Yellow Submarine to Taliwood: 04/10/21

In his fourth dispatch from Afghanistan, George Gittoes considers the impacts of COVID-19 on the local communities in which he and Hellen Rose are living and making work.

Waqar was looking very ill when he got back from hospital last night, but assures us the doctors think he is OK and does not have COVID-19 or dengue fever. He does, still, have a temperature of 103 degrees. I will check him when he wakes up. He has been overworking with me – I push him, and everything  we undertake, to the limit . He woke up after a night of fevers yesterday, but we still went and shot another tourism video at a Buddhist ruin.

Virtually everyone at the SS Club has got dengue fever – the mosquitos were ferocious for a few nights. Now, every room and the gardens have been sprayed with deterrent pesticide.  Shahid has got dengue fever, very badly .

I  have not been mentioning it in my dispatches but – literally – everyone we know here has lost close loved ones to Covid, which they call “Corona,” in the last month, while we have been here. Shahid lost his close uncle, Amjud our driver, his mother, Khuram our editor, his aunt. The boss of  the Department of Tourism we were working with got it at his village, the gun range guy Hamad lost his uncle, Jamil his mother in law, Bul Bul his aunty and more. I am too sleepy to remember all of them. It has been a big risk for Hellen and I as we have been out and in close contact hugging and shaking hands with, and in the same car with, people who have been exposed to those who are now dead.   

The big day at the Sufi mosque is no longer happening today, because the sister of the brothers whom we were going to record singing has died. Several others at the Sufi complex have died as well. The Sufi mosque, where I was going to teach, is being used for the funerals.

The focus of this Yellow Submarine effort has been to help overcome  the ramifications from  the takeover of Afghanistan, but it has been in a time of Covid and in many ways that has been the dominant social concern.

Hellen and I remain extremely well. Before flying out we will have to be Covid tested, and are hoping we are clear. We could be OK but still carrying it. That would mean quarantine in Islamabad.

The funniest thing is that we have just realised we have shot and finished a good tourist documentary. Khuram, our editor, agrees. I would never think I would have the motivation to shoot something as superficial as a tourist film.  It will be released in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but I may end up offering it to the ABC and BBC.  We have shot ten short videos on different places/topics. When put together they have a natural structure. With some more editing it will make a beautiful and inspiring film. Khuram is excited to work on it. It is an unexpected byproduct of our strategy. Afghanistan is looking better every day. 

G