It was a great opportunity to create community relationships with several groups in partnership with VWO.  Relationships to expand and partner with active groups such as the Herat Rotary Club, Catholic Services, the Herat Business Development Office, and others were most beneficial.  The idea here was to collaborate with them in the work that Traveling Mercies participates in with the communities in Herat province to help the lives of the people.  Many ideas were discussed. The projects ranged from building water projects in villages in Herat, educational programs, to starting a business for women to build and install solar panels.

Another aspect of community relations is working with prison population and their families in Herat.  In 2005, I was able to bring in fresh water in a project to the men’s and women’s jail and today it has been expanded offering many more benefits.  However, the hundreds of visitors, mostly women, that comes to the jails every day to visit their family members in prison stand outdoors without cover in the hot summer sun and cold winter weather.  Traveling Mercies is hoping to partner with a group here to build a shelter to protect the visitors from the weather conditions.   It was sad and unbelievable to watch them, burdened with the problems of their family members in jail, having to wait in large groups exposed to the harsh elements.  

It was a common belief that we shared and expressed whenever and wherever these meetings occurred that:

• The more people believe that others can improve their lives, the slower any improvement will occur.
• We best improve our lives, both spiritually and physically, through the belief and practice of self-help. 
• We are here to do exactly this, help others to regain the power of helping themselves and by doing this they can regain their purpose and self-confidence. 
• Sustainability of any project will be achieved only by these important principles.