"There are trees in Afghanistan!!"

Today, June 21st, 2010, members of the Junior Friends of the Castroville Public Library communicated with soldiers overseas in Afghanistan. Air Force Captain Robert Godiciu and Air Force Captain Ferdinand Maldonado (Air Force Lt. Colonel Michael Prazak joined in near the end) spent over half an hour using Skype to talk with the Junior Friends. Junior Friends Randi Davis, Austin Davis, Chelsea Buvia, Lisa Orr, Jazmine Owen, and Jodi Davis, were at the library by eight in the morning, where the ground rules were set. At around 8:10, the call finally came in. The kids excitedly gathered close to the webcam, watching as the soldiers appeared on the screen. The picture was a bit blurry, but, considering the fact that the video feed was from half-way around the world, the image was pretty nice overall. As everyone got situated, each kid got a chance to ask questions. Everyone's faces were glowing as the excitement of the event grew. So, what did the Junior Friends learn?

1. Soldiers can't travel far off of base. While we can travel to Walmart or a corner store any day, soldiers can't move very far off base. They have to buy and get most of their things on base.
2. Soldiers often listen to their Ipods.
3. There are two uniforms they wear. They have their regular uniform, and a PT uniform that they wear when working out. Unless they're in the gym working out, they must always have their weapons with it.
4. Most places where the soldiers are receive Internet and cell phone reception.
5. The base where the soldiers are stationed averages about two city blocks in size.
6. Soldiers enjoy receiving small packages from home.
7. There are many different vehicles over there. When asked how many different vehicles they have, the soldiers told us they couldn't list all of them.
8. One of the main forms of motivations that the soldiers receive are simply a thank you, or feeling like they are appreciated.
9. The have the chance to talk to their close families (wives, husbands, children, etc) every day or every other day.
10. The sandy loam soil helps the roses grow in Afghanistan, and..... THEY HAVE TREES!! Ok, I believe this has some explaining. Near the end of the talk, the soldier had to leave the building they were in. Not ready to end the call, they picked up their laptop and webcam, moving outside. Once they were outside, the Junior Friends were almost amazed to see trees. Everyone thought Afghanistan was only desert! They were so surprised, in fact, that their exclamations about it drew laughs from the soldiers.

There were some similarities of Texas and Afghanistan, as well as some differences. The main ones we learned were-

Similarities-
The weather is hot!!

Differences-
The women don't go outside very often.

We thanked the soldiers at the end, and everyone enjoyed it. The Castroville Public Library is working on setting up a care package drive, so if anyone has any items they would like to donate for our care package, please feel free to stop by and donate them. The Skype call was so successful, in fact, that the Library is working to make this program a standing event. Interested in joining us to Skype with our troops? Call the library for more information.

This Post by:
Jodi Davis