The IDP Camp and the Mosque

Throughout Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of people are designated as "internally displaced people" or IDPs. Their homes have been destroyed and the land on which they used to live is littered with land mines and other unexploded ordinance. Organizations like Halo Trust are working as quickly as they can to remove the ticking time bombs but while their work goes on, people live in tents at best, in the rubble of their former homes, at worst.

Food and Water

Organizations like the UN High Commission for Refugees, UNICEF, and others provided small amounts of food and water when the people initially returned to this land that used to be their homes and farms. For months now, no other assistance has arrived. The people are in poor health, hungry, and thirsty.

No Medical Facilities for Miles

This woman was holding another woman's baby because the mother was too ill. She was not producing milk, had continuous bleeding, and absolutely no way to get to a doctor. We immediately pooled our resources to pay for a car to take her to a hospital and some funds to pay for the care once she arrived. There are no doctors for many miles and there is no system of transportation, other than quasi-taxis which are large trucks that traverse the roads picking people up and taking them in whatever direction they happen to be traveling. You pay the driver as you climb on. Everywhere we went, people were crowded onto such trucks, sometimes hanging on from the roof! A few dollars and a passing truck can mean the difference between life and death.

We Need Food

We asked the elder of this IDP camp what he needed most. "We're no different from you," he said "we need food! We're not cows!" 23-years of war, half a decade of drought, and unexploded mines and bombs make it hard to pull yourself up by your bootstraps as we Americans are so fond of saying. Much of the assistance promised to Afghanistan by the United States, the European Union, and Japan is in the form of infrastructure repair. What about these people? The women of the camp quiety told women in our delegation that we should be careful to make sure that any assistance we did give got to them, as well as the men. Widows and orphans have an extra burden in these camps. Our delegation directly contributed to this IDP camp, using donations we brought with us from our congregations and organizations.

Global Exchange is working to help this and other camps like it receive food, medicine and other aid. You can help directly by donating to First Presbyterian Church's Afghan Victim's fund and designating IDP on your check.

The Gift of a Rose

David Mineau was talking with the village elder when he noticed that among the destruction, amidst the despair, there was a single rose alive on a bush that had once held many roses. Drought and war has left many rose bushes and grape vines empty. The elder walked over and plucked the rose as a gift to David. "What an incredible gift for this man to give me" David thought. Yet, if this was the only thing of beauty that the women and children saw during the day, how could the elder pluck it and give it to some stranger driving through?

Such was the constant struggle we faced as we visited people and places in Afghanistan. We were intruding on their pain. Yet their stories need to be told. They were glad to be rid of the Taliban. Yet how much suffering could have been avoided if the United States had a different foreign policy for the last 10 years?

The Mosque

Yes, the Taliban took refuge in this mosque in the hopes of avoiding coalition bombing campaigns. No, it didn't protect them. This mosque was hit hard and virtually destroyed. When we came to visit, one of the mosque leaders was at first irritable that yet another group of gawkers had come to take pictures, hear the stories, and leave. Fortunately, we had come with more of a promise to rebuild than anyone else.

Rebuilding the Mosque

Steve Holton, an Episcopal Priest, had come to Afghanistan with a plan to help rebuild this mosque. Funding is already being raised and Steve had a wonderful conversation with leaders from the mosque. Once we got past them thinking we were just another group of lookiloos, we found ourselves very warmly embraced.

Learning to Pray

From Craig Wiesner's Journal: As a Jew, I was drawn to a group of boys who were learning to recite prayers from the Koran. They were rocking back and forth as they chanted. It felt very much like my childhood Hebrew School. I too had learned how to chant in an ancient tongue and many Jews rock back and forth as they pray.

I thought about what it must have been like to be a Jew, sitting in a demolished synagogue, in places like Germany, Poland, or even Jerusalem. People can destroy buildings but faith survives. Even when it is against the law to teach such things, we still do.

I sat with some of the children at the mosque and listened for a while. The rythms seemed so familiar and even some of the words touched old memories, deep inside me.

Soon, a teacher came by and asked one of the boys a question. "Which are the four books we study?" The boy answered "The Torah, the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Koran." No wonder his chanting seemed so familiar to me! He and the teacher taught me how to say the names of the four books in Farsi.

Muslims refer to Jews and Christians as "People of the book." We all share common histories and laws. Muslims are taught to respect people of the book. In fact, Mohamed's last words were "Be kind to the people of the book."

An Afghan way of greeting is to say Salaam Aleikem and touch their hearts. Sounds pretty close to the Hebrew Sholom Aleichem (peace be with you) to me! People of the book, greeting each other with the same phrase and holding each other in their hearts are the paths to peace that we should all keep in mind. I know I will.