My Christmas: Aid worker in Kabul

Richard North, centre, with his Red Cross colleagues

Richard North, 32, from Leeds, is an aid worker with the British Red Cross in Afghanistan. His job involves making sure aid gets from warehouses to the people it's intended for. Here he describes some of what Christmas week has held for him.

It is 24 December, and a colleague and I drive past destroyed villages as we cross the heavily mined Shomali plain, heading back to the main Red Cross office in Kabul.

We have spent the past 5 days in Bamyan, arranging the supply and distribution of essential food and shelter items to families who have lost everything over the past 12 months.

The scenes we've witnessed make it difficult to get fully into the spirit of the occasion

Tonight the Red Cross delegates based in Kabul (around 50 people) plan to have a meal together. But the scenes we have witnessed over recent days make it difficult to get fully into the spirit of the occasion.

It's 25 December. Even though it's not officially a working day, there is still work to be done.

We arrive at the Red Cross office early in the morning - my first task is to try to make radio contact with my colleague who is working in Chahcharan, in the central Afghan highland province of Ghor, one of the most inaccessible parts of the country.

During the day I also called my parents via satellite phone. I really miss being away from home, especially as I heard that they were about to start the traditional festive lunch.

Away again at Christmas

I have been working with the Red Cross for eight years now, and this is my fourth Christmas in a row to be working away in the field.

Last year I was working with the Red Cross in East Timor.

Hopefully the goods the Red Cross are supplying will make the winter more bearable for them

My parents were really disappointed to hear that I would be away again this year - I promise to spend a week with them as soon as I return to the UK.

The weather here in Kabul is not too bad, but for the people living in Bamyan, conditions are much worse - temperatures fall below freezing at night, and many of the people's homes have been destroyed.

Hopefully the goods the Red Cross are supplying will make the winter more bearable for them.

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During Christmas this year we are hearing what the festive season is like for people from a variety of walks of life. On Monday, Harvey Nichols' doorman Tony Gallagher describes his week.