What a Pair of F***ing Nutters

This is David (who I met on my Masters degree course at Bristol) with his wife Angharad and their son Charlie. Although they look as if they're on their way to a fancy dress party they are in fact moving to Afghanistan. Hence the title.

This is how David, a former news cameraman who also served two tours in Afghanistan with the army, explains what, at first glance, seems a rather odd lifestyle choice.

"We're going to live in north east Afghanistan for the next five or so years to promote and develop the return of tourism to the area. The Wakhan corridor has some of the best climbing in the world, it's remained completely trouble free and the local people really want to see tourists return.

"In July four Afghans will attempt to climb the country's highest mountain – which will be an historic first. If we can help provide the right media coverage of this achievement it will be a unifying event for the entire nation just as the success of the Afghan cricket team has really brought people together. This might seem like just too small a gesture to make a difference but the BBC's correspondent in Kabul told me that this is the only good news he will cover in Afghanistan this year. And that makes it important.

"Afghans are renowned as much for their hospitality as for their ability to repel foreign armies. It's about time the world paid more attention to the 99.95% of Afghans who aren't in the Taliban."

Angharad, who is a paediatric nurse, will also be helping to run a healthcare and development projects for local women.

So not quite such a pair of nutters after all. I for one can't wait to see what happens and I suspect that David's blog will make our intermittent drivel seem even less enthralling.

You can find out more at their website. And if you want to bung their project (which is a registered Community Interest Company) a fiver a month until it becomes self-sustaining then their bank details are:

Account Name: Mountain Unity International
Account Number: 76056341
Sort Code: 60 17 24

What a pair of f***ing heroes.

James