Easing Afghan suffering

| life’s work of local woman

By ROD LINK
TO US, they’re one-dimensional
images on TV, We've seen them
before and we'll see them again.

To Heather Bellamy, those
images of people from Afghani-
stan — masses of humanity jam-
med on large, colourfully decora-
ted trucks, crying women, child-
ren staring with large, dark eyes —
are very real. They’re the people
she’s been living and working
with for the better part of the past
five years.

Bellamy is from Terrace and
works for Samaritan’s Purse, a
Calgary-based, non-denomination-
al Christian relief organization.
She’s the only Samaritan’s Purse
worker in Pakistan. Living in Isia-
mabad, the Pakistani capital,
Bellamy has devoted her life to
helping Afghan refugees, primari-
ly women and their children, who
have flooded into that country.

Bellamy arrived back in Cana-
da in mid-August for an extended
leave but that changed two weeks
ago after the terrorist attacks in
the United States.

Afghanistan, with the Taliban
in charge, is apparently the prime
target of the United States when it
comes to retaliation. Hundreds of
thousands of Afghans are now
massing at border crossings lead-
ing to Pakistan, fearful of what
may come. And these are on top
of the estimated 2.5 million
Afghans already forced out of
thetr home country and living in
Pakistan because of civil war.

Bellamy has spent the last
week trying to get back to Paki-
stan. Her latest efforts have been
devoted to faxing United Nations
organizations to see if her Afghan
language and cultural skills can
be used.

The prospects of a fast return
seems to change with each day.
Although the Pakistani govern-
ment is siding with the U.S., sig-
nificant numbers of its citizens in-
stead support the Taliban, They’ve
offered haven to Osama bin
Laden, the prime suspect now
wanted by the United States. Ca-
nadians are being warned to leave
Pakistan and the United Nations
is pulling cut its people.

HEATHER Beliamy (second from right) and her roomate, Cindy Irwin from Indianna, U.S.A.

ieacak

(middle), enjoy a meal in their Islamabad, Pakistan home with three Afghan refugee women.

“As a refugee, you have no
money, or family. No help,” said
Bellamy last week.

As it is, Afghanistan went
through a drought this past spring,
putting people at risk and at the
border with Pakistan before the
attacks on the United States.

“The Kabul River dried up,
People were so desperate they
Were eating grass,” said Bellamy.

“This is a nation that has been
so desperate for so long, they are
telling Christian workers that they
don’t care about freedom, they
just want to live.”

But it is the Taliban, the ex-
treme fundamentalist Islamic
group which now runs the country,
which has the most drastic effect
on the lives of ordinary Afghans,

“There are 25,000 war widows
alone in Kabul,” said Bellamy of
the Afghan capital. “The latest
edict from the Taliban is that
women, aside from having to be
covered from head to foot, are
only allowed outside of their
home twice a week,”

That means incredible hardship
for those women in buying food
and tending to the ordinary busi-
ness of life,

“There are,layers of suffering

stan, making her absence at at
this lime particularly hard to
handle.

“We're helping and giving
comfort and hope where there is
none. It’s such a privilege from
God to help them. It’s giving
God's comfort.”

“The Kabul River
dried up. People were
so desperate they
were eating grass.”

Bellamy knows the United
States and its allies will extract a
price for the terrorist attacks in
New York and in Washington,
DC,

“You have to go after this level
of evil to this degree,” she said.
“But I would hope they remember
mercy for those everyday people.”

Shocked at the level of de-
struction and death in the United
States two weeks ago, Bellamy
notes it does not have anything to
do with Islam.

“I see lots of Afghans and Pa-
kistanis who are devout Muslims,
This is not deyout Islam...lt is

we know nothing “about,” said.,..against Islam. It is:like,the people

Bellamy. " ye th
She enjoys her work in’Paki-

» who: blow up abortion centres ‘and
hold signs’ saying “it’s ‘for God“

Heather Bellamy

it’s not for God,” she said,

Despite the horrors past and the
conflict to come, Bellamy sees
hope for Afghanistan in the people
who have left the country and who
will return someday when the si-
tuation is better. “There will be
good from this bad,” she said.

In the meantime, Bellamy sits
and waits for her chance to return.

“The Gospel of Jesus is the an-
swer for these people,” she said.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 26, 2001 - A3

News In Brief

Nurse exec named

THE PROVINCIAL government has hired a chief
nurse execulive as part of the effort to recruit, re-
tain and educate more nurses in B.C.

Anne Sutherland Boal was most recently director
of the Canadian Education Centre Network in
China at the Canadian embassy in Beijing and be-
fore that was director of patient services at the In-
ternational. Hospital in Beijing. 7

She has also been vice president of patient ser-
vices at the Children’s and Women's Health
Centre in Vancouver and president of the B.C.
Children’s Hospital.

Lumber trade debated

A RESOLUTION urging the federal government to
begin immediate and vigourous negotiations with
the U.S. to ensure free trade for Canadian lumber is
on the table as municipal politicians meet this
week in Vancouver.

The resolution for the Union of B.C. Municipal-
ties convention also urges the federal government
to involve Canadian producers and local govern-
ments to ensure all are united in negotiations.

Also to be debated ts a motion asking the health
planning ministry to take the lead role in passing
legislation to achieve a complete smoke-free en-
vironment in all indoor public places and work-
places, including pubs, bars, restaurants, cisions
and binge halls.

Hagen dodges on SCI
CABINET MINISTER Stan Hagen won't say whe-
ther he'll support Skeena MLA Roger Harris’ push
to get contractors here paid out of proceeds from
any sale of Skeena Cellulose.

Harris’ idea of paying contractors first if SCI is
sold would mean the government not returning
some money to taxpayers — a concept that may be
contentious tu people elsewhere in B.C. who may
feel they’ve already paid enough for SCI.

“Roger’s job is to support his community to the
greatest extent possible,” said Hagen, the minister
of sustainable resource management.

What are you hunting?

HUNTERS in the north are being asked to help
collect wildlife data for the Northern First Nations
Summit and the provincial government this season.
The summit consists of seven aboriginal groups in-
cluding the Iskut Tahltan, Dease Lake, Teslin
Glinget and Taku River Glinget amongst others.

Checkpoints are going up at various access
points to high-traffic hunting areas to collect infor-
mation about big game that’ll be used by the Mini-
stry of Water, Land and Air Protection.

The, focus is on collecting-information about big

“game “such as moose, cariboo, sheep, goat and

possibly grizzly: Hiinters' participation is voluntary.

SAIS

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