Working across the globe

Granite Bay resident Dave Marsden works in Afghanistan rebuilding the country’s economy.

Afghanistan: A foreign country, a foreign market, a foreign, well, everything.
   To many of us here in the Granite Bay area, the prospect of working in another state, much less another country in a time of physical conflict, would seem altogether fanciful.
   But for one Granite Bay resident, it’s a reality he has faced head-on and on his own accord.
   Dave Marsden, a father of two sons, both of which have or will graduate from Granite Bay High School, has made the long trek overseas to the Middle East to help with economic recovery.

   “I was looking for opportunities in international development and I found that United States Agency for International Development (USAID) needed a lot of assistance,” Dave Marsden said. “So I applied and got a call back.”
   After the paperwork was filed and his training completed, Marsden was shipped off to Afghanistan – a country he had never been to before.
   He currently “wears two hats” in Afghanistan, both of which help him create jobs for Afghanis – the main requirement for economic recovery.
   On the one, Marsden works for the USAID and on the other, he is the Team Leader for NKL, which stands for Nangarhar, Kunar, and Laghman– the “three provinces in the East that are the most important to us right now.”
   Located on a base in the East, Marsden has been working on economic recovery for three months in an area and country that desperately needs help.
   “(Afghanistan is) a very poor country. There are many places that don’t even have any form of power or clean water,” Marsden said. “The kinds of things we take for granted, like turning on your lights, don’t exist outside of a couple major cities (there).”
   But Marsden said he believes that there is much progress being made, especially in an area that has been so historically devastated by violence.
   One of the main projects Marsden is working on involves a group called the Afghan Conservation Core.
   The Core is compiled of Afghani youth trying to reforest a deforested area in the Himalayas.
   Although this type of work obviously helps from an environmental perspective, work benefits for the youth are far reaching as well.
   “The work provides jobs for youth, (along with) education and health care benefits,” Marsden said. “We’re working with the Afghan people so that they don’t want to participate in (insurgencies), but it requires some patience.”
   And it’s working. Along with other projects they have tried to pursue, the economy of Afghanistan is slowly but surely beginning to improve – which is thrilling for all those involved.
   “It’s exciting to see people, Afghans, who have left the country to go to Pakistan even coming back to be a part of this,” Marsden said. “That’s very rewarding.”
   Yet, despite the improvements the economy has made, it still has a long way to go, which, in certain areas, merely starts with stability.
   “The situation is not typical for a country that’s very poor because there’s still an active insurgency,” Marsden said. “We are working on things to help bring about stabilization so that we can help develop the country.”
   In short, Marsden feels that means a strong ­­government that follows the will of the people
   “We will defeat the insurgency by creating a strong government of Afghanistan that has the confidence of the people,” Marsden said.
   Yet, despite the lengthy differences between American and Afghani life, Marsden feels they have similar mind sets.
   “They want a secure neighborhood, they want economic opportunities, employment and, just like people in America, they want the corruption in the government to go away,” Marsden said. “In that way, there are a lot of similarities.”
   But Marsden’s trip to Afghanistan wasn’t all about helping the impoverished – he had personal motivations as well.
   “I have always loved an adventure,” Marsden said. “I was a Peace Corps volunteer and have always loved international travel.”
   Perhaps that’s the reason he has been to so many different locations in his life – living for years in places like Morocco and Fiji while working in the Peace Corp.
   And because of his ability to fluently speak Arabic, his efforts in Morocco and Afghanistan have been successful.
   But where his passion and his work ends, his family begins.
    “At one level it’s really fun and interesting and exciting,” Marsden said. “But on another level it’s hard because I’m away from my family.”
   And he is sorely missed, especially by Billy Marsden, a senior at GBHS and Dave’s youngest son.
   “The first time he left it was really hard,” Billy said. “(But) I still talk to him so it’s not like he’s completely out of my life.”
   Though Billy admits it’s not easy to see his father leave for another country, he takes solace in his ability to come home relatively often.
   “He (was) home for Christmas, he’ll be home when I graduate and when I go to college,” Billy said. “Obviously I’m going to say I wish he was home more, but he’s home for important events. Each time he’s left it’s been easier.”
   Billy’s main concern, surprisingly, is not on the safety of his father, as he is in secure hands he says.
   “When I first heard the job description I was (scared),” Billy said. “But he’s on a base with 20,000 people so the chances of him getting injured are slim to none.”
   But some aren’t as lucky as the Marsden family.
   Adam Johns, a junior at GBHS, has an older brother who has done his fair share for the United States Marine Corp.
   Though Johns was only 9-years-old when his brother Will was sent to Afghanistan for his first of three tours in the Middle East, Adam remembers how his family was scared and proud of Will’s accomplishment.
   “He was a scout sniper in 1st Force Recon,” Johns said. “We were really scared that something might happen to him, (but) proud to have someone from our family in the military.”
   But, unlike the Marsden’s, Johns didn’t have the security of contact with his brother – they weren’t even allowed to know where he was.
   “He was first sent to Afghanistan in 2002,” Johns said. “But he couldn’t tell us where he was going after that.”
   In this respect, Marsden is lucky. Although he is 7,488 miles from home, that distance can be rendered unimportant after picking up a telephone or logging on to a computer.