{"id":1793,"date":"2009-08-19T10:40:47","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T10:40:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?p=1793"},"modified":"2009-08-19T10:40:47","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T10:40:47","slug":"save-the-virgins-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Save the Virgins NOW!!"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting sick in Kabul is not big news. It\u2019s an occupational hazard and it\u2019s rare for a week to pass without one of your friends or acquaintances being struck down by some form of viral sickness. Kabul has little modern sanitation. Faeces flow in open sewers. The urban myth is that the faecal content of the air is as high as 30 per cent but there are no real stats to back this up<\/a> . But as they say, \u2018shit happens\u2019. Well it does here\u2026 people get ill. A lot. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s funny is the type and nature of these maladies. Conditions you last read about in a Jane Austen novel<\/a> or in some cases The Bible: Consumption, Diphtheria, Rickets and Cholera to mention just a few ailments my colleagues are currently struck with. One mate is currently going through the excruciating 14-day incubation period for Rabies and another is limping about with suspected Gout, although that could be to do with the biblical amounts of red wine he demolishes every evening.  <\/p>\n

Most of the victims are not the street-eating adventurous types. They live in gated compounds, work for organisations like The World Bank or the British Embassy. They have canteens, they are protected and cosseted with 24-hour electricity and air conditioning. But no one is immune. I would say the rough quota of people who are mildly ill to healthy is about one in four. Which for the British press could be seen as bordering on a pandemic level<\/a> .  <\/p>\n

Last month I contracted Typhoid and Giardia. I had to Google it (not recommended). Apparently it\u2019s, “a flagellated protozoan parasite that colonises and reproduces in the small intestine. It\u2019s found in infected people’s stool and cannot be seen by the naked eye.”<\/a> Which is quite a relief. Any disease that you visibly see would freak the life out of me. I will spare you the details, as this is my second near death experience out here (first one quite good though), suffice to say I\u2019ll not be eating pea soup again.<\/p>\n

My theory is that it\u2019s our \u2018community\u2019s\u2019 lack of obedience to Gods’ commandments and that he is punishing the infidels, who live and breathe this country\u2019s holy air. In Biblical times, disease was seen to be a punishment from God because of spiritual sins, and if your read my last blog you\u2019ll know that there is plenty of that going on. I\u2019ve not read the new novel, Emergency Sex and Other Desperate Measures: A True Story From Hell On Earth<\/a> which is all about the antics of aid workers in war torn places. However I have read Deuteronomy – Chapter 28: which talks about; physical internal pain, tumours, incurable scabs, madness and other references to sterility, burning fever, blindness and depression. All of which are symptoms of syphilis, gonorrhoea, herpes, AIDS, Chlamydia, trichinosis and or leprosy. Though I\u2019m not quite sure if the Kabul NGO community is quite that sick yet. <\/p>\n

So in a medieval country shouldn\u2019t we be looking for medieval cures? It\u2019s back to Google to lead us down that dark virtual pathway: \u201cPurification of disease was accomplished by burning prostitutes, captured men, their sexual partners, their children, animals, and infected garments and villages. Anything that could carry diseases from one village to another was burned to purify it from communicable diseases. Only the virgins were spared.”<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s the answer\u2026 if only we lived in Kandahar<\/a> .<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

The Afghan Hound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Obedience to Gods’ commandments prevents his punishing people with disease.” Exodus 15:26 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nSave the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Save the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Obedience to Gods' commandments prevents his punishing people with disease." Exodus 15:26\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FOTO8\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jon\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jon\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\"},\"headline\":\"Save the Virgins NOW!!\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\"},\"wordCount\":591,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Blogs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\",\"name\":\"Save the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Save the Virgins NOW!!\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"description\":\"The home of photojournalism.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization\",\"name\":\"FOTO8\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1\",\"width\":124,\"height\":51,\"caption\":\"FOTO8\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137\",\"name\":\"Jon\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jon\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Save the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Save the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8","og_description":"\"Obedience to Gods' commandments prevents his punishing people with disease.\" Exodus 15:26","og_url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/","og_site_name":"FOTO8","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","article_published_time":"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00","author":"Jon","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jon","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/"},"author":{"name":"Jon","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137"},"headline":"Save the Virgins NOW!!","datePublished":"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/"},"wordCount":591,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Blogs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/","name":"Save the Virgins NOW!! - FOTO8","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-19T10:40:47+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/save-the-virgins-now\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Save the Virgins NOW!!"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","name":"FOTO8","description":"The home of photojournalism.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#organization","name":"FOTO8","url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/foto8logo_blk.gif?fit=124%2C51&ssl=1","width":124,"height":51,"caption":"FOTO8"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Foto8\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/foto8"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/52655249f7e3f6eff4e0fe2540d65137","name":"Jon","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6993c5976717725ffe3a4e678a401748?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jon"},"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/author\/wpadmin\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ejRI-sV","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1501,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/destitute-in-kabul-afghanistans-drug-addicts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":0},"title":"Destitute in Kabul: Afghanistan’s Drug Addicts","author":"Jon","date":"20 May 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Alfonso Moral spent four months in Kabul uncovering the destitute lives of it's heroin addicts living in the old Russian Cultural Centre.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Alfonso Moral","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/addicts25.jpg?fit=470%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2174,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/stories-from-kabul\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":1},"title":"Stories from Kabul","author":"Jon","date":"11 Feb 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Asef Ali Mohammad travelled to Afghanistan to ask average Afghanis their thoughts on the US occupation of their country.","rel":"","context":"In "Photo Stories"","block_context":{"text":"Photo Stories","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/c129-photo-stories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1360,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/the-glass-is-half-full-only-dont-count-the-buts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":2},"title":"The glass is half full, only don’t count the ‘buts’","author":"Jon","date":"26 Feb 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Our own Afghan Hound reports from a muddy Kabul and his journey to the embattled Wardak Province for a night of song and dance.","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/blogs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Afghan Hound","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/dgg_8734.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1752,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/kabul-coalition-of-the-swilling\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":3},"title":"Kabul – Coalition of the Swilling","author":"Jon","date":"09 Jul 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cAlcohol... Now there\u2019s a temporary solution.\u201d In a country full of half-measures and empty promises the wisdom of Homer Simpson definitely hits the spot here.","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/blogs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"drunk_anonymous-3_copy_copy.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/drunk_anonymous-3_copy_copy.jpg?fit=470%2C313&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1921,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/a-to-the-motherfing-z-welcome-to-the-acronym-riddled-ngo-ghetto-that-is-kabul\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":4},"title":"A to the motherf***ing Z: Welcome to the acronym-riddled NGO ghetto that is Kabul","author":"Jon","date":"01 Nov 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"In with a bullet at number one is ACBAR! \u2013 The Agency Coordinating Body For Afghan Relief. Oh how they must have laughed when they twisted that transliteration of the common Arabic phrase for \"God is great\"...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/blogs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Afghan Hound","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/dgg_1016.jpg?fit=470%2C303&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2731,"url":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/sex-work-and-videotape\/","url_meta":{"origin":1793,"position":5},"title":"Sex, Work and Videotape","author":"Jon","date":"11 Nov 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Our Afghan Hound reports from Kabul as he investigates the hidden sex trade.","rel":"","context":"In "Blogs"","block_context":{"text":"Blogs","link":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/category\/online\/blogs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"afghan_pros1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/afghan_pros1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1793"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1793\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.foto8.com\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}