Connie Frisbee Houde
– GLOBAL PHOTOGRAPHER –
Arival to Kabul and first days
Travel is always an adventure and one needs to be prepared to be flexible and traveling to Afghanistan is no exception. A direct flight from JFK brought us to Dubai to a hotel for a few hours of rest before the last leg to Kabul, coming through the Los Vegas of the Arab world. The lobby alone would dazzle even a blind person. The sense of space and the abundance of it is evident in their architecture.
Renaissance Dubai Hotel
We caught our 3:30 flight to Kabul on one of the better quality planes I have taken on this leg. I had a window seat so I could watch the sun rise and see the bed of clouds form the window.
Bed of clouds over….
We flew though a pure white-out to emerge to a misty and rainy Kabul something one doesn’t see or experience very often. There even was water in the river you fly over on the landing pattern. As the Afghan said who helped us with the luggage, “Why have an umbrella when you can feel the rain.”
The Kabul River.
Traffic in Afghanistan leaves a lot to be desired but creates a feast for the eyes!
Traffic jam.
Those who share the road.
Deliveries being made.
One of the first places that we visited was the Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan, a girls art school run by Rahraw Omerzad. the young women have produced some very powerful work which can be seen by visiting their web site. ww.ccaa.org.af They have shown their work internationally and a show will be traveling in the US beginning in New Orleans soon.
Rahraw Omerzad director of Center for Contemporary Arts Afghanistan
The young women learn traditional Afghan art such as miniature painting as well as working to create a new form of Contemporary Afghan art.
Marzia and two of her miniatures.
Young women’s paintings from CCAA
Rahraw states. “Women have lots of things to say.” We were greatly moved by the power of these young women’s visual voices. They do not have their own gallery and have shown in a number of places in Kabul including a newly build caravanserai in Barbur’s Gardens that was built following the plan of a much earlier building.. They also held an exhibition of heir work in the destroyed shell of one of the popular cinema’s. I have often driven and walked by this building intrigued by the circular stair and the elegance of what this represented in the lives of the residents of Kabul who loved the cinema. CCAA would love to turn this into a gallery. Once again I wish I had unlimited resources so I could wave a wand and say, “It is so.” Art can be an amazing opening for expression of things that are often unsaid that need a voice particularly for these young women.
Cinema now covered with ads and political posters.
They even had an exhibit of instillation made from found objects such as all the plastic water bottles, old shoes, shovels, medicine, etc.
Trash art
Medical robot made from pills and pill bottles.
The Markets as always a as diverse as anywhere.
Kitchen implements.
A new purchase of a frying pan or a hat.
And children are every where many with no true homes.
Not the happiest child I have seen here.
And the last photo for this entry was so cute I couldn’t resist taking grab shot out of the window.
So far we are both well and staying safe and thank you all for you good wishes ad continued interest.
Connie Frisbee Houde 
Didn’t realize you were flying in via Dubai. Just fyi, there is a pharmacy near gate 125 in terminal 1 where you can get prescription medicines (without a script) for about 1/3 of the price as here in the US.
Great to know. Thanks!
Thanks, Connie, for sharing your experiences with us. You make me feel as though I am there, but I don’t have your courage. Good luck!
Bunny
Thank you.
..are these kids without homes orphans? how are they making it?
what’s the adoption/orphanage scene like? how’s the weather?
thanks for the updates, glad you made it safely.
The may be or they could be from some of the huge number of internally displaced people who are often not making enough to feed the children. They live off of begging and rooming the streets selvaging what ever they can. There are orphanages but often too many children for them. I don’t know about Afghan adoption but I do know that foreigners are not allowed to adopt. It is hot!! and dry.