RIP Karen Woo

I didn't know Karen Woo. In fact, until today I had never heard of her. She was one of the many unsung, forgotten people who serve poor people in foreign countries where they have no hope of getting that aid from their own government. Karen Woo left a well paid job in the private health care service in the UK (BUPA) and went off to Afghanistan to help provide eye care in the remote areas of that forbidding country, and to those who could not afford it.


The group she was travelling with, were ambushed, and a total of ten volunteer aid workers, including Karen, paid the ultimate price for helping ease the suffering of the Afghan poor. The people who carried out the attack, were from the same Afghan nation they were trying to help. I couldn't help but wonder, why? Make that a BIG WHY?? No matter what I think or feel, I don't think we will get an answer to that 'why' question. I have asked it before, and never got an answer then either.


Maybe the better question would be 'what'? What makes a young professional lady, volunteer to go to a backward, war torn country, to help folks who she doesn't even know? What drives a person, like all those ten who lost their lives, risk everything to help the poor? Part of that answer lies with the group she was associated with. International Assistance Mission (IAM) has been in that country for many years. They travel unarmed, and without an escort. The other part of the answer is that Karen Woo, and many others like her, was a Christian. Called to give help to the poor, she listened, and went, leaving her family and a well paid job behind, prepared to take the risks to personal safety.


The other 'why' question is, 'why did she do it'? I think her conscience drove her. Being a Christian, she answers to a higher power than the terrorist. When I say, Rest in Peace, I mean it. These unsung heroes and heroines will inherit a special place in heaven, where they will be recognised for what they are.  Oh, by the way, anyone with a church, or bible background will not miss the initials of the mission she travelled with. 'I AM' in the bible is the name used for God. Almighty God. Karen Woo knew why she was there, and who she served, so I believe she will certainly rest in peace!