The June / July field visit to Afghanistan this year was a key one for No Strings, with the distribution phase of the ChucheQhalin project now very much underway.
The actor Hugo Speer, a No Strings patron, played a key role in the various demonstrations to children that were undertaken, and in handing over the media bikes to our local partner OMAR.
The bikes themselves were a huge success, and look set to be a key means of getting the film, now dubbed into both Dari and Pashtu, the two main Afghan languages, out to groups of children around the country. OMAR, the Organisation for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation, is also in the process of getting the film broadcast on its new television channel.
The security situation was an important feature of the visit. A number of British soldiers were killed in Helmand during our time there, and there was a series of eight bombs in Kabul itself while we were there which hindered people's movement.
That said, we were able to fulfil the key aims of the trip, which were to hand over the two media bikes and the ambulance units to staff at OMAR, and Mike and Ian, our two eRanger colleagues who joined us, were able to pass on full handling instructions. In addition, the field tests with the bikes went very well.
The first demonstration took place at the village of Qalazinmpr Khan on the mountainous outskirts of Kabul, where we showed the film to a group of 180 school children and parents.
The road there was rough and very steep but the bikes handled the terrain easily. Hugo drove the media bike and one of the OMAR guys drove the ambulance, with a freelance cameraman, Ash Sweeting, doing the footage.
This will be incorporated into the rest of our documentary coverage for the JustMedia film, which we are hoping will be fully edited by the end of the year.
The bike was driven into the back of the school, a very basic facility which was largely made of canvas, and the screen went up inside one of the canvas tents.
We were successfully able to adjust it to get it right for the light.
OMAR is now developing a blackened tunnel tent to fit inside the sidecar unit with the rest of the cinema equipment, as the film is obviously hard to see in bright daylight. It will make it possible for an audience to sit outside and watch while the screen itself is darkened off. Our early experiments with this worked very well.
The children responded very well to a question-and-answer session afterwards, reciting whole pieces of dialogue they had heard rather than just answering with simple yes and no's. This was the first time that the Dari version of Chuchi had been shown.
The second demonstration took place in a specially-erected marquee at OMAR.
Formal invitations had been sent out to the various ministries, embassies, donors, UN and NGO community, etc. All had accepted, but a second day of insecurity in Kabul meant that a number, such as the UN and American Embassy officials, were unable to come. 'White City' had been declared, a UN security term for not leaving your compound.
Fortunately, however, many people could make it, including Richard Hardiman and his staff from the British Embassy, Reuters, the Financial Times, Jan McArthur from Internews, various Afghan ministers and their staff, and various OMAR guests, etc.
About 80 children from OMAR's outreach projects were there also. This was the first time the Pashtu version was shown. Again, there was a very extensive Q&A for about 45 minutes afterwards, which was hugely successful. The kids again responded brilliantly to the film and were able to respond and in some cases recite the relevant passages entirely.
There is no question that the film is hitting all the right notes, and also the length seems to be absolutely spot on.
No Strings also made a number of visits to the Aschiana street kids project which we have been supporting over the years, and with eRanger's financial input we have agreed to help fund their own mine-awareness programme, which overlaps greatly with our own.
There remains a great deal of interest in expanding our role in Afghanistan, and particularly in terms of producing a film, or series of shorter films, based on the use of opium and now the increase in popularity of needles. As a consequence, the country has seen a significant rise in numbers of people with HIV / Aids.
The British Embassy is keen for No Strings to submit a concept paper on this area by September. The Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics is also keen to be involved, and OMAR are keen to work with us in this area, too.
As we were made aware of a similar drugs / HIV Aids problem in Indonesia, we may be able to use similar storylines for both countries. Clearly, the issue affects countries the world over, and using very similar storylines but different puppets sensitive to individual cultures means that we can work much more efficiently.

The Chuche Qhalin film is now complete in its English version and was very successfully field tested in Kabul in December last year, with all minor amendments now in place. No Strings is in the process of sending the transcripts to be dubbed at the studios of our local partner OMAR - the Organisation for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation.  We will be there to oversee the final stages of this.

Briefly, the Chuche Qhalin film, the Story of the Little Carpet Boy, introduces vital land mine safety lessons using culturally sensitive puppets based on Afghan folklore.
During Johnie's visit in December, it was shown, with the help of a translator, to numerous groups of children with very positive feedback. The film fulfilled its aim of keeping them fully engaged - and entertained - throughout its 40-minute duration, while clearly getting across the key safety messages.

In terms of distributing the film, OMAR has set up mobile cinemas in five principal areas of Afghanistan, alongside an educational TV channel which will broadcast nationally. We will also be targeting schools and other institutions, and make the film available to other interested agencies in the country. We hope that this will reach to all corners of Afghanistan.

We also need to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the film. This will be done by pre- and post-show questions to audiences, by monitoring the number of mine-related accidents in areas where the film is shown (through hospitals, schools, relevant international and national agencies and ministries), by testing children at each stage of the educational film, and through the outside evaluation of mine-awareness educational experts.

Alongside the Chuche film, there was a  great deal of interest in No Strings from Afghan ministers and senior staff at the British and US embassies, who saw great potential in using the same puppets characters and format for other educational purposes, and primarily as part of their counter-narcotics programme.

Out of a country of 23 million people, nearly one million are estimated to be drug users. Part of our remit for this next trip will be to discuss this potential further, and formulate initial ideas for a script.