Fieldnotes on Humanity

-------- I am in Kabul now. Over the last few weeks I was in Hamburg , Germany , for a Summer school on freedom and responsibilities in media. What a wonderful occasion and what wonderful people from 18 countries who I’ve met there. I miss all of them now and the only thing that remains with me are memories and pictures. If this course was held in Kabul , it might not have been so successful and interesting. In Germany I had to learn every step, I had to learn about the people, cities and culture. I came back with lots of information and memories that I am now sharing with my friends who are coming to meet me. One of the topics we had to work on was ‘dealing with the past’. Working with 8 people from different countries in one group on how we can deal with the past is not such an easy job. In most cases, it is taboo to write about the past, or it might not be so secure, or even dangerous. In a situation like Afghanistan, it is very difficult to write about criminals and the warlord...

------- Last Friday we went out of Kabul for a picnic. I was invited by my German friend Martin Garner. In the early morning I went to Park-e- Share-e-Naw to watch partridge fighting in order to complete my articles about animal fighting in Afghanistan . After some murmurings the competition started. I witnessed two matches and interviewed the winners. Later I called Martin and joined him after an hour that I passed in the heavy traffic. It was not only me who Martin and his friend were waiting for but another Kandahari guy coming from far away was expected too. We came out of the car and walked along side the area when I saw a motorcyclist stopping nearby and looking as seriously. Soon, he pulled out his cell-phone and started calling and looking. I was about to be afraid and noticed Martin and his Afghan friend who were talking in French. When he heard what I saw he was afraid more than me and started calling to his friends who had left us in the street. After a while his friend c...