Sowing the Seeds of Peace
Peace and Justice Minister Makes Connections in Afghanistan
by Kathy Bachman
Nasrullah |
About six months ago, seven-year-old Nasrullah’s peaceful life in Kabul,
Afghanistan, was changed forever. The actions following the September 11
tragedy led to U.S. bombing of strategic targets in Afghanistan. However,
there were also enormous civilian casualties from the bombings. Entire villages
in the countryside and civilian areas of Kabul were destroyed or damaged. U.S.
bombs hit homes in Nasrullah’s neighborhood, destroying some and damaging
others. The outer wall to Nasrullah’s front room was blown out when a
cluster bomb hit their home. The family, poor as they are, rebuilt their
living room and life began to settle back to normal.
Being educated remains one of the most important goals for Nasrullah and,
despite all the disruption to their lives, Nasrullah didn’t stop going to
school. One day, he’d taken a particularly important test at school and was
very excited. He wanted to go back to school later to find out what grade he
received. His mother was making dinner but told him he could go if he
hurried. Nasrullah left home and was crossing the open dirt field behind his
house where area children play when his cousin called to him.
His cousin had found a very colorful yellow metal cylinder and called to
Nasrullah to look at his discovery. It was an unexploded cluster bomb left
over from the U.S. bombing raid. As he threw it at Nasrullah to look at, the
cluster bomb fell short, hitting the ground and exploding near Nasrullah,
causing burns and injuries to all his limbs. The injuries became infected,
with pus draining constantly. His parents, despite their shock, took him to
the Kabul hospital. The doctors said the only thing they could do was amputate
his arms and legs.
Fortunately, a German non-profit group was at the hospital when Nasrullah’s
parents brought him. They said if they could take him back to Germany, his
limbs could be properly treated and saved. So Nasrullah, at seven years of
age, left his family for three-and-a-half months to go to a foreign country
for treatment. Fortunately their treatment worked. While his burns still cause
him extreme pain and his injuries must be dressed at a cost of $10-11 per day,
he has hope for a future again.
I met Nasrullah when, as a World Church peace and justice minister, I spent
two weeks in Afghanistan from June 16-29. This trip was made a reality
through the vision of World Church leaders and with the assistance of funding
by Outreach International. My role was to “be in the forefront,”
representing Community of Christ as part of an interfaith delegation for
peace. The 17-member delegation, made up of Christian, Moslem, and Jewish
leaders, were participating in a “Reality Tour” coordinated by Global
Exchange, a non-profit organization based in San Francisco, California. Our tour, called
“Sowing the Seeds of Peace,” was coordinated in an effort to show that
real peace can be achieved when people of all faiths find common ground. This
tour also used our differing beliefs to build bridges of understanding and
find commonalities between faith communities.
There were three objectives for our journey: to meet and befriend people of
other cultures and beliefs, meet with non-profits and churches on the ground
in Afghanistan that are working to rebuild the country, and find projects we
could work on with our churches at home to further the efforts of befriending
the warm and welcoming people of Afghanistan.
As I prepared physically and emotionally for the trip, I worked with the
First Presidency to create a set of goals and objectives for the church.
President Grant McMurray wrote a statement for me to read while in
Afghanistan. His words truly reflect the church’s vision as a peace church:
It is an honor--and a great responsibility--for the Community of Christ to
participate in Global Exchange’s interfaith delegation to Afghanistan. As a
church, one of our long-held foundational beliefs is that of working in the
forefront of movements and organizations recognizing the worth of persons. At
this time in human history, there is perhaps no place where we could more
fully express that conviction than on the ground in Kabul.
We come to Kabul in the spirit of reconciliation--to extend a hand of
peace and aid, and to begin the process of rebuilding the infrastructure of
this devastated country. We come to establish local contacts, meeting with
local organizations, religious leaders, and others who are working to rebuild
Kabul. We come to befriend the people of Afghanistan, and to develop
individual contacts and friendships that will be mutually beneficial. We come
to develop an understanding of the rich heritage and culture of the Afghan
people, and to use that understanding to educate our children, communities,
and church families so that they will work with us to aid in the rebuilding of
this great country.
Sowing the seeds of peace begins a process that can result in profound
changes for not only the Afghan people, but for people of all religions and
cultural backgrounds. This delegation--made up of 17 delegates of differing
religious backgrounds, beliefs, and expectations - can, through God’s
spirit, transcend our differences in order to show the world how to connect at
the most basic human level. If we are successful, we can address the suffering
of victims of war fought in the name of religion, those victimized by
circumstances beyond their control.
The full text of President McMurray’s statement can be found at www.CofChrist.org/peacejustice/afghanistan02/.
This truly was an outstanding opportunity for the church, the organizations
helping Afghani people in crisis, and the people of Afghanistan themselves. It
was also an honor for me to represent Community of Christ as a member of the
delegation.
Global Exchange, the sponsoring organization, is a human rights
organization dedicated to promoting social, environmental, and political
justice around the world. Founded in 1988 with a mission statement of
"Building People to People Ties," the organization’s priority has
been to increase global awareness among the U.S. public while building
international partnerships around the world. I've worked with Global Exchange
in my roles with Amnesty International and it was through previous partnering
with Global Exchange that I received notice about this trip.
Experiencing the Devastation
There is only one flight each week into Kabul, and that’s from Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, located just north of Saudi Arabia. Delegates had the
option of staying one or two weeks. The first week there were seventeen delegates and
five staff. The second week seven delegates remained (including me), along
with three staff.
It took two grueling days of travel to finally arrive in Afghanistan. The
path to Kabul, which is exactly twelve hours ahead of my home in Portland, Oregon,
took many twists and turns. I started out with the first leg from Portland to
Atlanta, Georgia, then Atlanta to London, England, then London to Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, and finally Dubai to Kabul, Afghanistan.
The delegates first met in Dubai, with about a four-hour layover to start
getting to know each other. The delegates had arranged to sit together as we
boarded the plane and we quickly became friends. As we were flying over the
mountains that surround the city, the pilot began dipping the plane's wings
from side to side, and we were hit with violent turbulence. At that point, the
delegation made its first emotional connection as we clutched each other’s
white-knuckled hands.
Looking out the window, I watched as the airport came into view. At that
moment the reality of where I was hit home. The airport was unlike any I’d
ever seen, as it represented the remains of a country at war for more than
twenty years. The bodies of planes were strewn all over the airfield, many unrecognizable as
planes but instead as rusted out carcasses and pieces of
planes. Others were newly destroyed, upside down and ripped in half, with gaping
holes throughout and riddled with bullet holes. As we came closer to the
ground, we could see two runways but quickly realized that only one was
operating because a missile was lying in the middle of the other.
The delegation didn’t waste a minute of our time in Afghanistan, meeting
with more than twenty-four organizations (including hospitals, schools, and mosques) as
well as the press, government officials, and religious leaders. We also gained
an understanding of the culture by being invited into family homes and
visiting bazaars and small shops.
Our meeting with Nasrullah was one of the delegation's very first visits.
His family invited us into their home, passing out tea, cookies, and
candy-covered almonds. Nasrullah introduced us to his family, and we talked to
him about his experiences.
He told the delegation that when he grows up he wants to be a teacher, but
for now he’s afraid to go outside to play for fear of landmines.
Immediately, Craig, one of the delegates, went to Nasrullah and taught him to
play some indoor games--tic-tac-toe, arm wrestling, and thumb wrestling.
Nasrullah’s favorite game was tic-tac-toe, so Craig taught him how to
conserve paper as he played because it is a rare commodity in Kabul.
Nasrullah went on to say that before the U.S. bombing, his “life was
perfect. We had meat to eat, but now all we have is rice and tea.” As soon
as those words left his mouth, I looked down at the cookie in my hand and
realized that the family probably would go without dinner that night in order
to afford to provide us with refreshments...and I was ashamed.
“Before we cursed the Americans,” Nasrullah said of the bombings, “but
now we just want them to help us. I don’t really think peace will
come--there hasn’t been peace since I was born. I want all this gun fighting
to stop. If you [the United States] want to destroy this country, then just do
it. All I see are children with guns. We need education to bring peace. We
need books and pencils and paper.”
Nasrullah, now eight years old, then looked at all of us in the delegation
and said, “But if I grow up and turn out like you guys, I will make
Afghanistan golden.” What a burden of responsibility this child had just
given the delegation.
While we were talking, Nasrullah told us that his father can now dress his
wounds each day. Because of the scarcity of medical supplies, the cost of
caring for Nasrullah’s wounds and burns--about $10-11 per day--is a fortune
to his family. As I sat there, I realized that helping to pay for Nasrullah’s
medical supplies could be one way for our church members to help. Peace comes
one step at a time, one person at a time.
One evening, the new president of Afghanistan’s chief of staff Said Tayeb
Jawad met with us. He gave us an overview of the new administration’s goals.
Jawad said that Afghanistan needs the peacekeeping troops to remain on the
ground because the warlords will take over if they leave. He then said that
Afghanistan, as it works to establish this new democracy, is still in a shaky
position--like walking across a frail bridge. He explained that if they don’t
cross the bridge this time, they won’t get another chance.
The delegation also went out into the countryside, visiting an internally
displaced persons (IDP) camp, a UNICEF school, and a mosque that had been
bombed in a U.S. mission. At the IDP camp, people were living next to their
decimated village in tents provided by the United Nations High Commission on
Refugees (UNHCR). When the UN set up the tents, they also gave the people a
little food. When we met the villagers they were barely existing, desperate
for food and supplies.
Before our visit, Nilufar Shuja, Global Exchange’s Afghanistan program
coordinator, had brought a different delegation to visit the IDP camp. When we
first arrived, the village elder angrily went up to Nilufar, telling her that
his people were not on display and that since she last brought a group to
visit they had not received any help. Nilufar gently explained that delegates
have to see the living conditions for themselves, take that information back
to their organizations, and then try to raise funds to help--and all of that
takes time. Her response to his anger and questions satisfied him and his
whole demeanor changed. He greeted each of us and gave us a tour of the IDP
camp.
During our time in Kabul children and women constantly approached us,
begging for money. But at the IDP camp, the children went from begging to
trying to get into our backpacks for the supplies we had with us. As I felt
the little fingers of six- and seven-year-old children desperately trying to
get my backpack open, I was filled with despair that even if they got into my
pack there wouldn’t be anything there to sustain them. We ended up putting
our backpacks on our chests to keep them safe.
As the village elder gave us a tour of the tents, we came to one where the
women wouldn’t let us in. There was a woman, they explained, who gave birth
just three days before, and she hadn’t stopped bleeding. We each immediately
donated funds so that she could be taken to and from the hospital and for her
medical care there. We returned a week later to check on her and to our
surprise the treatment had taken care of her illness. She greeted us herself,
showing us her small baby. It was truly humbling to realize that one human
life was worth only about $120, and if we hadn’t visited the IDP camp when
we did, she would have died.
During our tour the village elder had also shown us the remaining village
building and a garden with tiny green tomatoes, squash blossoms, and eggplant
blooms--the promise of self-sustainment. As we turned to leave, the elder
brought us three of the tiny green tomatoes, giving the delegates one of the
most precious gifts they had to give--their future food. There also was one
rose bush with two pink roses--the only item of beauty for the villagers. The
elder cut both roses and gave those to us as well--the only other gifts he
coud find to give us.
His actions reminded me of the biblical story of the widow who gave her
last two mites--the only possessions she still had in the world. As the
delegates got back in their vans to leave, we all broke out in tears--for
them, for their action of kindness to complete strangers, and for the pain we all
felt that there is such inequality in the world. We left the camp feeling
that in some way we needed to continue providing aid and a way for self-sustainment
for the villagers.
There are more than 5,000 displaced people now living in these camps. When
the Taliban came to power in 1995, many people went to live in the Russian
embassy and fled to Pakistan. But now the Taliban has been toppled and they
feel safe returning home, only to find their homes have been destroyed or are
uninhabitable. Also, there are few options for receiving food and supplies
until they can rebuild their lifecycle, which includes planting village
gardens and purchasing sheep and goats in order to provide food for all.
Our next stop was a village in the hills of the Istalf plains. Almost every
building in the village was damaged, with many just barely recognizable as
some sort of shelter or shop. We passed by the bombed-out shops to enter the
town and then saw signs of rebirth--mud and straw bricks drying in the sun and
timbers of all sizes. Next to the building supplies was a garden--much further
along in growth than the IDP garden.
The children enjoyed seeing their picture on the
screen of Kathy's digital camera. |
As we came into town, we saw blue tents at the top of hill,
UNICEF-sponsored schools for boys and girls. In this outlying area the classes
were segregated. Girls attend school in the morning and boys in the afternoon.
I had brought boxes of pens from home to give as gifts. I handed out the pens,
and the children took them carefully, as if they were bars of gold. I was with
one group of boys, probably between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, whose faces showed
their eagerness to learn. They proudly wrote their names in my journal. I
wondered as I looked at them how many had been carrying submachine guns and
killing people just a few months earlier, when all they wanted to do was go to
school.
Our final stop in the countryside was at a mosque hit heavily by U.S.
bombs. The Taliban had taken over the mosque and it was bombed in the U.S.
anti-terrorism campaign. What’s left of the mosque is being used by the
local people and about 200 worship there. One of the delegates, Steve, a
minister from Ossining, New York, and the people of his congregation had
decided before his coming to Afghanistan that they would fund the rebuilding
of the mosque.
The day we visited, a class was taking place. However, as soon as the
children saw us, school was out for the day as they jumped up to greet us.
Introductions were made, and Steve talked to the mosque elder about his plans.
Several nights later he met with contractors recommended by Global Exchange,
and before he left he had completed the first steps towards rebuilding the
mosque. He will work through Global Exchange whose staff offered to keep an
eye on the project and ensure the work is being done as promised.
There are so many more stories to tell--of visiting the
Halo Trust, one of
the biggest de-mining organizations in the world and being invited to its
celebration of the removal of the millionth landmine. It was an anti-tank mine
that easily blew up the tank Halo Trust had placed over it. There were also
demonstrations of landmine removal procedures and a joint feast to conclude the
event.
Halo Trust explained their process for letting people know if an area was
cleared of landmines. In the countryside, they place rocks on the side of the
road and in fields. One side of the rock is red and the other white. The white
side indicates that all landmines have been removed in that area, while the
red indicates that landmines remained. With our hearts in our throats, we
watched villagers ignore the rocks and travel into the fields despite the
dangers because that was the only way to their village.
We met with the International Committee for the Red Cross, which makes
prosthetic limbs and provides physical therapy. We also visited schools, some
with second- and third-graders sitting on rugs in a room on the third floor of
buildings where the exterior walls had been blown off. Yet they were all
attentive and yearning to learn. We also visited hospitals, mental hospitals,
and Afghani-run non-profits.
One particular indigenous non-profit organization, the Sanayee Development Foundation (SDF),
is especially innovative at helping Afghani people help themselves. Their
mission states that “Long-term commitment is a must for changing the dreams
of Afghans into reality.” SDF was founded in 1990 and now has more than 300
staff in six Afghani provinces. The non-profit group has created curriculum for
peace and justice classes for grades kindergarten through twelve, so that the
subject of building communities of peace is taught just like any other class.
They also publish a peace and justice magazine for children with a circulation
of 10,000 each month. SDF refused to stop its education program for girls
during Taliban rule. Staff members were arrested by the Taliban because of the
magazine and education of girls, but that didn’t stop SDF. They continued on
in the face of danger and arrest.
SDF is currently helping returning Afghanis become self sufficient through
a quilt-making cottage industry. About 300 families are involved in this
project, producing one to two quilts each day which SDF sells for them. SDF
also is in the process of creating a mobile health clinic, with a short-term
goal of getting six vans up and running this month to provide medical care for
people in Kabul and the surrounding area. Their long-term goal is to have
enough medical vans to go into all provinces of Afghanistan so every child can
receive a physical exam each year. This organization struck me as one of the
most visionary non-profits working in Afghanistan. I hope we can find a way to
begin a partnership with this wonderful group.
One of the highlights of being part of the delegation was our daily worship
service. Each morning, one delegate would lead a brief worship service to
start our day from his or her tradition. After we’d been in Kabul for two
days, one of our drivers, Nabil, arrived early and saw what we were doing. He
came early every day after that and by the middle of the first week, he had
joined the group. On the very last day, he led the service in his own
tradition. It was beautiful to see his hope for a stable and new Afghanistan.
An Interfaith Memorial Service
On the Friday of our first week, the entire delegation hosted a public
interfaith service, connecting the Moslem, Christian, and Jewish faiths. It
was a memorial for family members lost during the September 11 attack and the
U.S. bombings. I created the centerpiece for the service using a brightly
colored scarf to represent life as the foundation, then rubble from a missile
that hit a house three doors down from us on our second day in Kabul. I
finished the arrangement by placing flowers among the rubble, signifying hope
emerging from the destruction.
The service was held in the courtyard of the mental health institution for
a standing-room-only crowd, including approximately fifteen reporters representing
major media outlets from around the world such as Newsweek and National Public
Radio. One of the delegates, Kristina, had lost her sister on a plane
that crashed into the World Trade Center. She placed her sister’s picture on
the centerpiece. Afghani after Afghani picked it up to look at it and told
Kristina they were sorry the Americans had lost loved ones at the hands of
Afghani terrorists. In return, she told them how badly she felt for their
losses.
The service began with a prayer by a local Islamic leader, then went into a
reading of a verse from Psalms that is the same in the Torah, Koran, and
Bible. This symbolized the common ground we share. After a few words from
several ministers in the delegation, Kristina sang a beautiful song. As we
concluded the service, the Islamic leader and delegate Joseph Sprague sat in
the front, holding hands in solidarity.
Sabra |
There was one little girl at the service, Sabra, an eight-year-old orphan,
who made a particular impact on us. She was suffering post-traumatic stress
syndrome and came to the mental health department periodically to be treated.
Her house was bombed by the United States while she and her family were home.
Her mother and siblings were killed and she had to fight her way out from
underneath rubble. She said at first she hated Americans for killing her
family.
“I remember my mother and I remember my family,” Sabra said. “I’m
thinking, why did they take my mother?” She has two surviving older brothers
who were no longer living at the house. One of them, a cab driver, could
afford to take care of her. We asked Sabra what she wanted to be when she
grows up. She said she wants to be a teacher. Then, this little eight-year-old
summed up the reason Afghanis and outsiders such as our delegation are taking
actions to try to make a difference in this war-torn country. Sabra looked
directly at me and said, “I want to be a teacher so that I can take my
people from the blackness to the light.”
July 16, 2002
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