Upcoming trip to Afghanistan

[Jim Rentfrow]

Hello everyone,

I will be traveling to Afghanistan during the next few months to help with lapidary training. I will be seeing many mineral specimens and facet rough during my trip and wanted to let you all know to watch for regular updates. The country has a rich gemstone mining history but until recently the country has had to send most of the minerals to be cut overseas. The government is hoping to create jobs and infrastructure by training the citizens on proper gemstone cutting techniques. I am excited for this opportunity and what it can do to help further my knowledge of gemstone faceting as well as knowledge on the Afghan culture. There will be regular updates on my website of the trip as well as emails sent out to my distribution list. I will have access to email, skype, a cell phone and paypal on my journey but my responses will not be as quick as they are presently. I hope to take many shots of gems from the area on my trip for Pricescope and will be sharing them frequently for you all.

 

[movie zombie]

stay safe, Jim! look forward to your reports.

 

[Pandora II]

Have a fantastic trip and best of luck with what is a great initiative!

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Oh My !!!!
Be careful !!!
Have a safe trip and send lots of pictures please !!!

 

[Arkteia]

Stay safe! Have a winsome trip!

 

[Jawahir]

I will be able to show you some good food places in kabul and hook you up with one or two stone savvy afghans! currently a conference on investing in afghan mine resources underway in London: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/16/us-afghanistan-minerals-idUSTRE65D0OH20100616

I would like to met and see if there is an opportunity to talk more about what you do.

 

[sapphirecats]

Have a great trip! There are a lot of gems that come from there, I think they have tourmaline, chalcedony, turquoise, and others. Stay safe! Looking forward to hearing all about it here!

 

[pregcurious]

This sounds really interesting! We're all looking forward to your posts.

 

[ooo~Shiney!]

Are you sure this is a good idea, given recent events over there ???
(I'm a Mom, it's my job to worry)

 

[Jim Rentfrow]

Are you sure this is a good idea, given recent events over there ???
(I'm a Mom, it's my job to worry)

I will be doing everything I can to stay safe on the trip. I will be living in a guarded security compound. But even those can be attacked as we saw from the attacks yesterday in Kabul.

 

[colorluvr]

Stay safe and enjoy your trip!

 

[colorluvr]

double post

 

[bright ice]

Good luck and stay safe. I hope you find some beautiful treasures for us all.