Strike in Kabul

Farhad shows how it should be done!

Yesterday evening we enjoyed a team evening out at Kabul's Strikers bowling alley. I had heard mention of this place a few times since it opened last year, but yesterday I finally had the chance to go and see what it is all about for the first time.

After getting (sort of) used to a city of largely deserted streets after nightfall, it was a slightly surreal experience to walk through a rather unassuming gate, passed the bloke with the machine gun and into the buzzing, happy atmosphere that has been created at Strikers.

The staff were well trained, the hall spotlessly clean, the equipment working perfectly. This was an evening out for the team after a fairly intense few weeks, and we had the most fantastic time (apart from the fact that I didn't win...).

And it seems to be popular with the locals. Three or four of the lanes were busy, people were arriving all the time, and even young Zubair (maybe 8 or 9 years old) at the next door lane to us was getting into the swing of things and giving his father a good run for his money!

Co-incidentally, when reading through a recent edition of the Afghan Scene magazine, I came across a profile of Meena Rahmani, the lady behind this amazing venture. The article gives a bit of a profile of Meena, tells the history of investment and some of the problems that she has faced running a business in Kabul such as the poor electricity supply (which explained the huge generator just by the entrance). Reassuringly, Meena appears to have overcome all of these problems and has a plan for pretty much any situation, she tells the interviewer, "If there is a suicide bombing... I send everyone home".

Perhaps not a typical customer service issue for bowling alley owners, but sounds sensible to me.

My only strike of the evening!

But seriously, I take my hat off to Ms Rahmani and the people like her who, despite everything, are investing and are making their personal contributions to the development of the country one painful step at a time.

Well thankfully there were  no suicide bombers yesterday evening, and we managed to fit a couple of games in before heading home for a barbeque.

But the important thing I took away from this fun evening out with the guys from the office is that Kabul always retains the right to surprise, and sometimes those surprises can be of the most pleasant variety!

Opening a bank account

Colleagues going through the process

My congratulations to the Afghanistan International Bank and in particular to Mr Yama Naseri, the manager of our local branch.

The other day we visited AIB to open a bank account. Not only was the process relatively painless, but we were also served a very pleasant cup of tea... certainly some of the banks back in the UK could learn a thing or two about customer service from these guys!

It is these small but significant interactions with professional people doing a good job that continues to give me hope for Afghanistan.