. And of course , to the communities my organization works with to help them better their lives through direct education and training programs . A Pashtun orphan , about 11 , enters my office with a plate of freshly picked summer apricots . He was rescued from a madrassa that trained him how to throw grenades and to be a suicide bomber . He spends time with me when he gets a chance , tidying my desk , pulling my papers out of the copier and stacking them . We ca n't speak much as I do not know Pashtun and he has n't yet learned Dari or English , but he tucks his head into the crook of my neck for a couple of minutes watching me type . In these gentle moments , he begins to unwind and I experience the fragile connection that is being created between our worlds . Living and working in Afghanistan for nearly five years now , I do not recognize most of what the international news accounts of this area report as anything remotely close to my experience . A visiting journalist recently observed with some surprise that `` parts of
-LRB- Editor 's note : Marnie Gustavson is Executive Director of PARSA , a Seattle-based nonprofit working with widows , orphans and the disabled in Afghanistan . She spent her teenage years in Kabul , where she now lives with her family . For more information about PARSA , read here and here Marnie Gustavson says the real Afghanistan is more textured than could be seen from secure bunkers . KABUL , Afghanistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In my Afghanistan , the days are compiled images of Afghans living their simple lives . My Afghanistan is a kaleidoscope of real people , from the stick-thin bearded Paghmani man , an imposing 6-foot-5 , rhythmically lifting rocks , 12 hours a day , seven days a week for $ 4 a day , his shalwar kameez billowing in the hot summer breezes ; to the grin of the boy in his blue shirt as he labors to cut the alfalfa after school to feed the flock of big-bottomed sheep . To the kiss of the old widow , her family gone , whose feet hurt incessantly ; she 's forgotten the English she once knew when she worked for the government