Home

Cathy and I arrived home safe and sound Saturday n and slept for  12 hours.  We were exhausted and we are grateful.  We are grateful for the opportunity which we were provided.  We are grateful for the wonderful housemates we had.  We are grateful for the Army and Team Rubicon. We are grateful and inspired by the people we met. There were many volunteers from the Tomah/Sparta area and others from all over the state. We met a Mormon from Southern California, some Amish volunteers, a recently retired Lutheran minister, a few nuns, a group from a non-denominational church near Holy Hill and an 18 year old man/boy who is a Mennonite, was there by himself and plans on staying to December.  

Our time with the children was exhausting, sometimes challenging and exceptionally rewarding.  They craved attention and affection and they returned it to us in full measure.  There were times that I would joke that we were working toward world peace, one puzzle piece at a time.   Then there was time we would read in the newspaper that some of the Afghan families were considering staying in Wisconsin because  the people have been so nice.  

   The  photo is of our spoils from our time at Fort McCoy, art work created by the Afghan children. 

  Thanks for following us and allowing us to capture this journey into words. 

Ken and Cathy 

More from McCoy

 Our little community  is breaking up.  Michael Duffey left for Milwaukee a week ago and we miss him.  He returns to Ft. McCoy for his third go-round on Sunday.  Savannah left for home tonight so that she can be with her husband at the annual Marine Ball in Peoria, IL.

   For the past week we have been stationed at the same center.  Spending this much time with the same children is both a blessing and a curse.   These kids are, first and foremost, just that-children.  On top of that they are refugees and many of them don't even speak the same language as each other, let alone English.  Also, like any other group of children there are some who are overactive and some have special needs.  We've been reminded that all have various degrees of PTSD and all are anxious.  I believe that the relief and the joy of getting out of Afghanistan is waning and the day to day of living with others in an army barracks is starting to take it's toll.  There are some aggressions by the children here that are quite profound.  Every day we have to remind ourselves, duh, of course there are.  

    There seems to be a lot of down time for the guests.  There are classes being offered.  We've been told that there is an American led school that offers classes to adults and to children and follows an actual curriculum. There is also a learning center.  However, there are also some Afghan led schools.  This seems to me, as an outsider, a great example of Afghans helping Afghans.  I was outside with the kids this week when two non-uniformed people showed up with a clipboard.  They asked us if there was a school inside and I explained what the center was.  I learned they were from the DHS and were looking for the Afghan pop-up schools so they could better support them.  While we were at Ft. McCoy there was also a visit from the WI Dept of Education.  

   An under served portion of the Afghan population is the men and teens.  However, just this week they opened the first men's center.  It's in a huge warehouse like building and it offers basketball, volleyball, and foursquare. Next to it is a place for cards, puzzles, reading and board games.   

   Two soldiers came into the center the other day.  One person was completing  his deployment at McCoy, the other was arriving.  The regular Army set up the base and they have been here since September.  The Reserves will now be in charge.  There are soldiers from across the country here.  I asked the Reservist how long they expected to be here and he told me they were told to expect to be there a year or until it's over.  Asking around I've been told it will be less than a year. 

   When it comes to volunteering everyone's natural reaction, including me  is "do they really need me?" There are three of our centers on base.  Three times during our time at McCoy we were unable to open one of centers because of a lack of volunteers.  So, yes, we felt needed.  There is also a decline in volunteers in general as the Afghan issue isn't in the news, the weather is colder, Thanksgiving is coming up and Christmas is just around the corner.  We were truly blessed with good weather.  On most days we were able to get the children outside.  Those centers are going to become awfully small this winter.  The leadership knows that.  It was a brief but a heart pulling comment at our daily meeting when our leader described a plan to decrease the number of children at the centers.  So, as the coldest days approach we are discussing ways to discourage the children from coming into the centers.  Sadly, she is not wrong.  You can only put so many bodies, albeit tiny bodies, in a building with a decreasing number of volunteers before it becomes massively unsafe.  

   I also learned from the soldiers next door that we are operating in a "no salute area" of the base.  It just seemed odd to me not to have seen even one salute anywhere.  

   That’s it for now.  Thanks for reading. 

Bits and Pieces

These are some quick hit type things:

One of our housemates brought a dinasour costume with her.  We were unsure how they would react but it was a huge hit with the kids.

While there are some people leaving (being resettled) there is no significant change that we can see in the population.  We've learned that the Afghan population is not being "backloaded".  Meaning, as they leave they are not being replaced by others as they move out.  There may be some new people coming in because of family issues but not many.  The idea is to close down Fort McCoy as soon as possible and consolidate the remainingguests at a warm weather military installation.  However, that could be a while. Tare many Afghans still at foreign bases that may be coming to the U.S. but we were told they will not be coming to Fort McCoy.

   As we travel around the base we see a lot of Afghans - a lot of Afghans.  It is very rare to see a man and a woman walking together.  There are large, medium and small groups of people but virtually all are single sex.  

   This is exciting time for many of the people here in one of the neighborhoods we serve  The base has started a second round of clothing distribution.  Most of the people here arrived 10 weeks ago.  Early in the process they were given some clothing.  Now, they are doing a second round of clothing distribution.  Each person has 20 minutes to select 8 pieces of clothing.  As for shoes, the guest states their shoe size and they are given a pair of shoes in that size.

   One of the groups I forgot to mention are our "bonus helpers".  There is a small number of Afghan children who help us in the volunteer center.  They are incredibly nice, polite and friendly.  They get nothing for their service except the acknowledgment of wearing an index card name tag which  hangs around their neck on a string.  While their English is not perfect it is good and they are able to explain things to the children that we can not.  It is difficult for me to explain to you the "only slightly controlled" chaos which is the center.  At the end of a particularly trying day, Cathy teared up when she and one of 12 year old bonus helpers were going behind the curtain where everything is kept.  They reached the curtain at the same and he pulled it back for her, and motioned  for her to go first.  I guess it really is the little things.

We

People

 Today is Sunday, our only day off.  I just woke up after 10.5 hours of sleep.  In this blog post I'd like to tell you about the people we are meeting.  

   There are six of us living in our house:

Dennis is a retired social worker.  The focus of his career was with troubled youth.   He worked in The GB school System at an alternative school.

Lori Ann is also from GB and works at United Health Care.  Through her own diligence and through her employer, she brought with her a ton of age appropriate activities for the children.  Our leader said it was the largest donation of usable items that they have received.

Mike is a retired Theology professor from Marquette University who lives in Wauwatosa.  He serves as an inspiration to us all.  Mike was already here for a two week stint and went home only to return with us for a week.  He is taking a week off and returning again for two more weeks. 

Savannah is 28 and joins us from Peoria, IL.   While she looks like she is 12 years old, she is married to an active duty Marine and her degrees and experience are in child healing from trauma through play.  She also does wonderful work with the mothers group.  

Asian University Women:  I briefly mentioned that these women fled Afghanistan and while at Ft. McCoy they have come forward to volunteer with us and are also being utilized as unofficial translators.  Like everyone else, they don't know when they will be leaving but they all seem to be working on continuing their educations in the US.  Some already have acceptances at Universities in Milwaukee, AZ and perhaps Virginia.  

Active Military:  We have virtually no interaction with the Army Personnel.  Through the AUW women we have learned that the army personnel have a great relationship with the Afghans.  There is not a lot of interaction but they are respectful, they are good with the children and most importantly they know it was the military who kept them safe for twenty years and got them safely out of the country as the Taliban took over. 

 

  One of our volunteers introduced herself to an Afghan AUW woman and told her that her son served in Afghanistan.  Her son now has severe PTSD and the mom said he wonders if he just wasted that time.  So many soldiers died.  The Afghan woman told her that the Americans saved her and went on to say that there is a whole generation of Afghan women that were educated while the U.S. Army was in their country.  When she talked to the volunteer she referred to the last 20 years as the time of Light.  The volunteer sobbed.  

Other volunteers:  We have met many people from around the state.  Many volunteers are from the Tomah area, some come from Madison.  We've met Lutheran Pastors, Catholic nuns, a young Mennonite man from Curtis, WI who plans on staying through December, a woman who works 5 days a week at the base and volunteers on Saturdays, a man from Heartland who comes over 2-3 days a week and stays in his trailer, a retired physician and his wife who drive an hour from home each week to spend a day.  There seems to be a significant number of retired teachers volunteering here.

   Many of the people we have met have been here a lot.  What makes our little group different from the others is the sequential number of days that we are here.  14 days is a long time.  While rewarding our time here is exhausting.  

   Time to wrap this up.  Thanks for taking the time to share in this adventure.  

Ken & Cathy

Kblaney55@hotmail.com

Cblaney55@hotmail.com