HSU Insider

Afghanistan Aide Worker Reported Dead

• By Dave Coffield
• Posted March 5, 2008 8:47 AM
• 0 Comments

Former HSU Student Dedicated Her Life to Serving Poor

Sadly, Cyd Mizell, a former HSU student working among the poor in Afghanistan, has apparently been killed by her captors. Abducted, along with her driver Muhammad Hadi, by gunmen Jan 27 in Kandahar, Mizell’s fate still remains a mystery; however, the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF) for which she worked, said in a press statement last week, “Although we have no confirmation of their deaths, we have received information over the past few days indicating that our two aid workers have been killed.�

Cyd Mizell and her driver Muhammad Hadi

Mizell, 50, who attended HSU from 1976 through 1978 dedicated her life to serving the people of Afghanistan. Since 2005 she had lived in Kandahar, where she taught English to high school students and helped women learn income-producing skills such as sewing and embroidery. She also assisted in other ARLDF related efforts in the area, which include food-for-work projects, irrigation, rehabilitation, health care, and restoration projects.

Hadi, a resident of Kandahar, had served as an ARLDF driver for two years. Known by colleagues as a “kind, loving man,� he was the father of Five Children, ages 6 – 15.

Mizzel’s family released the following statement late Thursday: “We are all heartbroken to receive credible reports of the deaths of our daughter, Cyd, and Muhammad Hadi, her driver, in Afghanistan. While these reports remain unconfirmed, we are beginning to accept that the hoped-for outcome may no longer be possible.

Cyd knew before she went to Afghanistan that it could be a dangerous place, but she went because she loved the Afhgan people and dedicated her life to serving them. We are trying to understand why someone would kill a gentle, caring person who came to their country to help the poor. Many of the people of Kandahar came to love her almost as much as we loved her, and all of us share her loss.

We thank everyone who has worked so hard to secure her release and who now seek to confirm what we’ve heard. We thank everyone around the world who’s been praying for Cyd, and for us. Please continue to keep our family and Mr. Hadi’s family in your prayers.�

Those words were echoed by Lynne Abney Johnson, an HSU Distinguished Alumni honoree and friend of the former HSU music major, and Sigma Alpha Iota and Chorale member, “It’s too sad for words, even though she had looked forward to overseas service for years before she finally went. She is my fourth friend to be killed by Muslim extremists. Pray for her family and friends and her colleagues. Also pray for organizational leaders who need supernatural wisdom as they make decisions affecting the safety of other workers in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and other dangerous places. How long does a family hope when a death cannot be confirmed? It must be the very worst kind of agony.�

Why would an American Woman Live and work in one of the most dangerous regions of a country at war?

“Because she cared,� said Jeff Palmer, international director of the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation (ARLDF). “She loved the people of Afghanistan, and she devoted her life to meeting their needs and helping them rebuild their nation, which has experienced violence and suffering for many years.�

“The women here make a beautiful, intricate type of embroidery called ‘khamak,’� Mizell wrote last year. “We have grown to love and appreciate this handiwork and would like to ‘show it off’ to others, as well as to help these women and their families improve their livelihoods. Many of these women rarely leave their homes, and it is not appropriate or helpful to pull them out of the homes in order to give them employment. Our project employs women to embroider small pieces of khamak in their homes that we hope will be useful and marketable.�

“I’ve been able to help some with the design and production phase and I really love being able to work with these Afghan women. They are very patient and gracious with my [language skills]. It gives us lots of opportunities to laugh!�

Mizell also tried to meet some of the needs of the homeless “tent people� – migrants from drought-stricken areas of Afghanistan who moved to Kandahar. Their poverty and hunger moved her, particularly the women and girls who seldom if ever left the dirty, torn tents they called home.

“She had the time and opportunity to go to a place where there was so much need to give to these girls who have so much potential,� said an ARLDF colleague who worked with her. “The high school students loved her. She was adored by teachers and students because of the spirit that she brought with her. She really loved them.�

Mizell, a gifted musician, began helping Afghan women even before she went to Afghanistan. She volunteered in the United States to teach English as a second language to Afghan refugees who had resettled there. She became increasingly interested in assisting the people of Afghanistan as that nation struggled to rebuild after years of war.

“I remember her telling me that she had volunteered to teach English as a second language and that several women from the Pashtun area in southern Afghanistan had come to her class,� recalled an American friend. “She was so excited because that was the very people she had decided she wanted to help. She did not go to Afghanistan out of any need for adventure. She just wanted to go where the need was greatest and where she could be of the most service.�
In 2005 she joined the Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, a humanitarian organization that sponsors development work in a number of Asian nations, including Afghanistan. She won the admiration of many people in Kandahar for her work with them. Mohammad Gull, a professor at Kandahar University, described her as “a very patient and calm woman� who was “always thinking about Afghanistan's future.� Kandahar’s provincial governor, Asadullah Khalid, said she “trusted the Afghan nation and respected them.�

They trusted and respected her, too. That was vividly illustrated in the days following her Jan. 26 kidnapping when as many as 600 Afghan women in Kandahar met to appeal for her release -- a rare public display by women in the conservative area. Rona Tareen, director of the Kandahar Women's Association, urged Mizell's captors to free her immediately, saying she had helped Kandahar's women with small business projects.

"She was here helping the woman in Kandahar. She was trying to get their embroidery outside of the country," Tareen told the women — many wearing all-encompassing burqas — who gathered in a Kandahar wedding hall. "Her kidnapping is against our culture and tradition.�
Another woman, Bibi Nanai, said she received permission from her husband to join the protest. "I came from my home to show my support," Nanai said. "We are very upset."
Mizell was aware of the risks of working in Kandahar. A few months after her arrival in 2005, Mizell wrote: “(T)he security situation here has been steadily getting worse …. One thing that has become very clear in recent days is that we have no guarantee of how long we will be able to remain in our city. So, I want to make the most of the time.�

She was able to remain for almost three years. Just a few weeks before she was kidnapped, she wrote:

“I would just like to say that I am very much at peace in being here. I have no desire to go anywhere else.�