Afghan Life

A few days ago I went to a TrinityMens event-which is exactly what it sounds like. An event put on by Trinity for men. It was a curry evening (yum), which sounds sort of typical of a men's event, but there was a bit more to it than that. There were actually 2 points, 3 if you count the simply getting-together-and-being-men aspect. It was to raise awareness and funds for A. S. E. T.- a charity which was set up by Dan Browne, who used to work for our church.

He gave a presentation about the work of A.S.E.T.-what they are doing, how they got to do it, and what they are looking to do in the future. He started as he always does apparently, with an open invitation to join him there, for however long; so, I'm repeating that offer. If you want to join him there, for however long, you're welcome-just contact the organisation. and then he explained how he got there. Just after 9/11, he was leading a prayer meeting, and he started calling out for God to send people to help in Afghanistan; and the upshot of that was that God sent him. He said he learned from that that it's always good to be aware that God may make you the answer to your prayers. So if you don't want to risk praying for them, you could always just send money-though actually I'm sure he'd prefer prayers, so he's hoping you want to take that risk.
Anyway, less than a year after that point, he was out there working for an N.G.O. in Kabul, which lasted for a year or so, before he felt he should go to the north of the country. And to do that, he needed to start his own organisation, so A.S.E.T. was born. He moved to Mazar-al-Sharif (a town who's name is 'grave of the holy man'-now there's ominous) and started whatever he could start. Which has grown from very little to actually quite a lot now. There's a lot to do, and the longer he's stayed, the more opportunities he's had to do more. The main thing they're hoping to work on now is well building, because Afghanistan is full of small villages who get their water from dirty sources, which is the main cause of all sorts of illnesses. Which is what we were intending to raise money for. Now as a well drilling rig costs approx £10000, you won't be at all surprised to learn that we didn't raise that much that evening, and nor were we intending to.

And that leads me on to the final point of the evening. Our fundraising idea is to canoe down the river Wye, or at least some of it. The amount they have in mind is 88 miles, which the idea is to do in two days. So, FAQ. Do you have to be able to canoe? Well, as long as you're confident you can keep going, you're unlikely to capsize, as they'll all be two man canoes. And there will be training days available. Do you have to be available for the training days? No, not if you can't make them. It will be a good time to build up relationships between all the people doing it, but it's not essential. Do you have to be a member of Trinity? Again no, as long as you're up for the challenge, and support what we're raising funds for. And, finally, do you have to be a man? Well, unsurprisingly, yes is the answer to this one. Or at least a male over the age of 14-if younger than 18, then an adult guardian must be taking part. And that's all, I think.
Oh, and if you want to go to Afghanistan for a couple of weeks with Dan, the next time with free spaces is in October, so plenty of time to plan...