20th August 2012

My name is Naser Mohammadi and I work for Help NGO in Afghanistan, Herat. Right now I am here in Slovenia for the next 2 months to work for the Sloga and learn. This is my first time to Europe.

On my first day of arrival to Ljubljana I heard a sound which I am used to hear so often in my country. It was somehow strange for me to hear it here in Ljubljana. Because I thought it is a military vehicle Ranger of Police, green colour as it is in my country.  There in Afghanistan you would have to watch behind and you would see police in a hurry becuase of an incident, a military convey or a warlord governor is passing with his bulletproof vehicle. Sometimes  you  would  look back and see that there is only one soldier driver who is alone and he wants to pass for no reason. He is just in a hurry and he is used to do that instead of respecting the rules (traffic lights). Since the solder is a military he believes that he is above the law, not the one who implements the law. But in realty the sound in Ljubljana was an ambulance which was carrying a sick person towards the hospital trying to save his /her life.

Comparing to my country Slovenia is so green, people are so kind, calm and not in a hurry. I don’t know if they are calm because of August and holidays… The other sound you hear a lot here is bell ringing from the churches. I think there are too many churches in this country and not crowded with people who worship the god, but I have visited only two.

The traffic system, especially public buses are well organized and they are punctual. But you see also private cars which are new and expensive. From the beginning of my trip I had no trouble with anybody. I can mention the police at the airport which weas nice to me and the lady who helped me a lot to find my bus and borrowed me her private phone to call my colleagues.

I have attended Kamfest in Kamnik. We are a group of 17 volunteers from different countries. It is so kind to see different cultures because they respect each other. One common issue is that nobody care who wear what and who does what. We did some activities here with the volunteers team and organized concerts in Kamfest for Brazilian band which was well managed on one hill of the Kamnik city. Another point I want to add is that our time for the generation like me in my country is wasted already. The main reason is more than 3 decade of war. But here people especially the young generation waste their times intentionally; I think they have no idea about their own country and the other parts of the world. Another example about music and the concerts: when I was listening to the music from different countries for me it had no meaning because of the language and also it was so laud (what I am not used to). I thought the gathered youth understand the music but very soon I realized they don’t understand probably because most of them were drunk. It may not have any meaning for them they were just shaking their bodies. Coming  5000km far and collecting plastic bags and waste materials in Kamnik at midnight raised another question to me: I was thinking why these people are not thinking about beautiful city they live in? Then I saw 2 more drunks who just pulled down the temporary protection fences of Veronika (the shop name) in the middle of the street. Me and my friend Miha repaired it immediately.

Here are lots of gift given by god for Slovenians and that should be appreciated: such peace, freedom, green etc. I visited Muslim community in Ljubljana where the sister of my colleague took me there. I went to pray on Friday. Prayers ware so kind again they welcomed me. But there was one thing which was similar to my country: Imam had a long speech and some old men were falling asleep.

At the end I would like to appreciate from those who gave me this chance to see different community and different cultures, my colleagues in Sloga and Slovenians who have been in Afghanistan with me. Last point, if I am wrong with my impressions please correct me and accept my apology in advance. Thanks.

Naser Mohammadi

naser@help-ev.de

 

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