Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001, Peshawar, Pakistan
I immediately checked email upon waking. "Mom could die and was in surgery," the email shared. She had cancer of the lungs and they were going to remove one portion of her lungs and then decide what was next. I waited anxiously for more news, and asked to speak with her. My brother called from her bedside so I could hear her voice one more time, not knowing if it was my last. She was coherent and I thanked the Lord I could hear her alto voice one more time.
Tuesday, 5pm, September 11, 2001, Peshawar, Pakistan
News of Thousands More Dead
It was the team meeting night, and our habit each week was to gather for a meal and then have our team meeting. At that time, our team consisted of twelve adults and 6 children, with our Luke being the youngest. We headed to our team leader's house, where he had satellite television tuned in to the international news channel, and we watched re-runs of the 1st plane hitting the Twin Tower.
To our horror, we saw the live view of the 2nd plane hitting the tower. It was impossible to get my mind around what I was seeing. Dr. Woodberry, a world expert on Folk Islam and well connected, as well as our team leader both began calling our Pakistani colleagues who informed us this was the work of Osama Bin Laden. The men were told to escort their families home and then report to the office. We were told to stay off the streets and only drive for work related errands. All foreigners in Peshawar went into immediate lock-down, travel only for necessary work.
We went home that night by 6 or 6:30pm I think, after praying together as a team, and I immediately began looking through our cupboards and taking inventory what was in our apartment. I tried to call my brother's cell phone, using my cell phone and our landline, but the entire phone system, both landline and cell, for the whole country of Pakistan had crashed. I knew immediately - Pakistanis were all also calling America trying to reach their loved ones in the Twin Towers.
Pakistanis seemed to sense that they would need to stop traveling and trying to reach the US or other places, perhaps fear for their own safety or being profiled? The airline seats began opening up Tuesday night Pakistan time, and the foreigners in Peshawar began to find seats on airplanes available to get out of Peshawar to get somewhere, anywhere else. The airplanes, booked for weeks in advance, all of a sudden were flying empty.
After a few hours at the office that night, Neal came home, but at 10:30 pm he received a call requesting he report to the senior commanding military officer at the Peshawar airport. Why was he being asked for at such a late hour? We hugged each other goodbye, not knowing if he was going to be jailed, or what was going to happen. Were we targets here? We were filled with so many questions and fear.
The streets no longer looked like the same busy and happy Pakistani streets. The sounds were the same, but now they sounded sinister. "Who exactly are we at war with?" "Is this the beginning of WW3?"
He showed up with another American colleague, and entered a room filled with Pakistani military officers. To Neal's shocked surprise, the Pakistani commander proceeded to express with tears in his eyes his sorrow over what had happened to so many American civilians. He said these events were the work of cowards, the killing of non-combatants. He pledged his loyalty to protect the project work we were involved in, and that our resources would be treated as if they were belonging to Pakistan. A guard was posted over our resources until we could return.
When Neal returned home that evening to our apartment, we wept at such unexpected kindness, in the midst of espionage charges by the Pakistani ISI. We tried to make sense of all the different branches of government and the alignment of factions of different powers.
While Neal was away, I was dismayed with myself for allowing my cupboards to get so messy and out of control. What items exactly did I have to lose? I vowed to never again lose control over the stuff in my house and to live more simply in the future. It was ridiculous what was in the closets. It was not the way I wanted to live or be remembered. In the meantime, I had to figure out what to pack, based on how much we'd be allowed to take out of country, assuming that we'd never see our home again. I didn't have time and energy to clean and organize, I only had time to pick through as fast as possible, not knowing when or if we'd have to flee, not knowing when an airplane seat would open up.
While our baby, Luke, slept, and the clock crept towards 1am, I tried valiantly not to worry about what was happening to Neal. I was 4 months pregnant with our 2nd, a daughter, but I dragged blue packs into the hallway and began carrying and sorting items into "must go," "I'd really like it to go," and "what a luxury if we can take this" piles. They also had to be organized into "5 kilo", "20 kilo" piles, because I had to wait to find out how many kilos we'd be allowed to take with us.
When he returned and told me the story of what happened and what the commander said to him, we thanked God for good and kind people still in the world and went to sleep, knowing Wednesday would be a long day. The rest of the packing would have to wait until we got more information, but we'd have to be ready to move fast.
Go to:
Part 1
Part 3 To be continued.
I immediately checked email upon waking. "Mom could die and was in surgery," the email shared. She had cancer of the lungs and they were going to remove one portion of her lungs and then decide what was next. I waited anxiously for more news, and asked to speak with her. My brother called from her bedside so I could hear her voice one more time, not knowing if it was my last. She was coherent and I thanked the Lord I could hear her alto voice one more time.
Tuesday, 5pm, September 11, 2001, Peshawar, Pakistan
News of Thousands More Dead
It was the team meeting night, and our habit each week was to gather for a meal and then have our team meeting. At that time, our team consisted of twelve adults and 6 children, with our Luke being the youngest. We headed to our team leader's house, where he had satellite television tuned in to the international news channel, and we watched re-runs of the 1st plane hitting the Twin Tower.
To our horror, we saw the live view of the 2nd plane hitting the tower. It was impossible to get my mind around what I was seeing. Dr. Woodberry, a world expert on Folk Islam and well connected, as well as our team leader both began calling our Pakistani colleagues who informed us this was the work of Osama Bin Laden. The men were told to escort their families home and then report to the office. We were told to stay off the streets and only drive for work related errands. All foreigners in Peshawar went into immediate lock-down, travel only for necessary work.
We went home that night by 6 or 6:30pm I think, after praying together as a team, and I immediately began looking through our cupboards and taking inventory what was in our apartment. I tried to call my brother's cell phone, using my cell phone and our landline, but the entire phone system, both landline and cell, for the whole country of Pakistan had crashed. I knew immediately - Pakistanis were all also calling America trying to reach their loved ones in the Twin Towers.
Pakistanis seemed to sense that they would need to stop traveling and trying to reach the US or other places, perhaps fear for their own safety or being profiled? The airline seats began opening up Tuesday night Pakistan time, and the foreigners in Peshawar began to find seats on airplanes available to get out of Peshawar to get somewhere, anywhere else. The airplanes, booked for weeks in advance, all of a sudden were flying empty.
After a few hours at the office that night, Neal came home, but at 10:30 pm he received a call requesting he report to the senior commanding military officer at the Peshawar airport. Why was he being asked for at such a late hour? We hugged each other goodbye, not knowing if he was going to be jailed, or what was going to happen. Were we targets here? We were filled with so many questions and fear.
The streets no longer looked like the same busy and happy Pakistani streets. The sounds were the same, but now they sounded sinister. "Who exactly are we at war with?" "Is this the beginning of WW3?"
He showed up with another American colleague, and entered a room filled with Pakistani military officers. To Neal's shocked surprise, the Pakistani commander proceeded to express with tears in his eyes his sorrow over what had happened to so many American civilians. He said these events were the work of cowards, the killing of non-combatants. He pledged his loyalty to protect the project work we were involved in, and that our resources would be treated as if they were belonging to Pakistan. A guard was posted over our resources until we could return.
When Neal returned home that evening to our apartment, we wept at such unexpected kindness, in the midst of espionage charges by the Pakistani ISI. We tried to make sense of all the different branches of government and the alignment of factions of different powers.
While Neal was away, I was dismayed with myself for allowing my cupboards to get so messy and out of control. What items exactly did I have to lose? I vowed to never again lose control over the stuff in my house and to live more simply in the future. It was ridiculous what was in the closets. It was not the way I wanted to live or be remembered. In the meantime, I had to figure out what to pack, based on how much we'd be allowed to take out of country, assuming that we'd never see our home again. I didn't have time and energy to clean and organize, I only had time to pick through as fast as possible, not knowing when or if we'd have to flee, not knowing when an airplane seat would open up.
While our baby, Luke, slept, and the clock crept towards 1am, I tried valiantly not to worry about what was happening to Neal. I was 4 months pregnant with our 2nd, a daughter, but I dragged blue packs into the hallway and began carrying and sorting items into "must go," "I'd really like it to go," and "what a luxury if we can take this" piles. They also had to be organized into "5 kilo", "20 kilo" piles, because I had to wait to find out how many kilos we'd be allowed to take with us.
When he returned and told me the story of what happened and what the commander said to him, we thanked God for good and kind people still in the world and went to sleep, knowing Wednesday would be a long day. The rest of the packing would have to wait until we got more information, but we'd have to be ready to move fast.
Go to:
Part 1
Part 3 To be continued.
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