Greetings!

Today you're receiving two newsletters. I'd been working on this one when friends sent me the link to the Washington Post article. You'll understand why there's two after reading the other newsletter.

From time to time I compare news in Afghanistan with events here. Why? They remind us of how fortunate we are. Comparisons also reinforce how important it is for us to continue our work. Education is the long-term solution to almost everything. We’ve been in the thick of it for sixteen years with considerable impact on the lives of thousands.
First
We’ve had a couple of brown outs in the bay area recently. Our utility company, concerned about high winds causing trees to fall on utility lines that ignite fires, notified us in advance that it would be shutting off electricity for a day or so.

That means no WIFI, hot water, Netflix and heat for the duration. TV dinners and Snickers bars must be iced. Ice cream still melts when covered with ice. Consequently, consumption of ice cream rises from one scoop per night to whatever it takes to prevent waste.  The good news is I can't watch the news.

Compare these inconveniences with brown outs in Kabul. No one knows when they will occur or how long they will last. Rashid Nemati, our most recent recruit who opened our tenth computer library, informed me that they had no electricity for three days last week. This of course makes it impossible for the children to access the educational videos in our libraries’ computers. They still come to the libraries to read books, write and take the English and math classes.  

There are two main causes for the brown outs. Demand exceeds supply during the winter months and electricity must be allocated. Second, the Taliban are blowing up utility lines exacerbating the problem.

We’re buying a tablet to see how well it works. Tablets can be charged when the electricity is on and used when off. Anyone know how long a tablet can be used before needing to be recharged? We’ll find out. Rashid located a 32GB Samsung tablet that costs $70. It may be prohibitively expensive to buy tablets for all the libraries. Collectively they have 115 computers. But, who knows? This is donor season.
Second
We’re in the midst of impeachment hearings with an election eleven months away. The herd of democratic candidates must be culled to one by July 16, 2020.  Our divided country will be significantly more divided between now and next November. Fewer, if any, political conversations will be held among friends with opposing views. Turn out, according to the pundits will determine who wins next November.

A presidential election, scheduled for the 20 TH of April, was held on September 28 th in Afghanistan. They still can’t announce who won. 25% of registered voters voted, significantly less than the 70% turnout experienced before. Why? The Taliban threatened to harm those who voted and Afghans are “losing their confidence in the integrity of the process and its government." 

"On September 17, 2019, a suicide bomber attacked the campaign rally of President Ashraf Ghani, killing 26 people and wounding 42. Less than an hour later, the Taliban carried out another suicide bomb attack near the US Embassy and the   Afghan Defense Ministry , killing 22 people and wounding around 38."

According to a  report  released by the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, “Eighty-five people were killed and another 373 injured during attacks related to the recent presidential election in Afghanistan. That number includes 277 casualties, 28 of them fatalities, that occurred on polling day on the 28th of September. Children made up more than one-third of the victims. “
This year, photographs were taken of voters to reduce voter fraud. The intended or unintended consequence of this measure was to significantly reduce the number of women who voted. For cultural and safety reasons photos of women are not allowed in many families, particularly in the villages beyond the cities. 

If you find an article containing statistics of voter turnout please send me a link. I think, but do not know, that the turnout of women was significantly lower than that of men. If they continue to require photographs of women this may have a major impact on election results and on the willingness of women to run for office.

In summary, we have very brief predictable brown outs and needn't risk our lives to run for office or vote. And, unlike most Afghans, we can store ice cream. Little wonder that many wonder why we "get so stressed out".

 Budd
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