Friesens have spent years of service overseas
Although they now make their home in Hillsboro, Dr. Herb and Ruth Friesen always have one place in their hearts: Afghanistan.
The two Tabor College grads have spent most of their lives serving in other countries — and much of that time was working with eye hospitals in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Even now, they try to spend three to five months each year working at eye hospitals in the Middle East, a place with much tension and turmoil.
Herb Friensen isn't a Kansas native — he grew up in Oklahoma and moved to Hillsboro with his family when he was 14. His wife, Ruth, was born in India, where her family were missionaries.
When she was a teenager, Ruth's family came to the United States for an extended furlough. As part of the furlough, Ruth's father taught at Tabor College — which is where the couple met.
After getting married, Herb went on to further his education at the University of Kansas medical school. He wanted to be a doctor, and he benefited from the instruction of renowned Tabor science professor S.L. Loewen.
"He was a big influence on my life," Herb said.
But Herb and his wife always felt called to serve overseas. So after medical school, they served two years of "alternative service" to Indonesia through the Mennonite Central Committee.
Indonesia is where Dr. and Mrs. Friesen saw the great number of people with eye conditions but few opthamologists to treat them. That's when he decided to specialize in opthamology.
The Friesens returned to the United States and moved to Chicago, where Herb could study at the Hines Veteran's Hospital. While completing his exams to become an eye doctor, he and his wife lived in Pueblo, Colo.
By the end of the 1960s, the Friesens knew of the need for eye doctors in Afghanistan. And when the opportunity arose, the Friesen family was headed for Kabul.
Under the broad umbrella of the International Assistance Mission, supported by the MBMSI, Dr. Herb Friesen got involved in an optometrist teaching institute.They arrived there in January of 1969.
The Friesens spent ten years in Kabul until communists forced them to leave the country, along with many other foreigners at that time. An anti-foreign sentiment was rapidly rising.
"It seemed to be a whole new spirit in the area," Ruth said.
So the Friesens went on to fill a position at an eye hospital in Sierra Leone, Africa. They were still working under the IAM.
They spent two years in Sierra Leone until it was safe for them to return to the Afghanistan area. This time, they moved into Pakistan — to Peshawar, a major city by the Afghan border. They would spend 12 years there setting up another eye hospital.
It was during that time that millions of Afghan refugees began fleeing north, over the Afghanistan border into Pakistan. At its high point, more than three and a half million refugees filled the countryside surrounding Peshawar.
And that's when Ruth got daily opportunities to minister to the hurting refugees whose lives had been turned upside down.
"They had suffered so terribly," she said.
Every morning, Ruth made it a point to help the men and women in any way she could, whether that was giving powdered milk for a nursing baby or vitamins to an elderly woman.
Sometimes, the best thing she could do for them was just listen, she said.
"They needed anything at all that you could help them with," Ruth said.
Working as Christians was difficult, since the government doesn't allow religions other than Islam to spread information. Foreigners can hold their own Christian church services, but native Afghans aren't allowed to attend.
"We tried to share God's love in word and deed," Ruth said.
But even in the midst of their poverty, the Afghan people were always generous and showed great hospitality to the Friesens, they said.
The Afghan people are very independent — and proud, the Friesens said.
Over all the years of fighting and wars, "they've always won," Ruth said.
They're also very loyal and will be your friend for life, the Friesens said.
In the early '90s, the Friesens divided their time between eye hospitals in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In all, they've worked with at least five hospitals, Herb said.
In 1996, the couple officially retired from the MBMSI. But they make it a point to visit back for several months at a time each year. They've been able to do that every year except 2001 — they were scheduled to fly to Afghanistan in September, weeks after Sept. 11, Herb said.
The couple always keeps a house rented in Peshawar.
"We have a lot of connections," Herb said.
Despite all the turmoil that Afghanistan has been through over its turbulent history, Ruth Friesen sees a new feeling arising in the country: hope.
And that's evident in the reconstruction of many destroyed buildings.
"I've never seen so much rebuilding," Ruth said.
And with the reign of the Taliban dissipating, Afghan citizens are enjoying more freedoms, especially women.
"People are more happy than they've been for a long time," Ruth said.
