|
A Friend In Memphis
The Memphis-Afghan
Friendship Summit is making a difference on the other
side of the world.
by BIANCA PHILLIPS
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Cindy
Taylor, a nurse at St. Francis
Hospital, visits with Dr. Fahima
Khalil at the Malabi Maternity
Hospital in Afghanistan. |
|
|
If the world were a high school,
Afghanistan would be the poor kid
who's bullied because his
hand-me-downs aren't quite cool
enough; the kid who appears shy and
quiet, but who is filled with deep
and churning emotions due to years
of battling the inner demons that
develop from being picked on. It'd
be the kid who looks like he could
really use a good friend but whom
everyone's scared to get too close
to for fear of what the other kids
might think.
The members of the Memphis-Afghan
Friendship Summit (MAFS) are taking
a stand and reaching out to that
troubled kid. A grassroots
organization of local health-care
providers, educators, business
leaders, and concerned individuals,
MAFS is working to provide
Afghanistan with much-needed
assistance and, perhaps more
importantly, to provide friendship.
Members of the group have collected
money and medical and school
supplies and have put their lives at
risk to see that they're delivered
directly into the hands of the
Afghan people.
According to the organization's
chairman, Mark Morris, the Afghan
people have been given so many empty
promises from other countries and
nongovernment organizations, they
don't put too much faith in
assurances of foreign aid. They
practice the
I'll-believe-it-when-I-see-it
mentality to avoid getting let down,
as they have time and time again.
Memphis has been one of the few U.S.
cities to reach out to help the
ravaged country rebuild. As a
result, a friendship between the
Afghan people and the members of the
Friendship Summit has blossomed.
Morris says Afghan people are
beginning to really put some faith
in Memphis.
War and Oppression
Afghanistan hasn't seen a good
year in decades. After the collapse
of Russia's imposed Marxist regime
in 1991, the various Islamic
factions collectively known as the
mujaheddin, which had united to
overthrow the Soviet occupation,
began to quarrel as their deeply
rooted religious differences began
to resurface. Out of the fighting, a
group of religious students known as
the Taliban emerged victorious and
eventually took over 90 percent of
the country.
The Taliban ruled with an iron
hand and used religion as a means
for furthering its ideological and
political goals. Military matters
were given primacy over humanitarian
ones, and strict rules that resulted
in the oppression of women were
enforced. Girls' schools, such as
the Mariam School for Girls in the
capital city of Kabul, were boarded
up and women were forced to wear
long, cloth coverings called burqas
when they appeared in public.
Failure to wear a burqa could result
in a brutal beating. Women were also
denied medical care since men were
prohibited from viewing nude females
other than their wives. And women
were prohibited from practicing
medicine or holding any type of job.
After the September 11, 2001,
attacks on America by the
Taliban-supported al Qaeda, the U.S.
invaded Afghanistan and removed the
Taliban from power. Now, after two
decades of war and oppression, the
country is starting over, attempting
to rebuild its government and its
education and health-care systems.
Under the leadership of President
Hamid Karzai, a timeline of
reconstruction has been outlined
that includes drafting a new
constitution and holding elections
in June 2004.
"As Americans, we have
difficulty understanding and
sympathizing with other countries in
their struggles," says Rusty
Griffin, MAFS' event coordinator.
"For two years, we argue about
political candidates, when either
one of them is probably going to be
doing about the same job. The day
after the election, we say, let's
quit arguing and we'll talk about
this in another two years."
Griffin, who's made several trips
to Afghanistan to assist in
health-care-related missions, adds,
"That's not the way they've
lived over there, so we can't impose
that kind of mentality. People here
think they should be happy now
because they've got an elected
leader, but why should they be
happy? They've never been happy
before. Stability is a new
experience for them,"
Help Is on the Way
On a chilly March day in Herat,
Afghanistan, Dr. Zack Taylor of St.
Francis Hospital lectured to 35 men
on the medical team of a local
hospital about his specialty --
gastroneurology. According to
Griffin, basic medical education is
greatly needed, since over 80
percent of the country's health-care
facilities were destroyed during the
decades of war.
MAFS members had collected more
than 1,000 stethoscopes from Memphis
hospitals and doctors to hand out on
this trip. Afghan doctors had been
sharing stethoscopes with three or
four other doctors. After his talk,
Griffin and Taylor handed out a
stethoscope and pinlight to each
doctor.
"It was like little children
at Christmas. They were getting
something they've had to totally do
without," says Griffin.
"These doctors have stuck
around through 23 years of war with
no training, no updating, no new
equipment, no medicine. They've
fallen that far behind, and now all
of a sudden this great box has been
opened to them, this world. Stick
your hand in and take whatever you
like. They don't know what to grab
for."
Members of MAFS' medical sector
come from all over the city --
Christ Community Medical Clinic,
Methodist Health Systems, Baptist
Health Systems, to name a few. Each
group is doing something different,
but all are working to ensure that
Afghan medical workers are receiving
updated equipment and medical
education.
Afghanistan has the highest
infant mortality rate in the world,
and St. Francis representatives are
collecting materials for training in
midwifery in hopes of curbing that
statistic. A group from Baptist
Health Systems is trying to convert
some very complicated material on
traditional birthing assistance into
an easy-to-understand illustrated
format, since many Afghan midwives
are uneducated. And Methodist Health
Systems recently put together a
number of birthing kits to be sent
over in the next few months.
"Their health-care system is
archaic. The labs at their hospitals
are fairly nonexistent, and there's
not a respirator in the entire
country," says Cindy Taylor, a
nurse from St. Francis who's been on
two health-related missions to
Kabul. "They don't really need
high technology right now. They just
need the basics. China sent them a
CT scanner, and they don't even have
the electricity to use it. It's
still sitting out in their parking
lot in a big box."
In education, the University of
Memphis and Craigmont High School,
the only optional public school for
international studies) are playing a
big role.
Students at Craigmont, which
hosted representatives from the
Afghan government last fall, have
formed a partnership school with the
newly re-opened Mariam School for
Girls. Craigmont has been raising
money and collecting school supplies
to be shipped via FedEx, and
according to Casey Williams, the
school's ambassador core sponsor,
students are planning to travel to
Afghanistan once the war in Iraq is
over.
"The students had a day
where they could pay a dollar and
not wear their uniform, and over
$500 was raised," says
Williams, who teaches Japanese and
history. "That money is going
into a fund for the purchase of
school supplies. Also, each
seventh-period class had a contest
to see which could bring in the most
school supplies to donate. The class
with the most got a pizza party.
They get so excited about getting to
help in a situation they hear so
much about."
The Mariam School for Girls has
more than 9,000 students, so classes
are split into three shifts.
According to Morris, who's been
involved in numerous overseas
missions, there's a lack of desks
and chairs, so students often sit in
tents or outside under trees for
their lessons. Their physics lab has
no equipment. They have one
computer, and their library only has
about 500 books.
"Most of the textbooks they
have are dated from 1979 to the
early 1980s. They were developed
during the days of the mujaheddin
when they were trying to overthrow
the Russians, so a lot of the
illustrations are very anti-Russian.
They have a very outdated
curriculum," says Morris.
The University of Memphis is
working to get federal grant money
to help fund technology and distance
learning, as well as the development
of a new curriculum for students at
Mariam and other schools in Kabul.
Dr. Wali Abdi, an associate
professor of science education and a
native of Afghanistan, is leading
the effort, along with faculty from
the university's provost office. The
next education-related trip is
planned for May.
From Memphis with Love
Morris spent a little time in the
Arab world prior to 9/11. He first
visited Afghanistan in 1989 as a
director for a nongovernment
organization called Global Partners.
At that time, the Russians still
ruled the cities but the mujaheddin
controlled the rural areas. He
bonded with the country and its
people. After the 9/11 attacks, he
was naturally concerned about
Afghanistan's future.
"My mind was just clicking
all the time, trying to think of
ways we could do something tangible,
because I've seen so many efforts in
that part of the world turn into
[ways] for nongovernment
organizations to make money,"
says Morris. "You'll see these
Toyota Hiluxes and these huge
salaries being spent on Westerners
going there and living off the
development funds. I really wanted
to be able to do something tangible
to make a difference rather than
sending money off somewhere not
really knowing where it was
going."
Morris talked with several
Memphians -- county sheriff Mark
Luttrell and some friends at FedEx
-- and they developed the idea of
forming a friendship with
Afghanistan. The group created an
organization called International
Friendship Summits which would
enable them to invite Afghan leaders
to Memphis. Morris, Griffin, and a
few others then made a trip to
Afghanistan in August 2002 to
discuss the concept with some Afghan
friends in Kabul.
The group originally planned on
inviting 20 to 30 Afghan leaders,
but the newly formed organization
lacked the funds. They ended up
inviting nine -- three from the
ministry of health, three from the
ministry of education, one from the
ministry of water and natural
resources, and two members of the
Afghan embassy in Washington, D.C.
-- for a summit in Memphis in
October 2002.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
An
Afghan
delegation
tours the Med
in Memphis.
|
|
|
|
A Friendship Is
Born
On October
9th, the various
Afghan leaders
flew into
Memphis
International
Airport. Despite
the fact that
they all worked
for the same
government, the
men had not met
until they
boarded the
flight. As they
stepped off the
plane, they were
greeted by a
group from the
Friendship
Summit.
They spent
the night at the
homes of various
summit members.
At Zack and
Cindy Taylor's
house, the
deputy minister
of public health
and his adviser
learned to putt
golf balls.
"They
had a little
competition
going on between
them," says
Cindy, laughing
as she thinks
back to her
hosting
experiences.
"We even
taught them how
to say y'all.
Now in all their
e-mails, they
start with 'Hey,
y'all.' We
really formed a
neat
relationship
with them."
The next few
days were spent
touring local
facilities that
pertained to
their fields of
interest.
Ministry of
public health
officials toured
Memphis
hospitals and
talked about
health-care
issues in
America versus
those in
Afghanistan.
Others visited
the FedEx
Leadership
Institute, where
they attended a
seminar in
business
leadership.
Education
officials
visited
Craigmont High
School for an
interactive
schoolwide
assembly.
Several
students,
faculty members,
and school board
members joined
the men for
shish kebabs in
the school's tea
room and then
went to the gym,
where students,
who had
previously
submitted
questions
regarding
education
conditions in
Kabul, heard
them answered by
Zabuillah
Asmatey,
Afghanistan's
deputy minister
of education.
"The
students wanted
to know how many
days Afghan
students went to
school, how many
years, how many
hours a day.
They wanted to
know what people
do for fun, and
how things have
changed since
the Taliban is
gone. They were
curious about
cultural things
and women's
status,"
says Casey
Williams.
One student
wanted to know
about technology
in Afghanistan.
Do the students
there use
computers in the
classroom like
they do here?
"First,
we need to put a
roof over a
computer. Many
of our students
are learning
while sitting on
the ground, so
the question of
educational
technology is a
bit far
away,"
Asmatey replied.
Afterward,
Griffin, seven
Afghan
diplomats, and
23 members of
the police
department's
SWAT team went
to Graceland.
One Sunday, the
Afghan delegates
went to
Christian
churches with
their host
families, then
that night, the
host families
took the men to
a local mosque.
"It's
been really neat
to break down
the stereotypes
and see that
they're real
people,"
says Griffin.
"One night
when they were
here, one of the
guys and I were
talking after
dinner and he
said, 'All
Americans are
rich. All
Americans are
Christians. All
Americans are
arrogant.'
"I looked
at him and said,
'All Afghans
carry machine
guns. All
Afghans ride in
the back of
trucks. All
Afghans have 10
wives.' He just
looked at me and
laughed. He knew
I was as
off-base as he
was. It's
amazing when you
cut through all
that stuff and
really get down
to two people
talking."
No End in
Sight
The people of
Kabul have
gotten used to
seeing visitors
from Memphis,
and Morris says
they're always
shown the utmost
respect from
members of the
Afghan
government. In a
follow-up trip
to the October
summit, students
lined the
sidewalk outside
the Mariam
School for Girls
and threw rose
petals at the
American
delegation. Last
month, when the
medical team
arrived, they
were taken out
to dinner by the
cabinet minister
of health.
Memphians are
being treated
like royalty by
the leaders of
Afghanistan
because of the
friendship and
respect MAFS
representatives
have shown to
them.
It's a
friendship so
deep that the
nearby war in
Iraq can't faze
it. "People
seem to want to
continue being
involved. We're
definitely not
stopping or
slowing
down," says
Morris.
"Certainly,
if there's a
dangerous
situation, we're
going to
encourage people
to be wise. If
people decide to
travel, we're
going to make
them aware of
the travel
advisories and
government
warnings. We
want them to
know this is not
like traveling
to
Chattanooga."
But it
appears war is
not going to
stop the MAFS
efforts:
"As long as
they'll fly us
in and fly us
home,"
Cindy Taylor
says. As part of
the medical team
that traveled
over in March,
both Griffin and
Taylor were in
Afghanistan the
day the U.N.'s
Hans Blix
announced
Saddam's
deadline to
destroy his
alleged weapons
of mass
destruction.
There is no
end in sight for
the MAFS.
They're hoping
to expand their
efforts to other
areas of
assistance.
Afghanistan is
in great need of
reforestation,
since wood is
used for
cooking, heat,
and building.
MAFS has had
talks with
International
Paper about ways
to help the
situation.
How to deal
with the
country's huge
opium cash crop
is another MAFS
concern. During
the Taliban
rule, 64,500
hectares of
prime
agricultural
land were used
to cultivate
opium poppies,
which serve as
the country's
biggest cash
crop. MAFS plans
to attempt to
help the country
develop a cotton
industry. Since
Memphis is a
center for the
U.S. cotton
industry and
cotton is needed
in the
neighboring
countries of
Pakistan and
India, MAFS
leaders think
the idea is
feasible.
But for MAFS
to expand its
mission, it must
recruit more
help. Morris
says he would
love to see the
Memphis and
Shelby County
governments get
more involved,
as well as local
businesses.
"If we
would all quit
griping about
the way the
world is and
start doing
something to
make it better,
we could,"
says Griffin.
"I'm
convinced that
every
organization in
Memphis -- every
church and every
civic group --
could really
make the
difference if
they got serious
and got
involved.
Americans are
too comfortable
blaming the
world's problems
on somebody
else. I'm so
thrilled that
there are people
in this city who
actually believe
they can do
something."
Afghanistan,
you've got a
friend in
Memphis.
Afghanistan
Aid Controversy
It's been
over a year
since the
U.S.-led
military
campaign in
Afghanistan
resulted in the
overthrow of the
oppressive
Taliban
government. The
U.S. and the
world community
pledged billions
in assistance to
help the
war-torn country
rebuild. The
U.S. has been
accused of
dragging its
feet in its
reconstruction
efforts by some
aid
organizations
and development
experts, but the
U.S. Agency for
International
Development (USAID)
reports that the
U.S. has
actually
exceeded its
monetary pledge.
At the Afghan
Reconstruction
Conference in
Tokyo, held in
January 2002,
$5.25 billion
was pledged by
international
donors to be
distributed to
Afghanistan over
the next five
years. At that
conference, the
U.S. pledged
$297 million for
the first year.
According to a
March 13, 2003,
report released
by USAID, the
U.S. spent more
than $531
million in 2002,
almost doubling
the proposed
pledge.
One of the
reasons the U.S.
has been
criticized by
the world
community is
that the
administration
was late in
outlining an
Afghanistan aid
budget for 2003.
In fact, in its
2003 budget
proposals, the
White House did
not ask for
specific money
to go toward
rebuilding
Afghanistan. A
spokesperson for
the USAID later
said the request
was not made
because it was
too early to say
how much money
was needed. So
far this year,
however, more
than $65 million
has been spent
in U.S.
humanitarian
assistance to
Afghanistan.
Media reports
about the
administration's
"oversight"
may have led
some to believe
the U.S. was not
fulfilling its
pledge.
President
Bush has also
received
criticism over
his August veto
of a bill
calling for $5.1
billion to go
toward
supplemental
international
aid. Of that
money, $174
million was
slated for
Afghanistan.
Instead, Bush is
proposing a
"Marshall
Plan" in
which funds
would be aimed
at strengthening
the country's
economic
superstructure
rather than
going toward
more
humanitarian
efforts.
Although the
U.S. exceeded
its 2002 pledge
and appears to
have a plan for
future aid,
there is some
concern from the
world community
as to whether or
not the war in
Iraq will have
an effect on how
much is given to
Afghanistan this
year. Assuming
the U.S. wins
the war, Iraq
will be in great
need of foreign
assistance.
Since the war
effort was led
by the U.S.,
this country
will be expected
to lead
rebuilding
efforts. Afghan
president Hamed
Karzai spent the
first week in
March lobbying
in Washington
for increased
U.S. support in
the wake of the
Iraq war.
"A war
in Iraq now
would just take
more attention
away from
Afghanistan,
when the job is
very far from
completed,"
Paul Barker, a
director for
CARE, recently
told MSNBC.
"The
implications are
a return to the
pre-Taliban
scenario of the
early 1990s. If
the world
community
doesn't make
some tangible
investments in
Afghanistan's
future now,
Afghanistan --
and much of the
region -- could
descend back
into
chaos." -- BP
|
