By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
Ben Cuthbert, home for the first time after almost a year in Afghanistan, said he has not experienced any anti-Americanism living in the far north of the Islamic central Asian country.
Focusing on medical help, education and refugee assistance, Samaritan's Purse, the Christian organization for which he is country director, spent about $1 million in Afghanistan last year on three schools, 600 mud brick homes, 120 wells (90 dug by hand because power pumps are impractical in places without electricity and generators are "too much of a hassle," although once an electric pump helped build a water tower serving an entire community) and a hospital and clinic it costs $6,000 to $8,000 a month to run. Funds are raised in the United States.
Clean water can be found if wells are drilled deep enough -- 300 feet.
Cuthbert leads a staff of about a dozen Americans, Europeans and Australians, plus another 100 Afghans for which he is indirectly responsible.
It's more sedate than the fall of 2002 when he jumped in a Toyota Land Cruiser and drove to the desert to directly help build houses.
Cuthbert spoke at Volinia Baptist, the church he attends, in the morning and Sunday evening at Sister Lakes Community Church and its new hall, where his uncle and aunt, Pastor Doug and Marilyn Cuthbert, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. He is the grandson of George and Bonnie Cuthbert and the son of Randy and Debbie Cuthbert. His father is president of the Dowagiac Board of Education.
Sister Lakes Community Church rang with joyful hymns like "We Will Dance" and "Shout to the Lord."
He wore Afghan garb, though he sports Western clothes in Afghanistan. He shaved the beard he wore in Afghanistan. Maybe half the women in Kabul quit wearing veils, but 95 percent in his city still do because husbands and fathers fear their wives or daughters being "defiled."
Cuthbert, who rose rapidly from a "logistician," providing organizational support -- "a go-fer" -- to Country Director for Samaritan's Purse International Relief (SPIR) Afghanistan.
He leads a team of Americans, Europeans and Australians.
He read two passages of scripture, Romans 10:13-15 and Luke 10:29-37, which tells of the Good Samaritan. "I read these because Samaritan's Purse is committed to doing both physical and spiritual work," Ben said.
While Afghanistan is often associated with the Middle East, Cuthbert pointed out the Islamic nation is actually in central Asia, sandwich between Iran and Pakistan. The ruling Taliban was closely aligned with Arab nations. A slide showed his adopted "backyard," a rugged mountain range and the green of spring and summer.
Afghanistan was at war for almost 25 years beginning in the late 1970s. Artillery skeletal remains litter the landscape and provide children with places to play. "There's always a reminder of the sad history," Cuthbert said. "Another problem in Afghanistan is the drug trade. I was only recently made aware of this fact. Afghans for the most part do not use drugs, but it's a very lucrative cash crop. If they planted a certain acreage of wheat" and devoted the same area to poppies, revenue from the wheat would be $100 versus $20,000 for poppies. "It's a difficult choice for poor Afghans to make not to grow this drug crop" for export.
He showed a picture of the rundown marketplace, but said economic activity has increased considerably. "It's a pretty meager existence. The average laborer makes $1 per day." Skilled tradesmen, such as carpenters and masons, command $2 to $3.
Cuthbert was a valedictorian of his 1996 graduating class at Union High School. His sister, Katie, was also a valedictorian of her 1998 DUHS class. Younger sister, Jessie, was Miss Dowagiac 2002. Cousin Andrea Cuthbert was 1999 co-valedictorian. Amy Class of 2001. Alysse will be a senior and Andrew a freshman.
Cuthbert attended Wheaton College, a Christian liberal arts collee outside Chicago to double major in business and economics and Bible and theology. Wheaton afforded his first opportunity at overseas travel. One summer he visited England, Scotland and Wales with the Men's Glee Club choir. Another summer Ben studied history, theology and geography in Greece, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Italy, further opening his eyes to the world's diversity.
Upon graduating from Wheaton in the spring of 2000, Ben accepted a job in finance in a small firm outside Detroit and learned about investments and money management. He gave it two years before concluding he lacked the personal passionate for that realm of business.
Early in 2002 Ben spent two weeks with a Detroit church friend working with the poor in Guatemala and Nicaragua. They spent their time in Central America teaching church and community leaders how to develop small businesses and small loan programs for extremely poor people. He found the work exiting, satisfying and like nothing he had experienced before.
As a Christian, Cuthbert believes God expects care for the less fortunate and share His love with them. He returned to the United States committed to pursuing opportunities to work with the poor overseas for the next one to three years.
He joined Samaritan's Purse, a North Carolina-based Christian organizaton headed by Billy Graham's son, Franklin. It is committed to spreading the love of Jesus Christ by doing emergency relief work in areas of the world where people are suffering from natural disasters, wars, famine and related tragedies.
Cuthbert departed Dowagiac July 5, 2002, for Kholm, Afghanistan, where SP had refurbished a clinic into a 20-bed hospital and renovated an adjacent structure into an outpatient clinic. SP also hired and trained Afghan doctors, nurses, lab technicians and pharmacists to staff the facilities and opened a surgery ward.
SP also pursued opportunties to assist 6 million refugees returning from Pakistan and Iran after the Taliban regime collapsed. Kholm is near Mazar-i-Sharif, the largest northern city. SP and the United Nations teamed up to provide 600 homes and 120 wells. Refugees are provided windows, doors, beams and expertise to go with their mud bricks and labor. Home construction takes about three months. One man who lost his leg to a land mine was shown making carpets on a loom.
Elections have been put off by ethnic tension. "The people with the guns" -- warlords -- hold the true political power.
SP teamed up in education with Life Outreach International, a U.S. ministry that funded three girls' schools and life centers. He showed a damaged school SP rebuilt that the Taliban converted to a horse stable because girls were not permitted to be educated. Ben spoke at the second school's grand opening two weeks ago today. The third celebration will occur when he returns in a couple of weeks.
SP also operates a program, "Operation Christmas Child," in which Americans and Europeans pack gift shoeboxes. Instructions on participating can be found on the Web at samaritan.org.
A kindergarten teaches boys and girls ages 4 to 6 basic skills. A women's center instructs in embroidering, tailoring, food preservation and literacy.