.
The fifth day of
their stay was spent more like any other week- at school. Our visitors were all
assigned to a KIA guide and they shadowed them for an entire school day.
Although this was not their favorite day (who really wants to go to school
while on vacation?) they did tell me that they loved how students interacted
with each other in and out of class and exhibited strong friendships regardless
of nationality and gender. I thought this was an interesting observation.
Tuesday was their
final day in Kunming. They said final farewells and hugged their new friends. I
was surprisingly sad to see them go; after all, I had only known these girls for
a brief six days, but I loved seeing their enthusiasm with each new outing and
learning about how they view the world. I am hoping to reciprocate the trip
this coming fall. This will, of course, require a lot of planning, and even
more pr*yer, but I think that there is great value in learning about other
cultures and ways of life and what better way to learn about other cultures and
places than visiting?
