supporting the troops...

So - I've been writing to the soldier in Afghanistan. And decided to send her a box of goodies. I asked the people who meet on Wednesday night in my little community group (doing life together) if they would all go to the dollar store and get a couple of things that might be useful to soldiers living in the dirt on a base on the far side of the planet. Just things that would be mailable, and fit into one of those 'flat rate' USPS boxes.

They all brought stuff a couple of weeks ago, and I was getting the box ready to send. I couldn't decide whether to include the coloring books one person donated, as everything else was more 'girl-y' or stuff anyone could use like wipes, chapstix, sanitizer, generic items.Coloring books? Not so sure about that.Then I ran into the soldier's mom when she was shopping at the grocery store...

This is amazing: her mom said that she knew there were lots of soldiers who were going out in groups to visit with the local women. The men are not allowed to talk or even look at the native women, but the female soldiers had been given permission to go into the villages and meet with the female Afghans, talking to them about health education and sharing information. The soldiers liked to have hard candy to give to the kids, and that was one way to get the kids to talk, help lead them into homes where the women were being kept separate from the world. And then they could give the children things like: coloring books and crayons.

So I went back to the just-a-buck store and got more hard candy, plus some boxes of colored pencils, since I figured the crayons would melt in the heat, get all gritty when dropped in the sand. I put the box in the mail the first of last week. I think it probably takes a month for stuff to go to the APO then to get overseas, but I am so excited to know that she will eventually get  the box. And she will share the goodies to fellow soldiers, and they will take the things that will help them make contact with the local women and children and use it as an opportunity to educate them about health, nutrition, safety and the US. And hopefully convince some that we are not infidels, trying to convert and lead them on the path straight to perdition.