Written August 05, 2013
Qala-e Naw is always a beautiful place in the Spring and it
was especially colorful this year as the Badghis Fruit and Vegetable Wholesale
market FINALLY opened. After three years of construction, I was so excited to
see the place come to life. No longer a
concrete desert and make-shift football field, an assortment of rich locally harvested crops burst
out of the shops. The excited vendors and first-time shoppers bustled around
and gave vitality to the already picturesque background of endless rolling hills
and bright green valleys. And the variety of products - Dell Monte bananas from the Philippines, mangos
from Bangladesh, and kiwis from South Africa. Not to be outdone by the variety
of local Afghan vegetables including spicy green peppers, cilantro, and giant
watermelons.
Quite an international market for one of the smallest, most
remote provincial capitals in Afghanistan!
Pretty remarkable considering that just the travel from
Herat is a rough journey often taking several days. The 6,050 square meter Market is the largest
economic growth and infrastructure project native Badghisees have ever seen. As I strolled around, I heard a young shopkeeper
whisper “Look, it’s the lady who built us the market”. I’ll take some of the
credit!!!
After the grand opening, I spent a lot of time meeting and
working with the vendors, and of course drinking tea and enjoying the benefits
of my site visits included the sampling of the products. It was really encouraging
to see the pride the Afghans took in taking care of the market and how the
vendor community started to ban today. The once isolated shopper keepers and
farmers who had never worked together were now part of something bigger than
just selling their products. They were now an associated body working together
on something. I helped to facilitate their interaction of everything from
finding ways to increase local agricultural production to creating base prices
for products to assisting them in finding ways to represent their needs to
local government.
I’m looking forward to coming back to Badghis for my ski and
hiking tour, and will definitely be frequenting the market as well.
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