Passport

A small town boy meets the big wide world Afghanistan 1975-79

I announced to the community that we would have tryouts at one of the parent’s homes on January 2, 1979. Many people showed up, many I didn’t even know. We had readings, singing, and many drinks. This was going to be really fun. One of the ladies, who was just trying out for the chorus, was a young Canadian nurse with CARE MEDICO. She got a part in the chorus, and later that year, we were married!

So, the cast was now almost set. I had decided to go to see the US Ambassador, a wonderful man who had really worked hard to keep the American community together and to keep morale up, and ask him to take a small part in the play. He would not even need to come to rehersals until the last week. Strongly endorsing the whole enterprise he nevertheless declined to take a part. He said that he would be a strong and supportive member of the audience!

The play came together, despite curfew and the increased presence of the Russians in Kabul. Since these were adults, we could only rehearse in off-work hours which meant in the evenings and on weekends. Evenings were dicey given the curfew, but we managed a couple of nights a week and then Friday and Saturday.

Then, in February, trajedy struck the community! The American Ambassador was kidnapped on his way to work, taken to the Kabul Hotel, and later that day killed in a hail of bullets as Afghan government soldiers tried to charge the kidnappers. The American Embassy had been working all day to contact the government to ask them NOT to rush the hotel but rather to allow negotiations to take place. They were unable to contact any member of the government, and the worse possible outcome materialized! Sadness and disbelief engulfed the American community. It was assumed that the Russians, defacto in charge of things now, had encouraged the government response in order to hush the kidnappersindeed, all of them were killed-and to get this all behind them as soon as possible. Air Force 2, which had been with the Secretary of State in the Middle East, came to take the Ambassador’s body home to the US. Many of us were at the airport to see him off, and tears were flowing copiously! The wife of the Russian Ambassador was there, and she was shunned by the Americans present. As the plane took off, a deep fugue descended among us as we went home to contemplate the future.

After discussion, we decided to go ahead with the play, dedicating it to the Ambassador. It really turned out more amazing than expected. We had a remarkable cast and crew, and the play jelled with a spirit that was hard to imagine at that time in that place. All of the extranea of a production came together: tickets, posters, programs, lights, props, a stage crew, costumes sewn by hand by community members, sets built and painted, make-up found and dutifully applied, singers and dancers, and a twelvemember pit orchestra.

The play ran five nights, March 10-14, 1079, and we had a full house each night. As the curtain opened the crowd applauded the amazing sets which had been constructed. Then they applauded the music intro, and finally, brought down the house at the curtain call. The last night we had an interesting party in the audience. The Chinese Ambassador and his entourage came, and all during the show a translator was simultaneously translating the English into Chinese for him. You could hear the translator speaking from the stage, and it was a tad disconcerting, but the cast performed admirably. The last performance was so emotional! We had all pulled together so much, especially after the trajedy a mere month before, and as one of the cast expressed the dedication to the Ambassador, there were a great many tears, on stage and in the audience.

So, that was it. We managed to finish the school year, have graduation, have a Senior trip cum adventure (in another chapter) and then the Kabul experience was history.