Why are we doing this?

You may wonder, as do many others, why we would be going to Kabul, Afghanistan at this time?  First of all, Jon's turn to leave the clinic for a year of service in some underserved area has come, again.   Snohomish Family Medical Center is unique in it's commitment to releasing a doctor each year for service. This will be our sixth year away, each and every one different and very worthwhile.  When considering what he would like to do this time, Jon met doctors from Hope International Partnerships in Tulsa, Oklahoma who needed someone to work with them at Afshar Hospital in Kabul, teaching and training Afghan residents in Family Practice.  Training health care workers in their own country to care for their own people has been a vision of Jon's since doing research on international medical care during college at GFU.  So "we" said,  "Yes."  


At the same time, he heard from Tansen Hospital in Nepal that they would like him to come there for the same reason.  TWO great places!  As it turns out, being 65, we cannot get a work visa, so a 5 mo. tourist visa is the maximum stay.  Plus, after 3 mos. we'd need to leave and come back with renewed visas each month.  So, it looks like we will be Kabul 8 mos. and Nepal 3 mos.


"Isn't it dangerous in Afghanistan?" many ask us.  Not if you pay attention and respect advice from the Afghani staff.  Doctors and families there now tell us of a large expatriate community they fraternize with. I can volunteer in The International School , among other things.  There are 'rules' to learn and follow... for dress,  relationships,  religion, etc.  There are places to visit and places not to visit. Much of the detail of daily living will be fodder for this blog in the coming months.


We choose to focus on the good that is in Afghanistan ... beautiful Muslim people who need to be given a chance to put their country back together and serve each other.   Nepal is also one of the poorest countries on earth, with a very short life span. They have their moments of political unrest also.  Tansen Hospital is in the Middle Hills of Nepal, close to the Indian border....more remote than Kabul. Both locations are a mile or so in altitutde , surrounded by the snow-clad Himalayan Mts.


As of today,  we are one month off from leaving Seattle for Kabul. There is much to do!
* Jon is  wrapping up the clinical part of his practice and retiring after the year away.  So, he is saying good-bye to patients and reflecting on 35 years of private practice with so many wonderful people: partners, staff and patients. 
* Jon has taken an obstetrics refresher course as he hasn't delivered babies for 20 years!  
*We're well into packing things into boxes and it looks like the house is rented! I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this again, but....
*and having the grandkids around as much as we can manage so they won't forget us....looks like we'll learn how to 'skype', which will help.  There will be no mail but e-mail in Kabul. Of course, you can reply to the blog somewhere here, and our new e-mail is <jonmaritabishop@gmail.com>.


We hope this gives you a 'why' to any 'whats and wheres' you have.  
Meanwhile, we covet your prayers for our preparation, for physical stamina (we're older than we used to be) and for Divine guidance.   It's probably a good thing we only know a little about the year ahead.


Peace for us all,
Jon and Marita