Refugee Relief International | Helping Victims of Armed Conflict

RRI Volunteer: personal retrospective

After-Action Report from Refugee Relief Medical Mission - January, 2002

Summary
Between 26 December 2001 and 9 January 2002, a two-man Refugee Relief International (RRI) medical team deployed to Afghanistan. The mission had two objectives:

1. Get in-country and provide as much medical assistance as possible;
2. Establish a network of contacts in Afghanistan to support future medical missions.

The mission was a success as both objectives were accomplished, though much more humanitarian work remains to be done in this area of operations.

Embarkation
With two-days notice, the team received a mission briefing on Christmas Day 2001 and left from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) the next day. The trip from SFO to London, to Abu Dhabi to Peshawar, Pakistan was uneventful, except for unanticipated problems getting the required multiple visas per team member in order to enter Pakistan. The team arrived safely in Peshawar Pakistan on 30 December 2001.

Some of the medical supplies brought by RRI

In Peshawar, the team met with Abdul (who would be the team’s interpreter/driver/fixer) and purchased local clothing, blankets and hats to blend in better. While the fixer was working on obtaining proper documents for entry into Afghanistan, the team went to several bazaars to purchase medical supplies, and visited the local hospital.

On 3 January 2002, the team joined a member of the International Foundation of Hope (IFH) and several other IFH members in a two-vehicle convoy to Jalalabad, IFH’s headquarters in Afghanistan. The party entered Afghanistan from Pakistan through the legendary Khyber Pass that wound its way through the Hindu Kush mountain range.

An armed escort was needed for the team's safety

From there, it headed East down a mostly paved road (the only road/highway that leads to Kabul), which gave an overview of the Afghan countryside. There were camels, wagons pulled by donkeys, alliance troops looking for Taliban soldiers, Gypsy camps, remnants of huge villages destroyed by the Russians and littered with rusted out hulks of tanks, a refugee camp that spanned for miles made up of shelters of thin plastic sheets, hundreds of cemeteries covered with flags made of twisted branches and colorful rags, and an ever-changing background of mountains that included everything from giant snow topped jagged peaks to huge masses of sand.

This was the Wild West, Afghan style. The countryside was inhabited by packs of bandits, and ordinary citizens traveled with Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers for safety.

Medical Assistance

Villagers lined up quickly when they heard medical care was available

On 4 January, the team went into its first village in a Toyota car driven by an IFH Afghan driver and one security guard armed with a Kalashnikov. After meeting with the village elders, the Refugee Relief team started treating patients.

Instead of gunshot wounds and landmine injuries, the team found a different kind of wartime victim: After 23 years of tyranny by the Russians and the Taliban, and three years of famine, the Afghan people, stripped of everything, were slowly dying of starvation and preventable diseases.

They came in the hundreds, some looking like partially animated skeletons with the faces of death, and all with the tragic look of dire need.

Boy with broken arm being treated by RRI member

Malnutrition of all forms, typhoid, malaria, hepatitis, echinococcus, leishmaniasis, amebic dysentery, polio, cholera, tuberculosis, chronic respiratory and urinary tract infections, measles, broken bones and so many more ailments that we could treat and so many more that we couldn’t with supplies and staff on hand.

At the end of the day, the team was nowhere near finished but had to leave by virtue of simply being out of supplies and out of time. As we drove off, the sick and injured that we couldn’t get to would stare at us – many of them children. The next day would be just like the last, only in a different village.

RRI member distributing wheat to villagers

This pattern was to be repeated for the next few days. After traveling to a village, paying respect to its elders, the Refugee Relief team (in conjunction with the IFH mobile clinic) provided medical care to village after village in the Jalalabad and Tora Bora areas.During its stay, the Refugee Relief team treated hundreds of Afghan villagers, including some prominent government and military officials. Additionally, Refugee Relief purchased and distributed enough food to feed a village of Afghans.

Despite the stress of leaving each village with so much work left to do, the unsettling sound of automatic gunfire in the background and the harsh Afghan weather, the team felt very welcomed and at home in Afghanistan. Everywhere, children would yell, "Thank you!"

Thank you, America!

It wasn’t just the children. The Afghan’s sense of community and family is far more developed than in the West, and their hospitality is unrivaled. They didn’t have a word equivalent to "foreigner" and referred to the team as guests and friends. Lodging, protection, and food were offered everywhere - for the entire time in country, team members didn’t and couldn’t buy a single meal, because the team members were special guests.

Despite the presence of landmines and sporadic gunfire and harsh weather, neither team member was injured during this mission. The team returned safely to San Francisco on 9 January 2002.

Building Contacts to Support Future Relief Missions
In addition to the goodwill generated among the Afghan villages helped by Refugee Relief, the Team also made some very valuable contacts that will be helpful in facilitating future and larger operations in Afghanistan:

The founder of IFH and several IFH members
Abdul, local Afghan leader
Various interpreter/fixers

RRI clinic was the only treatment available for this woman's sick infant

As successful as this mission was, it was only a "drop in the bucket" when compared to the need. All the health problems the team encountered were easily solvable: basic nutrition, sanitation, and medical treatment. The only limiting factor in providing more humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan is resources.

Respectfully submitted,

Jack Gander, Team Leader
A.B., Team Member

Refugee Relief International, Inc.
2995 Woodside Road #400-244
Woodside, CA 94062
email: info@refugeerelief.org