Anette was sent out by the Pnie Church of Veenendaal in 2008 to do missionary-diaconal work in Afghanistan. The desire to "go into missions" began early on, she says. As a child, she went to Sunday school with the well-known storyteller Rik Valkenburg. He told missionary stories and there a seed was planted: 'I want to do this too'. And she became a missionary-diaconal worker (MDW'er) for our churches. She tells how she experienced God's nearness in the crisis time of the evacuation from Kabul in August 2021.
Development work in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, Anette worked for years at a Christian aid organisation in development work. She wanted to be where there was need, where people were suffering from life. Through self-help groups, she supported people to meet the most basic necessities of life. These included things like clean drinking water and hygiene, but much more. 'Poverty is not just having no money to make a living. It is also that you don't have a voice in society. You are not heard. That is what these self-help groups provide.'
Taliban's advance
Things began to get tense in Afghanistan during 2021. The Taliban, an extremely conservative Islamist movement, captured several districts. The Western-oriented government did seem to still have a firm grip on Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. Foreigners saw the threat but did not expect the Taliban to advance quickly. They also remained hopeful of continuing to do their good work in this country, according to Anette. 'Various scenarios were drawn up though and archives were burnt. In no way did we want to be a danger to our Afghan colleagues. Pensions accrued by Afghan colleagues were paid out on time. But you have your job, the needs of the population in mind... Meanwhile, we were quite worried. Worried that fighting would break out in Kabul. Afraid of the Taliban's possible atrocities. In the years before, several colleagues, Afghan and non-Afghan, had been brutally murdered. 'Afraid of women and girls who could only be caught in the street like that.'
Rush and panic
In the week before Sunday 15 August, the advance gained momentum. The major cities of Kandahar, Herat and Mazar fell. Anette recounts that on Thursday morning, the team was still making work plans for the next year and already the same evening the decision was made to leave. They booked tickets for the return flight a week later. Panic broke out. On Sunday morning, she received a message that the Taliban had taken control of the presidential palace. 'We were supposed to meet that Sunday afternoon to dedicate our situation to God, but we did not dare go to our church and met in home circles. And that was just as well, because that Sunday afternoon the gate of the compound, where the church building stood, was blown up.
Here is my life!
Anette will never forget that Sunday afternoon. Suddenly, everything breaks you by the hands and panic surrounds you. 'I thought, 'Now it's going to happen. It's really going to go wrong! But also I thought, Lord, here is my life!" She felt at the mercy of the situation, but with God, she realised that ultimately the situation was not in the hands of the Taliban, but in the hands of God. She surrendered herself to God. 'But then you are no longer in control of the situation,'she says.
Panicked Afghans smashed everything at the airport, the terminals, the check-in counters. The commercial flights were all cancelled. Only the military airport was still open.
Evacuation in the chaos
Their organisation arranged for an evacuation plane. They had to wait for the call to come to the airport. Instead of 30 kilos of luggage, they were only allowed to take eight kilos. On Tuesday morning, they received a call that they could come. With five people in a taxi, they drove to the airport, where they got stuck in the crowd. The driver went to talk to the Taliban. Showing their passports, they were assigned a soldier who took them through the crowd to the military airport. There, foreign troops guarded the order. 'That did feel very double. A Talib as a saving grace.' After that, things moved quickly. They boarded a military plane with no seats. They could only sit on the floor. That plane took them out of the country.
Back again
August 2021 was a deeply affecting experience for Anette. She received the necessary help to cope and was able to return to Afghanistan in 2022, the places that had had such an impact on her life. She has since decided to stop working in Afghanistan. Anette now works at a relief organisation in the Netherlands.
Life lesson
'The life lesson has been that God is right there, when it matters. 'Here is my life' also applies now,' says Anette. 'In all situations of life. I would like to pass that on to others.'
