Globe: After building Afghan school, B.C. humanitarian shot dead
Post
Globe, July 26 2006, Mark Hume, After building Afghan school, B.C. humanitarian shot dead, (Source).
Globe, July 27 2006, Editorial, Mike Frastacky's work, (Source).
Globe, July 26 2006, Mark Hume, After building Afghan school, B.C. humanitarian shot dead, (Back).
VANCOUVER -- Before he was murdered this week near the school he had helped build in a remote and dangerous part of the Hindu Kush mountains, Mike Frastacky, a rumpled, bearded Canadian carpenter with a sense of humour and a blunt manner, hung a plaque that was full of hope.
It was dedicated to the many friends who had responded to his e-mails appealing for financial donations, and he had carried it with him on one of his frequent trips to northern Afghanistan from his home in Vancouver.
"This school was built to improve the future of the children of the surrounding communities so that together they can build a country where Afghans feel safe and look towards their tomorrows with hope and confidence," the plaque read.
That hope and confidence were shattered in the predawn darkness Monday when a group of armed men invaded the house where Mr. Frastacky was sleeping and shot him.
"Shock. Disgust. Anger. Sadness," were the words a friend, Jashed Kator, used yesterday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles to describe the reaction of the local residents in Afghanistan, where Mr. Frastacky had been trying to build a better future.
For the past four years, the 56-year-old finishing carpenter and skilled builder of wooden boats had spent all of his spare time and most of his money constructing a school near Nahrin, in a wild and largely lawless part of Afghanistan about 160 kilometres north of Kabul.
Mr. Frastacky took a calculated risk in entering the area, which was outside the normal operating range of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Surrounded by friends and supporters, he felt safe at first. But this summer he had grown worried, as he watched the Taliban and groups of warlords extend their control.
Recently, in addition to logistical challenges, he had to deal with pamphlets that threatened to burn down any school that taught girls, as his did so proudly.
Mr. Kator, who lives in Los Angeles and whose family worked with Mr. Frastacky on the school project, said the gentle humanitarian was murdered because he opposed corruption.
"He was staying in my father's home in Nahrin. It was a hot night and his bodyguard and translator were sleeping in the front yard. Mike was in his bedroom in the house.
"They beat up the bodyguard and translator very, very badly and demanded to know: 'Where is the foreigner?' They got him. They put him in the bathtub and shot him."
Mr. Kator, who is devastated by the killing of a "good, good man," said the area has become lawless. He said Mr. Frastacky had no tolerance for corruption. He fired a school principal and several teachers for demanding bribes from parents so that their children could attend the school, which serves 600 students from 10 nearby villages.
More recently, he said, Mr. Frastacky had exchanged words with a group of armed men who were trying to seize a 14-year-old girl, demanding she be given for marriage by holding a gun to her mother's head.
"Mike saw that with his own eyes. He was very blunt. He told them not to come around there any more."
Mr. Kator said the group, which roams through the community at will, is heavily armed and provides support to corrupt local politicians. He believes the people who murdered Mr. Frastacky have used their influence to have others blamed.
"Three men have been arrested for supposedly killing Mike, but they are all innocent. The bodyguard [Nawab Khan], the translator [Liaqat Hayat] and a school superintendent [Noor Aga] have been accused. But they had nothing to do with this murder."
Mr. Kator said Mr. Frastacky helped fund the project with money inherited from an aunt. "She told him, 'Use this money for a good cause.' So that's what he was doing," he said.
"He did it out of the love of his heart," said Mr. Frastacky's sister, Luba Frastacky, who had been growing worried about his safety.
"His e-mails this summer were increasingly pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan because the Taliban were back in control," she said in a telephone interview from the Toronto area.
Ms. Frastacky was shocked to hear her brother's friends have been accused of killing him. "There is absolutely no way [they] can be implicated in his death," she said.
Globe, July 27 2006, Editorial, Mike Frastacky's work, (Back).
Mike Frastacky did not have to be in Afghanistan. He was not a soldier, a diplomat or an employee of an international aid agency. He was simply a concerned Canadian of uncommon courage who chose to bring his organizational and building skills to a remote part of an extremely dangerous country. His goal was modest yet crucially important: to put up a school for children of the war-ravaged region, "so that together they can build a country where Afghans feel safe and look towards their tomorrows with hope and confidence."
Mr. Frastacky, 56, represented everything the Taliban and other enemies of democracy despise, and for that he paid with his life. His murder by unidentified gunmen is a grim reminder of what we are up against as we fight those who would keep Afghanistan imprisoned in the Dark Ages, and underlines why we cannot afford to leave until the job is done.
During the past four years, Mr. Frastacky devoted considerable time, energy and money to his humanitarian project. The school, with places for 600 students from nearby villages, is modern, secular and open to girls as well as boys. The Taliban, who tolerate none of these attributes, threatened to burn it down. It was not an idle threat. Elsewhere, they have done just that simply to keep girls from being educated.
Mr. Frastacky did not take the threats lightly, but he was prepared to defend what he valued. This led him to remove a corrupt school principal and teachers who demanded bribes from families seeking admission for their children. It also led him to stand up, unarmed, to thugs who are used to getting what they want from frightened, unprotected villagers and who are in league with corrupt officials. In one instance, he stepped in when a group of armed men tried to seize a 14-year-old girl for a forced marriage. Yet he understood and respected the differences between traditional Afghan society and Western ways. His final project at the school was a wall to create separate playgrounds for girls and boys, because girls were not allowed to share the same play area.
(Back)
Globe, July 27 2006, Editorial, Mike Frastacky's work, (Source).
Globe, July 26 2006, Mark Hume, After building Afghan school, B.C. humanitarian shot dead, (Back).
VANCOUVER -- Before he was murdered this week near the school he had helped build in a remote and dangerous part of the Hindu Kush mountains, Mike Frastacky, a rumpled, bearded Canadian carpenter with a sense of humour and a blunt manner, hung a plaque that was full of hope.
It was dedicated to the many friends who had responded to his e-mails appealing for financial donations, and he had carried it with him on one of his frequent trips to northern Afghanistan from his home in Vancouver.
"This school was built to improve the future of the children of the surrounding communities so that together they can build a country where Afghans feel safe and look towards their tomorrows with hope and confidence," the plaque read.
That hope and confidence were shattered in the predawn darkness Monday when a group of armed men invaded the house where Mr. Frastacky was sleeping and shot him.
"Shock. Disgust. Anger. Sadness," were the words a friend, Jashed Kator, used yesterday in a telephone interview from Los Angeles to describe the reaction of the local residents in Afghanistan, where Mr. Frastacky had been trying to build a better future.
For the past four years, the 56-year-old finishing carpenter and skilled builder of wooden boats had spent all of his spare time and most of his money constructing a school near Nahrin, in a wild and largely lawless part of Afghanistan about 160 kilometres north of Kabul.
Mr. Frastacky took a calculated risk in entering the area, which was outside the normal operating range of Canadian troops in Afghanistan. Surrounded by friends and supporters, he felt safe at first. But this summer he had grown worried, as he watched the Taliban and groups of warlords extend their control.
Recently, in addition to logistical challenges, he had to deal with pamphlets that threatened to burn down any school that taught girls, as his did so proudly.
Mr. Kator, who lives in Los Angeles and whose family worked with Mr. Frastacky on the school project, said the gentle humanitarian was murdered because he opposed corruption.
"He was staying in my father's home in Nahrin. It was a hot night and his bodyguard and translator were sleeping in the front yard. Mike was in his bedroom in the house.
"They beat up the bodyguard and translator very, very badly and demanded to know: 'Where is the foreigner?' They got him. They put him in the bathtub and shot him."
Mr. Kator, who is devastated by the killing of a "good, good man," said the area has become lawless. He said Mr. Frastacky had no tolerance for corruption. He fired a school principal and several teachers for demanding bribes from parents so that their children could attend the school, which serves 600 students from 10 nearby villages.
More recently, he said, Mr. Frastacky had exchanged words with a group of armed men who were trying to seize a 14-year-old girl, demanding she be given for marriage by holding a gun to her mother's head.
"Mike saw that with his own eyes. He was very blunt. He told them not to come around there any more."
Mr. Kator said the group, which roams through the community at will, is heavily armed and provides support to corrupt local politicians. He believes the people who murdered Mr. Frastacky have used their influence to have others blamed.
"Three men have been arrested for supposedly killing Mike, but they are all innocent. The bodyguard [Nawab Khan], the translator [Liaqat Hayat] and a school superintendent [Noor Aga] have been accused. But they had nothing to do with this murder."
Mr. Kator said Mr. Frastacky helped fund the project with money inherited from an aunt. "She told him, 'Use this money for a good cause.' So that's what he was doing," he said.
"He did it out of the love of his heart," said Mr. Frastacky's sister, Luba Frastacky, who had been growing worried about his safety.
"His e-mails this summer were increasingly pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan because the Taliban were back in control," she said in a telephone interview from the Toronto area.
Ms. Frastacky was shocked to hear her brother's friends have been accused of killing him. "There is absolutely no way [they] can be implicated in his death," she said.
Globe, July 27 2006, Editorial, Mike Frastacky's work, (Back).
Mike Frastacky did not have to be in Afghanistan. He was not a soldier, a diplomat or an employee of an international aid agency. He was simply a concerned Canadian of uncommon courage who chose to bring his organizational and building skills to a remote part of an extremely dangerous country. His goal was modest yet crucially important: to put up a school for children of the war-ravaged region, "so that together they can build a country where Afghans feel safe and look towards their tomorrows with hope and confidence."
Mr. Frastacky, 56, represented everything the Taliban and other enemies of democracy despise, and for that he paid with his life. His murder by unidentified gunmen is a grim reminder of what we are up against as we fight those who would keep Afghanistan imprisoned in the Dark Ages, and underlines why we cannot afford to leave until the job is done.
During the past four years, Mr. Frastacky devoted considerable time, energy and money to his humanitarian project. The school, with places for 600 students from nearby villages, is modern, secular and open to girls as well as boys. The Taliban, who tolerate none of these attributes, threatened to burn it down. It was not an idle threat. Elsewhere, they have done just that simply to keep girls from being educated.
Mr. Frastacky did not take the threats lightly, but he was prepared to defend what he valued. This led him to remove a corrupt school principal and teachers who demanded bribes from families seeking admission for their children. It also led him to stand up, unarmed, to thugs who are used to getting what they want from frightened, unprotected villagers and who are in league with corrupt officials. In one instance, he stepped in when a group of armed men tried to seize a 14-year-old girl for a forced marriage. Yet he understood and respected the differences between traditional Afghan society and Western ways. His final project at the school was a wall to create separate playgrounds for girls and boys, because girls were not allowed to share the same play area.
(Back)
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