Strong.Women.Marines

My older son is a Marine officer serving in Afghanistan. Because we live in a rural area with a newspaper that provides little coverage of the war and our troops, he sends me newspaper articles from a wide range of world newspapers. The articles are compiled by the unit's public affairs officer a couple of times a week and give broad perspectives on all services activities.
An article this week provided a report on a powerful activity by Women Marines.And it speaks to the power of women's relationships! These small groups of specifically selected and trained Marines are tasked with talking with Afghan women to determine their health needs. The ultimate goal of this communication is to establish health clinics for the Afghan women and their families. An underlying premise of this effort is that though Afghan women are not seen publically very often, they have a great deal of information about the activities in their villages.Doesn't that ring true for you in your "village?"It is about establishing relationships and "winning the hearts and minds" of the villagers. There are many obstacles to this goal. The husbands determine to which wives the Women Marines are allowed to talk. In this report the only interpretor allowed was a male family member of the Afghan women. The accuracy of his translation was questionable.
Very interestingly the Afghan women did not initially want to talk about health care needs. They wanted to talk about safety. What will happen when the American troops leave? They expressed fear that the Taliban will return and kill their families. The Women Marines said after this first rather frustrating visit, the goal is to establish relationships with the Afghan women.
Worldwide building strong relationships is how we heal and grow!Grow in our own lives and grow in world peace.