Have you heard that polio has made a comeback in places like New York and London!?
There is no lasting peace in our communities without the freedom of knowing that a global menace has been eradicated for good. This is the case with polio, a disease that has disfigured many millions of children and utterly terrified my parents’ generation. Because of breakthrough vaccines, polio has now been 99% eradicated from the planet, and the only remaining endemic region now is the borderlands between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“There is no lasting peace in our communities without the freedom of knowing that a global menace has been eradicated for good. ”
As an organization, Petra Peacebuilders cares deeply about this remote corner of the world, also known as “Af-Pak”, where we have nurtured strong connections since 2018. Until polio is completely eradicated from these final strongholds, every country on the planet is once again threatened by this highly infectious and devastating virus for which there is no cure.
With Rotary Peace Fellow friends in Abbottabad, Pakistan
Because polio vaccination in Af-Pak is much more a political issue than a medical or technical one, with life-and-death consequences, vaccination efforts in this region are considered crucial to peacebuilding efforts.
As the world has “moved on” to other crisis places like Ukraine, I’m asking myself, can we please find a way to not also forget about Afghanistan and Pakistan?
Saving lives puts these health workers at risk of losing their own
Polio workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan are among the most courageous, yet vulnerable, groups of peacebuilders out there.
The existing complications of health care in these most isolated areas of Af-Pak are radically compounded by the fact that both misinformation and geopolitical blunders have made polio vaccination campaigns extremely risky for polio workers on the ground. Many Afghan and Pakistani parents are fearful of vaccinating their kids, having been told that vaccination drives are a foreign plot to sterilize their children. Anti-vaccine sentiment also grew much stronger after the CIA staged a fake house-to-house vaccination drive in Pakistan as a façade for intelligence gathering in the post-9/11 pursuit of Osama bin Laden.
In the past decade, nearly 100 people associated with polio vaccination campaigns have been killed in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Only a few weeks ago, a Pakistani police officer, assigned as security to vaccination workers, was killed along the Afghan border not far from Quetta. Earlier this year, eight house-to-house team members were killed in Taloqan and Kunduz, in northern Afghanistan.
You can now see why we are passionate about providing mental health support to people who risk their lives to bring peace and health to their communities.
Resilience training, Herat (2019)
Families boldly stepping up to carry on the fight against polio
A heart-wrenching element of these stories is how many family members of the health workers killed in the line of duty have boldly stepped up to take their place. I had the immense privilege of hearing more about these courageous people from Dr. Zubair Wahood, a Pakistani epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO) who is leading these efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Over a cup of coffee at the Rotary Institute in Basel, Switzerland in November 2022, we shared our favorite stories of brave heroes and heroines in Afghanistan and Pakistan, him talking about polio workers from his side, and me sharing about community health workers and peacebuilders from Petra’s side.
When Dr. Wahood shared with me about the family members of the slain rising up to also put their own lives on the line, even after their precious siblings and loved ones had been killed, I couldn’t contain my tears of grief, admiration, and respect. My intention is that Petra Peacebuilders never stops advocating for their well-being. And as I type this, the tears are falling once again onto the keyboard in front of me.
“The same trauma that gives people so much authority in the work they do is the same trauma that threatens to derail them psychologically and emotionally in the line of duty. ”
The constant refrain I tell people is this: The same trauma that gives people so much authority in the work they do is the same trauma that threatens to derail them psychologically and emotionally in the line of duty. Post-traumatic recovery and growth are not automatic. People must have the right support at the right time in order to transform that trauma.
Together, we can support these heroes
My Afghan colleague ‘Rashid’ (not his real name) emailed me this morning. He and his teammates continue to lead health initiatives in Afghanistan, even as they once again face extreme challenges under the Taliban regime. From my side, I told him that I often shed tears asking God to protect them and keep them well physically, mentally, and psychologically. He responded by saying that he can count on his fingers the true friends who take the time to care and remember them there, even during their darkest times, with so many risks.
“If one member is afflicted with pain, other members uneasy will remain.”
Your support helps us provide training and resources to support the mental health and resilience of people like Rashid as they fight to provide the children of Afghanistan and Pakistan with a healthy future.
He concluded his email to me with this poem by a famous Persian poet:
Human beings are members of a whole
In creation of one essence and soul
If one member is afflicted with pain
Other members uneasy will remain
If you have no sympathy for human pain
The name of human you cannot retain
What can we do together? How do we respond and offer support? Over the coming weeks and months, Petra Peacebuilders will be exploring how we can respond to the need of frontline health workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Will you contribute today what you can to this work?
Your support can help us provide training and resources to support the mental health and resilience of people like Rashid, fighting to provide the children of Afghanistan and Pakistan with a healthy future. To give specifically to support peace workers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, give here and select purpose Programs - Af-Pak (to mail checks, please also see our donation page).