I have a couple of brief comments to make about relief and development work in Afghanistan.
First of all, it is important to "heal and feed" the multitudes as our Lord did without any hint of discrimination, i.e., that we would not only focus our activities on people who would be more open to the
teachings of Christianity. His motivation was compassion, not evangelism, and he didn't use it as a convenient "platform" in which to engage in other activities. Certainly he took every opportunity to teach and disciple, but his motivation for his "humanitarian work"
was clear.
As a rule of thumb, when speaking about Relief & Development and Evangelism (Something I read in books as a young man living in Kabul during the late 70s.) it is good to keep the activities as separate as possible during the relief stages of the work, while recognizing that that the ideal is a "holistic approach" during long term development work.
Today we see the "professionalism" of relief and development work, especially in complex emergencies such as Afghanistan. This does not
mean that raw recruits are no longer needed, but attention to their training and orientation activities must be there at the early planning stages. It is imperative that there be close supervision of short-term relief workers under the direction of an experienced aid
workers. Good intention in relief and development work will appear
sloppy and ultimately appear to be a bad testimony unless it is well
planned and coordinated with other agencies, including secular
agencies. This does not mean we should be intimidated by secular
agencies, but our work has to be intentional.
Finally, we should be aware that Afghanistan's problems, both humanitarian and spiritual, will not disappear in a fortnight of hurried efforts on our part. Kipling wrote in the twentieth century "here lies the man who hurried the east." Scores of Christian relief workers have come and gone over the last twenty years and beyond to work in Afghanistan, but Afghanistan has not gone anywhere quickly. Of course, we should take every opportunity, and this is a new opportunity, but we should also be careful to maintain a trategic long term approach to our efforts. A short term approach will be just that - soon forgotten.
Randall Olson
Counterpart
{A short-term approach must be covered or supported with a long-haul approach. -- Mod.}
