Medical Charity Identifies Aid Workers Killed in Afghanistan

The International Assistance Mission has released the names of its medical aid workers who were killed in Afghanistan last week in an ambush. The attack against the Christian charity has been described as “the worst crime targeting the humanitarian community that has ever taken place in Afghanistan.” The dead included optomistrist Dr. Tom Little, sixty-one, of Delmar, New York; thirty-two-year-old Cheryl Beckett of Owensville, Ohio; Dan Terry, sixty-three, of Janesville, Wisconsin; forty-year-old Glen Lapp of Lancastger, Pennsylvania; twenty-five-year-old freelance videographer Brian Carderelli of Harrisonburg, Virginia; and the fifty-one-year-old dentist Thomas Grams of Durango, Colorado. The dead also included two Afghans named Mahram Ali and Jawed, Deniela Beyer of Germany, and Dr. Karen Woo of Britain. The International Assitance Mission has worked in Afghanistan since 1966. Up until last week, the group had lost just four international staff members.

From Democracy Now, Aug. 10, 2010

Have you ever seen
A seed fallen to earth
Not rise with a new life
Why should you doubt the rise
Of a seed named human.
- Rumi, 13th Century Afghanistan

By Mary Urashima

Special to the Surf City Voice

I see Tom Grams’ handsome face smiling back in photos taken in Afghanistan.  He retired his private dental practice in Durango, Colorado and began devoting his life to working with the underprivileged in remote places around the world: Guatemala, Nepal, India, and Afghanistan.  Since 2007, he had been working often in Afghanistan.

Thomas Grams with patients and students at Kabul school. Photo courtesy of Mary Urashima

I first met Tom via email in 2006 when he asked for help with a Pierre Fauchard Foundation grant to help establish a small dental clinic at a school I helped support in Kabul.  Tom had spent some time providing free dental care in the village of Wardak, but wanted to reach more Afghans.

The schoolmaster in Kabul wanted to make sure Tom knew the risks.  While our organization was predominantly Afghan, there were many Westerners working with the group both in Kabul and the U.S.

We employed female Afghan teachers and provided secular education for girls and boys together.

This—and the presence of Westerners—created a risk at times.  Some organizations had received “night letters”, which essentially threatened those who worked with “foreigners.”

Danger Warning

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul issued a travel warning in mid 2006 that characterized the security threat to all American citizens in Afghanistan as critical.

“Unfortunately from last week till now the security is getting worse every day and lots of explosions in Kabul happen and lots of bad people are looking for US compounds to do explosions or other bad things,” wrote the Afghan schoolmaster in mid 2006.

“Let me give you the picture of Kabul right now. Every one is scared to go to streets if it is not necessary. There is no rush on the streets as it used to be…students are not showing up because of the bad security…”

It did get better for a while.  In January 2007, after visiting Afghanistan, Tom wrote, “after the warning i had received i was a bit apprehensive. while there, all seemed about the same. i am comfortable with my personal safety.”

Satisfied that everyone was aware of the risks and determined to go forward, we prepared the Fauchard grant application.

There were supply lists, letters of reference, statements about his prior work in other countries, and photos of Tom working in Wardak.  We talked about what dental materials would be available in Kabul, and what he would have to carry with him in his luggage.

“My writing as far as philosophy, objectives is spartan. writing grant applications is new for me. feel free to expound / expand as you feel appropriate,” Tom wrote me in April 2007.

It was through these emails and phone calls that I began to know Tom.  I received emails from him from internet cafes in Afghanistan, Nepal, India, Patagonia, and one when he had just hiked out of the Grand Canyon.  They were usually cryptic, sort of e.e. cummings style, due to limited internet time, bad keyboards, and his self-professed Ludite nature.

Thomas Grams with female patient at Kabul clinic during its first days, 2007. Photo courtesy of Mary Urashima

He sent me a CD with photos of himself in Afghanistan: “the mullahs have been helpful and cooperative so there is an image of 4 of them. out of respect for them please do not publish or widely distribute that image. i included it more  for native afghans to see as they will comprehend the significance…realize that i am very willing to work with the religious leaders as i know the influence they can have.”

This is key to understanding Tom’s nature.  He was willing to work within the culture and constraints of the country.  He had no hidden agendas and never talked about religion.  Despite later claims by the Taliban, Tom was not in Afghanistan to convert anyone.  He did not try to convert the Buddhist monks he treated in Nepal, he did not try to convert people in Leh, Ladakh, and he did not try to convert Afghans.

Tom returned to Wardak in April 2007 and sent an update. “all went well in the village. the people are very welcoming. plus their dental health has improved. makes it all worth it. i am fortunate to have a skill that can be useful for so many. sadly it is too many but at least i can help some just a bit.”

Planning a Clinic

Tom then traveled to Kabul and began interviewing Afghan dentists.  He was insistent that Afghan dentists work with him at the new clinic, so he could both treat more Afghans and improve knowledge and technique with local dentists.

When the schoolmaster found a well-qualified dentist that was an Afghan woman, Tom was pleased as he hadn’t liked a couple of the male dentists he interviewed.  “Neither struck me as motivated by compassion. Hate to stereotype but I think the odds are better with a lady to find those qualities.”

By June, the final arrangements for the clinic were in motion and we were figuring out the logistics of what would work in Afghanistan, always a challenge.

Tom was buying supplies and trying to send money to Kabul for equipment.  “There is quite a lot that I need to get done here to help get the clinic established,” he wrote.  “Knowing what is available in Kabul and at what price is going to be essential (and) make all our lives simpler.”

By August 2007, the clinic was ready and Tom arrived back in Kabul.  “We got the Clinic open today. we saw several patients. most of the students have good teeth. that is good it makes me happy,” he emailed.

“We will be working the next two days. then we will go to Shomali for a picnic on thursday.  It is nice for me to be back in Afghanistan…I have a surprise second job. I am an English teacher also.”

We all laughed when we heard Tom was also teaching the students English.  The schoolmaster was notorious for drafting Americans into teaching whatever they knew to the students.  Their thirst for knowledge was unquenchable.

After teaching a few English classes after clinic hours were over, Tom decided he liked it.

“the english teachers are great guys. we are having lots of fun,” he wrote. “initially i was a bit worried i would be too tired to (do) that besides dentistry. it has (been) fun for me and helpful for the teachers. plus it is interesting to learn more of their lives… I am feeling very accepted.”

Tom emailed me again later about the English classes. “Shams was definitely the most eager, voracious learner.  He got razzed by the others for monopolizing my attention.  I personally was impressed with his ambition and desire to expand his vocabulary.  Wali and Hashmatt also kept notebooks of new English words.  All 3 were more than willing to use their newly acquired English on the other teachers.  They loved the label ‘apple polisher’ for Shams.”

The Afghan staff welcomed Tom into their lives outside the school.  “we have been on 2 trips to shomalli and paghman for picnics on our off days. nice to get out of kabul as air here is not so good. also the areas we go to are nice.,” he wrote of their day trips.

“we also did a trip to the pansjeer vally,” he continued, “a very important area for recent afg. history as this was where massoud held out against the russians and taliban. access is restricted to residents and their guests. we had 2 pansjeeriis with us so were let passed the guards. one of the guys pointed out the 2 trees where his family lived under for 4 months. living history is so much more compelling…”

Near the end of Tom’s 2007 visit, the Afghan staff emailed the group here in the U.S. to ask permission to use funds to for a farewell party for him.  Tom wrote about it, “One of the students painted a picture of me doing dental work that is quite good. It most definitely the first time I have had my picture painted as an expression of thanks. It was a very touching gift.”

Tom returned often to Afghanistan to work at the clinics he helped establish, re-visit patients and work more with Afghan dentists.  It was clear the Afghans loved him and looked forward to his visits.

Murdered

On Aug. 5 of this year, Tom, along with a small group of humanitarians from the West, was murdered by Taliban in the Badakhshan Province of Afghanistan.  With shock, I saw his face flash on the television screen and began emailing colleagues.  Emails came in from around the U.S. and Afghanistan.  The schoolmaster had told Tom not to go, but Tom felt they would be ok with their experienced Afghan guide.

There were solemn condolences, and, some anger, in the emails from Afghans who had worked with or met Tom.  Wrote one Afghan, “the killing of IAM aid workers once again shows the brutal and inhuman faces of people who have no mercy to innocent people, children and women who need help. This is an act against the humanity and you can’t justify it in anyway.  This is not the will of Afghans.”

Wrote another, “Our deepest condolences to Dr. Tom’s family and the family of all other relief workers killed.  Their memory will be forever in our thoughts and hearts.”

And another, “They are the true heroes…”

“I hate it, I hate it, I hate it,” another Afghan friend told me, when we spoke of the Taliban’s violence.

Thomas Grams (top left) with Afghan teachers and staff at the Kabul school. Photo courtesy of Mary Urashima

I have been asked to find some meaning in what happened to Tom and the other aid workers.  It doesn’t have much to do with religion, because the Taliban have morphed into something more like the mob.  In the beginning, they presented themselves as religious scholars.  Today, they are more motivated by power, control, greed, and work in an atmosphere of fear and distrust.  They attack schools, because education can reduce their influence.  They attacked Tom’s group, simply because they were foreigners.

Humanitarians represent change, education and new ideas, all very threatening to those who are entrenched in their beliefs, religious or political.  International humanitarians, in effect, shift the balance of power as the local population interacts with them.

Their deaths are a result of beliefs becoming polarized, breeding prejudice and hate.  It is a reminder that groups who insist their way is the only way will discredit, dehumanize, try to control information, and eventually, lash out.  Intolerance, unchecked, grows and someone will be hurt.

Tom’s skill was dentistry.  He used that not only as a way to help people, but also, as he wrote in his statement of philosophy for the Fauchard grant, as “an effective route to establishing interpersonal and inter-societal bonds in a time when there is a great deal of misunderstanding and conflict.”

In Tom-speak, that meant reaching out with respect, kindness, and an open mind.  Being human.  There are risks to being human, but that did not stop him.

Within days of Tom’s death, I received an email from a friend leaving for a relief mission to Haiti.  I had worked with her on Afghan humanitarian projects.  She wanted to know if I had anything I’d like to include in her luggage, to be distributed personally in the relief camps for those displaced by the earthquake.

She is Afghan.  I told her about Tom.  As of this writing, bags of toothbrushes are now on their way to Haiti, to be distributed by an Afghan humanitarian, in Tom’s memory.  As Tom once wrote, “although it is a small thing, it is so nice to be able to help just a bit.”

Mary Urashima is a Huntington Beach resident and, in addition to local charitable efforts, has worked as a volunteer on humanitarian projects for Afghanistan for eight years.

Readers may be interested in viewing a videotape of Tom from the Durango Herald News.