Jane Cook - Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq and Afghanistan

The donations of clothing and toys were only the beginning. In the next three months the Americans rebuilt the orphanage kitchen, replaced the missing windows, provided funds for food, and purchased new kitchen utensils, cookware. and a one-month supply of firewood.

Not only was the staff thrilled, but the interpreter was so impressed at the support given to the children of his country that he purchased a one hundred-pound bag of rice for the orphanage.

Gessner turned over some of the cash he had received to a non-governmental organization (NGO) called the Knights of Malta, who developed a menu and purchased food for the orphanage on a weekly basis. “Rather than buying in bulk, this reduced the possibility of loss, waste or diversion of the food intended for the orphanage,” said Gessner. “The Knights of Malta also outfitted three school rooms with desks, chalkboards and other supplies once we had repaired them.”

With no water in the orphanage, the kids and staff walked to a nearby irrigation ditch and brought the water in by buckets. One day, while standing in the orphanage, Gessner noticed water running in through the back gate. The owner of the next property had already drilled through the dike and water was running freely on to his property.

“I asked the owner if we could put a spigot on the end of his pipe and let us run a water line into the orphanage,” Gessner said. “He agreed and with a few hours work by the plumbers, the orphanage had running water for cooking and personal hygiene.”

Several of the rooms in the orphanage had collapsed roofs and the windows and doors were knocked out. A local Afghan contractor initially asked for $4,000 to do the job but when Gessner told him he only had $1,000 to spend, he agreed to rebuild the rooms at that price for the kids. “It was one of the easiest contract negotiations I’d ever done,” said Gessner. A few weeks later, the rooms were ready.

“You Americans are nothing like they [Taliban and Al Qaeda] said you were,” the staff told Gessner. Then they placed their hands over their hearts and nodded in a gesture of respect.

“When we saw this,” said Gessner, “we knew we had made an impression.”

Lord, help me find joy in meeting the needs of others in your name.

“Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

“Great catch! Throw it here now, right here!”

On Sunday afternoons outside the orphanage in Charikar, English and Afghan voices rang in the air together as American soldiers and Afghan orphans played Frisbee, speaking and yelling in two different languages but laughing in the same. These times of interaction quickly became the highlight of the week for both soldiers and orphans.

While most of the conversation with the orphanage staff was through our Afghan interpreters, the soldiers interacted with the kids more through actions. “We communicated with hugs, smiles, or kicking a soccer ball,” said Gessner. “Most of the kids just wanted to hang around us. Of course, having a pocket full of candy was always a help. The kids were always well-behaved.”

When Gessner’s unit passed out the stuffed animals, they took the opportunity to try to teach the English names to the kids. “In one case, they were having trouble with the word ‘gorilla’ so we settled on ‘monkey.’ The digital cameras were another great hit with the kids. For group photos, they liked passing around and wearing our hats.”

Most of the children had picked out their favorite soldiers by the fourth week of the visits, though not everyone. One little girl didn’t smile much despite the stuffed animals, candy, digital cameras, Frisbee, and soccer games. Gessner decided to make it his personal mission to brighten her day.

“I tried everything that worked with my own kids, including funny faces and wearing my hat backwards,” said Gessner. “I even showed her how to smile by pushing the corners of my mouth up with my fingers. She did the same thing. After all of that, it was time to take the gloves off so I dove in amongst the girls and turned it into a tickle-fest. The smiles and laugher came out. Mission accomplished.”

Lord, help me make it a priority to bring joy to those around me.

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” (Proverbs 17:22)

“Colonel, we’ve found about three hundred orphans sleeping in the caves in the mountains,” an officer told Gessner. It was mid-December 2002, and Gessner’s unit was just about to redeploy and leave Bagram Air Base and the nearby orphanage in Afghanistan.

The Americans discovered the children while on a military mission in Bamian, the area of the caves. The aviation unit told Gessner that they were flying a mission to this area and wanted to bring along some relief supplies.

“So we made a shopping list of blankets, food, and coats,” recalled Gessner. “We estimated about two thousand dollars worth. The head of the aviation unit almost flipped when I pulled two thousand dollars from my pocket and handed it to him the last of the donations we had collected for the orphans.”

The materials were purchased in the capital city of Kabul, which was experiencing a rebirth at the time. “Once the Taliban and Al Qaeda departed, the city came alive again,” said Gessner. General Tommy Franks commented in his book about all of the city and street noise by saying it sounded like freedom. Restaurants, stores, and businesses began to reopen in the city.

A few weeks later, the helicopters flew to the mountains; it must have been close to Christmas time. When they landed, it was snowing. This year it must have seemed as though Santa’s sleigh had been traded in for a U.S. Army helicopter. From the back of the helicopter ramp, the soldiers began passing out coats and blankets to the kids.

The “elves” who were responsible for providing the gifts for these orphans and those in Charikar were citizens, schools, churches, organizations, and clubs hailing from Illinois, Wisconsin, Washington, D.C., and as far away as Germany. Those who donated for the cause of these Afghan orphans may never know the extent of the impact their gifts had on these children (and other Afghan adult observers). But the kids will very likely remember the Americans in uniform who put down their weapons to make their winters a little warmer and their bellies a little fuller.

Lord, keep me ever mindful of those less fortunate than I am, and show me how to defend them.

“Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.” (Psalm 82:3)

When Jim Powers, past-president and Webmaster for the Rock Valley Kiwanis Club in Rockford, Illinois, heard from Col. John Gessner about the needs of orphans in Afghanistan, he jumped at the chance to mobilize help by soliciting donations. It wouldn’t be the first time he had lent a helping hand to the children of a combat zone.

Powers’ first experience with homeless children and orphans came during his first tour in Viet Nam (1967–68). After sending pictures and writing to the parishioners at St. Patrick’s Church, Rockford, about displaced war refugees in Saigon, support poured in. Day after day, packages arrived (clothing, supplies, toys), sometimes completely filling his office.