Type Afghanistan into Google and see what you find.
Bombings...
The explosion ripped through a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing dozens of people in...
War…
Crisis...
These are normally the pictures that come to mind when you hear the name Afghanistan.
But are these tragic events really that common?
Yes.
Tragedy strikes Afghanistan on a daily basis.
A country at war for 40 years.
But is there another side to Afghanistan that is rarely covered?
Let's find out!
The world's deadliest conflict.
The war should end in Afghanistan.
Hi, how are you?
We will smile towards life because life is worth smiling,
Not a day without violence...
We will show our resilience...
We will not allow people to know that we have weakened
Our families shed blood for this country.
♪♪♪
Good morning!
Today we are heading to the airport,
and we're going to jump on a flight back to Kabul, the capital city.
And we're going to go and explore more of the capital.
We've just been notified that there's some demonstrations going on the way to the airport's,
we're going to have to take a different roads.
I'm not sure what the situation is going to be like in Kabul,
because of the current election situation.
They're holding back their election.
Results they're not releasing them
because when they do it'll cause a broad carnage,
all that bad stuff, so...
We'll see how the days goes.
It's always unpredictable here, in Afghanistan. Let's head.
These doors are super heavy
because the reinforced metal and, obviously, the bulletproof glass here.
♪♪♪
-Thank you! -Oh! Sorry!
-Thanks! -No problem!
Okay. So, we've arrived in Kabul, I'm back in the UN compound here.
It's basically container city.
I've got these little houses that I showed you in the first video of Afghanistan,
but you could see the Hindu Kush mountain range that we flew over just an,
was so so beautiful, absolutely remarkable mountains.
So, we're gonna head out now,
we're gonna go to a restaurant that's been converted,
from an airplane actually,
it's an aeroplane that's been made into a restaurant,
and then we're going to another public area in Kabul.
Anyway, let's go explore more of the capital city of Afghanistan.
♪♪♪
Okay. So, we just arrived at a park,
and it seems to be like another fun kind of amusement park area.
There's some really interesting houses up on the hill here,
I'll show them to you in just a second...
There's also an old wall, that's up here, it's from I think 500 years ago,
but apparently it was built with bodies during that time.
♪♪♪
Just seems like another place for a fun day out for people of Kabul.
Obviously, again, the entrance had strict security,
check you from the head down and things but, you know...
It's much needed here.
So, if you didn't see the episode, two episodes ago...
We've meet out with Arion,
and he mentioned about how it's quite important for the locals to have something fun to do.
He was basically saying even though day in day out there's casualties, fatalities,
and bombs, IED's, going off, people getting killed.
40 to 70 incidents every day,
that can range from a bomb, or a death, or a massacre.
And so, it's really lovely how people keep coming out to these kind of places, so...
It's really quite beautiful, you know? So...
Have a look at some shots of the locals having fun.
♪♪♪
So, we just come to this cafe-restaurant which is actually an old aeroplane...
It's pretty funny, so...
We're gonna go inside and see what it's like.
It's closed at the moment, but they kindly opened it just so we could have a look to the cool concept.
Definitely I would have coffee here!
You got the road...
On that side, and then...
Bare ground on that side.
♪♪♪
So, those last few shots were leaving Kabul, Afghanistan.
And I flew here to Europe, where I'm based.
So if you thought this video wasn't that in-depth of Kabul...
It's quite tricky because that's a very turbulent city at the moment.
Just after we left there was UN workers killed,
driving around in the same vehicles we were driving in.
So, you know... We were right in the thick of it.
And to get the clearance we got is more than most get.
And, again, without that facilitation of UNICEF,
there's no way I would have been able to do the things that I did.
I hope you understand that.
I hope you still got a taste of the city.
You know, that day really drives home the point of the Afghan people
trying to live a normal life in an amusement park,
and there's military helicopters flying over the top.
I think that sums up the trip pretty well.
The people of Afghanistan is so resilient,
some of the most resilient people that I've met on my travels.
You know, up there with Venezuela.
So, absolutely beautiful human beings that live in that country.
And, you know, they're not all terrible people like many people could assume,
which is quite sad especially with the current events going on in the Middle East.
These people are not their governments.
It's so important to look at the situations from the other side as well,
and imagine living in a country where you're under constant threat of attack,
where there it's from people in your own country or foreign countries.
But I'm not gonna get into a political conversation.
But I think that's a very important point to keep in mind.
That was by far the most heavy travels of my life,
seeing those scenes and the struggles.
Being around that heavy artillery,
basically living a military existence for the time I was there...
That's a really driven home a lot of...
Maybe preconceived ideas that I may have had about war,
especially what it's like to live in a war zone,
not that I can by any means relate to the people who lived there but, you know...
I feel like I got a slight taste.
I will be doing a Q&A, so...
If you leave your questions, it can be about Afghanistan
or basically anything you want about the trip or whatever...
On my Instagram, that's @indigo.traveller.
Traveller with two L's.
Leave your comments, your questions underneath that post on Instagram,
and I will just go through it at random and answer them in an upcoming video.
I'll go and more in depth about how it affected me,
and just the whole process, especially working with kind of an organization,
which is the first time I've ever really done something on that scale.
And I learned a lot!
I want to give a huge thank you to UNICEF for facilitating this whole project,
getting the access that I got into the places I went to,
would have not been possible by any means without the help of UNICEF
and the security forces there.
It was... I mean, you've seen the videos.
We are so close to a $100,000 goal.
We did raise it from $80,000 to $100,000
because we had the $80,000 mark before the series was finished.
So, I want to give a huge thank you to everybody who's donated.
It's incredible seeing you guys open your hearts to the children of Afghanistan specifically,
as the children of the future of all countries, so...
It's beautiful to see you guys open your hearts,
and as always, I'll leave the link below,
if you want to help us get that last little inch towards that $100,000 goal...
That would be beautiful!
I said I will keep this ending reasonably brief,
but I'll go and more in depth in the next video, so...
Leave your questions under that post, like I mentioned, on my Instagram, and...
Very heavy trip on the heart and soul, but it's great that we were as a group...
I mean, me and you, as an audience,
we were able to make, not a huge remarkable difference,
but we were able to chip in a bit.
And thousands and thousands of children will benefit from this campaign, so...
Again, thank you so much!
And in case I don't see you...
Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.
Thank you so much for watching!