Bpeace in Afghanistan in July

"Give my sister Wendy a good price or else!"

More on that photo in a minute . . .Over at the training center Kate amazed the AWBF trainees today with her financial acumen (Athena wrote that). Who knew that tracking your finances could be so much fun? The big thrill was when they got to play with the pre-programmed Excel spreadsheet. It seemed like magic to them! The most moving moment was when they explained to us how they teach illiterate women in the provinces how to us how much we have to learn from them. keep track of their revenue and expenses – sometimes by using images of glasses filled with various amounts of coins, sometimes by using red and white beans. Their innovative methods showed. These trainers are the seeding of a nationwide business training program. It is an incredible experience for Kate and Athena to be launching it this summer. Come November mission, they and Bpeace will be moving the program forward with the next round of training.

(BTW, a small army produced the Track Your Finances training materials including Bpeacers Sabra Richardson who produced the video and the workbook; Yasmin Ibrahim who created the Excel tool; Karine Baczynski who is the executive producer on all the videos; Emily Bloch who is the editor for all of the workbooks; and Farah Vezvaee who translated them into Dari.)

Ok now what's up with that photo? Well it's what is making Wendy soooo excited. This time it’s because she has a new partner in Kabul. A shopkeeper she calls St. John. He’s a good friend of Bahktnazira’s husband Khan Aga. Wendy has become like family to Bahktnazira and her husband, so when it came to negotiating with St. John Khan Aga shouted “If you don’t give my sister Wendy the price she asked for, our friendship is OVER!!!!” As might guess, Wendy got her price and her beautiful chapans – traditional Afghan coats, just like what President Karzai wears.

And yes, Athena and Kate did a little shopping too. Our CIPE host, Mark McCord, took us to the most tempting of markets – the carpet bazaar. We managed to get out with only three rugs between us.

Athena had the chance to dine with the UNICEF Human Resources Director for Afghanistan -- a lovely and soulful Kenyan woman, while Wendy and Kate caught up with Virginia Sheffield, an American who helped negotiate deals for 2 major wireless companies; Afghan Wireless and Roshan, and was inspired to move here to open a business center in Kabul. Her company produced all the training material which we provided Venus Fitness. Also joining the dinner was Tooba Mayel, deputy program director for Arzu. She is a smart and sweet young Afghan American woman committed to this well-known (to us Bpeacers) rug project. Virginia and Tooba gave Wendy tons of product needs for 'the modern" Kabuli.'

Tomorrow brings more training, a return to Venus Fitness and more shopping. Stay tuned!