Devastated Christian aid group pledges to continue work in Afghanistan

[Turborama]

Source: Washington Post

By Joshua Partlow

Monday, August 9, 2010

KABUL -- During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Christian aid group International Assistance Mission was forced to stop working anywhere outside the capital.

Under the mujaheddin government that followed, the group's medical teams had to negotiate with separate warring factions for safe passage across rocket-strafed Kabul just to travel from their homes to the eye clinic. The Taliban, when it came to power, prohibited the organization's female staff members from working in the same office as men.

=snip=

"It's devastating for everybody," executive director Dirk Frans said of the killings. "Still, I don't think it's actually going to stop our work. We've been here all those years, and, God willing, we'll continue."

=snip=

This focus on health care has allowed the International Assistance Mission to operate even under a Taliban government that was hostile to any Christian group, said Hans Ronnlund, an adviser to Frans who has worked with the group for 20 years in Afghanistan.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/08/AR2010080801338.html

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The Wikipedia article on the "Badakhshan massacre" is continuously being updated: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Badakhshan_massacre

Blog reveals Afghanistan medic Karen Woo's dedication: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4495235&mesg_id=4495672

[sabrina 1]

1. Very, very sad story. Thanks for the update

I haven't seen a list of the dead anywhere. Last I read they did not have enough information on where the eight foreigners cam from.

Thanks also for the link to the Guardian story on the doctor. She was a beautiful woman inside and outside. Her fiancee must be devastated.

It looks like it was just a robbery, but then you have to wonder why they didn't just take what they wanted rather than killing them. And it can't have been for fear of being ID'd since they spare the life of the Afghan man.

I'm inclined to believe the Taliban claim that it was because they were viewed as spies for the U.S. and religious. Either way it is a huge tragedy.

[Turborama]

2. Some more info from CNN: More victims of Afghan attack identified; aid group likely won't leave

I won't add a snippet as it's too difficult to choose what to leave out: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/afghanistan.aid.workers/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn#fbid=5tFS21of5oJ&wom=false

Off Topic I've just found some videos from Pakistan with footage of the floods and am about to post them in the videos forum, if you have time check them out.

Edited to add these photos...


Glen D. Lapp of Lancaster, Pennsylvania


Cheryl Beckett of Knoxville, Tennessee

2nd edit

Last 2 foreign dead in Afghan murders identified: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100809/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

[sabrina 1]

3. Thank you, six Americans

two Afghans, one Brit and one German. It looks like the State Dept. is accepting that it was the Taliban, but locals had apparently warned them that going through that area was dangerous.

I'll go check the video of Pakistan ...

[Turborama]

4. Profiles of the 8 aid workers and 2 Afghan assistants murdered in cold blood by the Taliban...

Slain Aid Workers Were Bound by Their Sacrifice
Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/10/world/asia/10aidworkers.html?_r=1&partner=rss=rss


The 10 civilian aid workers killed Thursday in Afghanistan, from top left: Glen D. Lapp,
Tom Little, Dan Terry, Dr. Thomas L. Grams, Cheryl Beckett, Brian Carderelli, Dr. Karen Woo,
Daniela Beyer, Mahram Ali and Ahmed Jawed

Glen D. Lapp, 40, of Lancaster, Pa., was a nurse who ran an eye-care program. He was an avid cyclist. A nurse with a big smile. A man whose passion for hiking, adventure, and people was plain to see.

"A beautiful person," said an adoring friend.

Tom Little, 61, from Delmar, N.Y., was the coordinator of the National Organization of Ophthalmic Rehabilitation Eye Care Program in Afghanistan, overseeing hospitals and clinics, teaching optometry and administering care in the most rural of areas. He was the leader of the group of 10 medical workers returning from treating people in Nuristan Province who were ambushed and killed.

Mr. Little, with 35 years' experience in Afghanistan, had encountered Taliban fighters on many occasions at his eye camps and other rural outreach missions, and told friends that he always carried a bottle of soothing saline solution in case fighters demanded treatment for eye problems.

Dan Terry, 64, had been doing relief work in Afghanistan since 1971, and spoke Dari fluently.

Mr. Terry had just recovered from knee surgery, and had looked forward to joining the arduous hike over a 16,000-foot pass to reach a remote valley, providing eye care and other medical services.

Mr. Terry is survived by his wife, three daughters, and one granddaughter, according to the International Assistance Mission.

Dr. Tom Grams, 51, of Durango, Colo., left a thriving dental practice to go to Afghanistan. He had trekked to villages halfway up Mount Everest, carrying dental equipment by yak, and in Afghanistan had learned to negotiate the etiquette of the burka so he could work on the diseased teeth of women who may never have seen a dentist.

Cheryl Beckett, 32, of Knoxville, Tenn., had traveled the world, often on church-sponsored mission trips, before moving to Afghanistan six years ago. There she worked at women's clinics, planted vegetable gardens and tried to establish a park on the eastern side of Kabul.

She was invited on the expedition to Nuristan primarily as an interpreter, because she spoke fluent Dari, said her father, Charles Beckett.

Brian Carderelli, 25, of Harrisonburg, Va., was an Eagle Scout and videographer who had been working in Afghanistan since September. He posted his http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/09/us/%E2%80%9Chttp:/illeredrac.shutterfly.com/%E2%80%9C">photographs and http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/09/us/%E2%80%9Chttp:/vimeo.com/user2949286%E2%80%9D">videos online.

Dr. Karen Woo was a 36-year-old surgeon from Hertfordshire, England, who specialized in women's health.

At 16, she trained as a contemporary dancer and then worked as a wing-walker for a flying circus. At 22, she entered medical school and eventually volunteered for missions in South Africa, Australia, Papua New Guinea and Trinidad and Tobago. Two years ago, she quit her $150,000-a-year job to move to Kabul.

Daniela Beyer, 35, of Chemnitz, Germany, was the daughter of a minister and also spoke Dari.

Pierre Grosse, chairman of the church council in the German community of Wittgensdorf, where she was a member, recalled her as a deeply religious woman, the daughter of a retired pastor, who translated textbooks into Afghan languages.

“She was a little shy, not someone who would make a big deal about herself,” Mr. Grosse said.

One of two Afghans killed, Mahram Ali, 51, supported two disabled sons on his salary of $150 a month. He came along on the expedition as a driver and to guard the team’s three vehicles.

Rahim Majid, the operations manager at International Assistance Mission, said Mr. Ali, too, was a husband and father to three young children. One of his sons had been paralyzed by polio and another’s arm had been amputated.

“He was the only person to care for his family,” Mr. Majid said.

Second Afghan victim, Ahmed Jawed, 24, a cook, had been excitedly considering what to do with the $20 a day in overtime he would earn on the trip. Mr. Jawed was the main breadwinner for his wife, three children and extended family, and was known in his neighborhood for the collection of 500 audiotapes he would break out for weddings or parties.

From this slideshow: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/08/09/us/20100810_Aidworkers.html

[Chango]

5. Death Wish

Can't muster too much sympathy these folks. They asked for danger, and they got it.

[Turborama]

6. Altruism and empathy

Ever heard of those two terms?