a bad day

Tuesday was a pretty good day. We went to a school and talked w/ the principle, a representative from the department of education, and a local sheik. We discussed the state of the school, then increased the scope of our conversation to the state of education in Iraq. We came up with a GFI ("Great Freak'in Idea): we'll try to arrange a teachers' exchange program with some of the arab states that have a more modern education system. Qatar was mentioned, as was Bahrain and the UAE. We left thinking that we can make a difference- maybe not a great one, but an improvement for the future of the children.

Here is when everything went bad: Wednesday there was a suicide VBIED at the Educational Department, and the representative was one of the casualties. What kind of message are you trying to send when you bomb the education department? What are you trying to prove? What kind of future do you offer?