Beacon teacher notes closed Afghan society

Army reservist serves as liaison

By William A. Valente
Poughkeepsie Journal

 

Courtesy photo Julia Pilat is on active duty in Afghanistan.

A year ago Julia Pilat was getting ready to start her first year as a 10th-grade social studies teacher at Beacon High School.

Now she's in Bagram, Afghanistan.

As a member of the U.S. Army Reserve 401st Civil Affairs Battalion, Pilat's primary duties include research and analysis on the current political situation in Afghanistan and work as a liaison between the civilian population and the U.S. military.

Pilat was interviewed by the Poughkeepsie Journal using e-mail over the last week.

For Pilat, who grew up in Homer, northeast of Ithaca, working in Afghanistan has been an odyssey of cultural differences.

''The list is long,'' Pilat wrote of those differences. ''The biggest one for me is the role of women. As a teacher and as an educated individual, I try very hard to appreciate the difference in cultures other than mine. Having said that, I can't seem to get over my Western discomfort in the fact that men and women are so segregated here.''

Reservists called up

Pilat is among the more than 78,000 Americans who belong to reserve or National Guard units who have been called to active duty since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11.

Pilat was called to duty in January, and has been in Afghanistan since June.

Marie Jane Slesinski, a global studies teacher at Beacon High School, writes e-mails to Pilat on a regular basis.

''I always kept her class updated,'' Slesinski said. ''I make them aware of what she's doing just because it's very difficult, and also to make them grateful for what they have.''

Pilat described driving along a mountainous road near a river on a hot day and being greeted warmly by bathers and people having picnics.

''But what struck me the most was the fact that of all those groups of people jumping in the water and enjoying the day, they were all men,'' the 28-year-old teacher wrote. ''Group after group were only men. Where were the women?''

Women have gained more rights under the new government in Afghanistan, but Pilat hopes to see further progress toward an integrated society.

Pilat said she should be back in the United States for Christmas.

But she also hopes to someday return to Afghanistan to see what progress is made.

''This nation is undergoing an amazing transformation from a regime of absolute cruelty to a nation of opportunity,'' she wrote. ''Two years ago, I was teaching my students that living through years of civil war and under the Taliban'' made Afghanistan one of the worst places to live.

Now she sees the promise of progress, ''although there are still many obstacles to overcome.''

''I fully intend,'' she said in an e-mail, ''to return here in about 10 years as a tourist and not a soldier.''