This 46-year-old nun of the Congregation of Saint Jeanne Antida had to leave years of work and many beloved children to an unknown fate:
Sister Shahnaz will never forget the long days in Taliban-occupied Kabul, anxiously waiting for a chance to leave the country. The nun, who worked in Afghanistan for the Pro Bambini di Kabul (PBK) association and arrived in Italy on one of the last flights of the airlift organized by the authorities, is still in shock: “Even now that I’m here safe and sound, every time I hear a knock at the door or hear the sound of a shutter moving in the wind, my heart leaps and I am terrified that someone has come to get me.
She had worked with four Missionary of Charity sisters, as well as an Indian Jesuit at her facility, and seems to have left Kabul with them, although the article certainly isn’t clear. It does appear as though she had to abandon the fourteen disabled young people in their charge, since she says she will look for other children in Italy to care for. Regardless, we pray for all involved in this disastrous situation, and especially those left in the hands of the Taliban who seem to have very different appreciation for human life than those who profess Christianity.
UPDATE: A subsequent report reveals that the fourteen young people did escape from Afghanistan with the two priests and several sisters, seemingly with help from the Community of Sant’Egidio. Sister Shahnaz, mentioned above, didn’t work with these children herself. Rather she was caregiver to fifty other disabled children, “with a varying range of disabilities,” who didn’t make it out. There is only one parish in Afghanistan, overseen by Barnabite priest, Fr. Giovanni Scalese, 66. PBK president Father Matteo Sanavio ponders the question: what will happen to the Church in Afghanistan now? “It was always hidden, almost symbolic, yet it has done so much for the neediest. I still hope that we can return in the future. At present, we’ll follow the developing situation and won’t stop praying.”
We will join our prayers to his.
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