The very short span of my stay in Afghanistan from 15 to 22 October, 2017 has left many impressions on my mind. For the next two years,

I would be engaged with the impact assessment study of the JRS interventions in Afghanistan over the last 15 years. The intensive engagements with JRS and the people of Afghanistan taught me a

few lessons for life.

 

It is not destiny, but God who intervenes in our story, in our history:

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In 2005, Antony Santiago and Noel Oliver reached Kabul to launch the new mission to serve the war-affected people of Afghanistan. Not knowing what next, they landed at Herat Technical school to make it one of the best institutes in the region, and an example of a frontier mission with an immense contribution to the people of Afghanistan. All the interventions of JRS in Afghanistan over the last one and half decade that we documented echo the same sentiments.

 

What’s meant for you always arrives right on time:

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Through my study of the mission, I discovered that the hard learnings of the pioneers have now become the collective wisdom for the mission: for example, ‘No straitjacket approach in functioning’. They responded to the context and situations as they were confronted. Looking back at the positive impacts of the interventions, one is reminded of the well-known quote, “There’s no need to rush. What’s meant for you always arrives right on time.” Taking the road less travelled, JRS has demonstrated that the Afghan mission was indeed a frontier mission that Jesuits would be proud of, today and in the days to come.