Refugee relief

For four months last year, Houston's David and Bryony Ausdahl worked in a refugee camp in Pakistan, on the border with Afghanistan, providing medical supplies to Afghan refugees. Now, his former school is helping the cause.

David is a 1996 graduate of Houston High School, and last Thursday morning, he was back in the gym again, although not as a student. Along with his wife, who is from Northern Ireland, he was at a school assembly, accepting a check for $828 that the school raised for the Afghan refugees.

The money was raised in a coin drive, after the Ausdahls talked to many Houston classrooms about the work they did and the plight of the people they are trying to help.

"It's really cool for us to come back home and talk to the kids, and see how interested they are about current events," David said. "It is really amazing how much these students care about what is going on in the world. What the students here at Houston have done for the Afghan refugees is tremendous."

What has been going on the region is despair. From May through the middle of August, the Ausdahls saw things they wouldn't wish on anybody -- harsh living conditions, starvation and a lack of medical care is where the list starts. And there is no end to the list, either.

"We were there working to bring in teams of American medical doctors, setting up clinics and offering free medicine and care," David explained. "Maybe, at some point in an Afghan's life, they will get to see a doctor once, and what's the chance they will get free medicine, too? That's what we were trying to provide to them."

The Ausdahls also helped provide lice treatment to children. Lice is widespread in the region, but providing temporary relief to a child also provided a lasting memory for the Ausdahls.

"We would line kids up and be scrubbing their heads for them like an assembly line," David said. "And the thing is, you know the kid is going to get lice again. But giving them that feeling of being clean and free of lice makes a difference to you. It makes it worth it to you to know what a positive thing you've done for that kid."

The Ausdahls were in Pakistan, right on the border with Afghanistan, when a few things happened that ultimately led to their premature -- and timely -- return to Alaska. Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry were coworkers of David and Bryony Ausdahl.

On Aug. 3, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Mercer and Curry were apprehended by the Taliban and charged with spreading Christianity in an Islamic state -- a charge that carries the ultimate penalty of death.

Their apprehension came during a time when most Americans couldn't find Afghanistan on a map, and the Taliban was far from a dinner-table conversation like it is now.

Following the apprehension of Mercer and Curry, the Ausdahls and several other refugee camp workers left the country about a month ahead of schedule, and returned home.

Less than a month after their return to the U.S., the terrorist attacks on America took place, and the entire world began watching the Pakistan/Afghanistan area, many people seeing the despair the Afghans were undergoing for the first time on the news.

Mercer and Curry were released on Nov. 15, 2001, but the event garnered national headlines for several weeks, and the Ausdahls are happy they didn't have to face a similar situation.

Since they returned home, the Ausdahls have been busy traveling to schools and talking to students about the things they did in Pakistan and how the people there are treated in the refugee camps.

In addition to talking to Houston High students, the husband/wife team has traveled to Bethel, Cantwell and Tri-Valley, informing students.

At Houston, the students decided to act.

"They talked to several classrooms, and our students decided this was something they wanted to help raise money for," said Marilyn Mitchell, the National Honor Society (NHS) advisor and geography teacher -- David's former seventh-grade geography teacher.

"They really got behind the project. It was so neat to see a former student come and talk about such a wonderful project, and for the students here to be so supportive," Mitchell said.

Mitchell's NHS students coordinated the schoolwide drive, in both the junior and senior high schools at Houston. Coins were collected, and ultimately, $828 was raised.

"That money goes so far in Afghanistan," David said before he accepted the money Thursday morning. "For $180, you can build a mud house for a family. For only $1, you can feed a family for a month."

It was a win-win situation, Mitchell explained.

"It gave our students something to strive for, something they knew they could make a difference at," Mitchell said. "And they will be making a difference, in the lives of people who need the most."

The Ausdahls were in Pakistan as part of the Greater Love program, in conjunction with the Shelter Now program.

Since their return, the Ausdahls have been working to raise money for the Greater Love program, which is an international program.

Those interested in donating money to the fund can do so by mailing a check locally to Greater Love, 564 S. Denali Street, Suite 202, Palmer, AK 99645.

Greater Love is a nonprofit 501c3 organization.