The Almighty called

          Abraham to believe

          Moses to liberate

          Muhammad to inspire

          He gave a brave heart and audacity to

          Antony Santiago to break new grounds

          Noel Oliver to explore and expand

          Abdurahim Karimi to guide and prompt

 

The Supreme walked with the mortals, hand in hand.

         

The Almighty in His mercy made

          Kabul to provide beautiful rugs

          Bamiyan to carve the ancient caves

          Herat to serenade the poetic verses

           Kandahar to mingle and mix the cultures

 

The Almighty in His loving kindness

          planted the magnificent Hindu Kush in our land

          gave us spectacular Buzkashi as a game to enjoy

          provided delicious fruits and nuts to savour

          fed us manti, palao and nan to satisfy our hunger

          decked steep mountains to store snow and water

          adorned willow trees to sway in our winds.

 

 But we brought in our greed and weakness

          war, division, destruction and animosity

          made classes of rich and poor

          became exploiters and exploited

          few educated and left mostly illiterate.

 

          Super powers played on our land

          they bartered for our economy

          vested interests plundered our wealth

          the unscrupulous pushed us for opium

          and carried away our wealth

 

But we came to our senses

          with our friends, we rebuilt our country

          filled in the pock-marked walls with stability

          mended the broken hearts with love and affection

          made our children to laugh and have mirth

          promised security safety to our women

          skilled our young and elicited hidden talents

 

Yes, we did it in association with

          the human family all over the world

          our neighbourly friends with an affectionate embrace.

          We did it, we did it, and we are doing it.

 

Sukhran, Sukhriya, Tashakur to Almighty

          for Your grace and love

          to CRS, JRS for their relentless commitment

          to JCSA, Missionsprokurs for accompanying us

          to Prem, Stan and many other Jesuits for walking with us

          to every member of the JRS family for their energetic presence

          We have grown, we stand on our own

          for making it possible the sense we always had

          ‘we can, we want, we must and we did’,

          Tashakur, Thank you and God bless you.