Planting hope: In a war-torn Afghan landscape, a local professor's personal effort helps change lives for the better
By Kelli Shillito, World staff writer
WENATCHEE — The options for farmers in Afghanistan are slim. They can either grow opium or struggle to survive in poverty. Jim Du Bruille of Wenatchee hopes to change that.
The Wenatchee Valley College instructor with a background in financial management of orchards is spending a year in Afghanistan helping farmers become more productive and replace opium poppies with other profitable crops, including tree fruit.
Du Bruille, 50, said he is drawn to the country because of the people, the culture and the opportunity to make positive changes. He first visited the country in 1981 to distribute food and clothing to refugees, and has returned several times since.
“I see needs there that I can help with, that I can make a difference on,” he said.
Du Bruille has been living in the city of Jalalabad, near the Pakistani border, since October, meeting with village elders all over the Kandahar province. He assesses which crops will be the most productive and efficient in the villages, then oversees planting. While he gets out in the fields to select and evaluate crops, Du Bruille spends most of his time behind his desk in Jalalabad.
“They're so thirsty for knowledge,” he said. “The people are very open to help. They need help.”
Two million fruit trees, about half orange trees, have already been planted with the help of Du Bruille and the U.S.-based organization he works with, the International Foundation of Hope (IFHOPE). Apricot trees, nuts, beans, peas and onions are among the plantings, but the elevation is too low for apple trees. Du Bruille is also working on cleaning and dredging a 44-mile canal that is a major source of water for the province.
The founder of IFHOPE, Wenatchee businessman James Ritchie, has been involved in the anti-Taliban movement since the mid-1990s after the group began to gain power in Afghanistan. Du Bruille met Ritchie in 1993 through a mutual friend in Wenatchee and the two traveled to the country in 1994 two days after the Taliban took over the government. Du Bruille said it was that visit that sparked Ritchie's interest in helping the Afghan people.
Du Bruille is home in Wenatchee for a few weeks doing research and writing proposals. He will head back to his work, where the rugged Safed Koh mountain range towers in the distance above the Kandahar plains, next month. Temperatures there are mild most of the year, about 65 degrees on a winter day, but can climb to 120 degrees in the summer, Du Bruille said.
The room he sleeps in, located in IFHOPE's office building, is small and empty, except for a bed and a desk.
He believes this is a critical time for Afghanistan. With the Taliban out of power, he said the people desperately want “a chance to improve their lives.” But if they don't see improvements soon, Du Bruille fears the Afghan people may lose hope.
“Then they'll listen to other voices who have a different way in mind,” he said.
“I think it's important that our country not walk away from Afghanistan this time, that we stay and see this job through.” That means increased military presence and aid from the U.S., he said.
“They would like to see the U.S. Army spread out all over because it brings security,” he said. “They do not want warlords.”
Security is a growing concern in the city where he works and Du Bruille said he has noticed the atmosphere getting more tense in the last month.
Sitting at his desk last month, he heard a “whoosh,” then a “boom.” It was a rocket fired toward the Jalalabad airport.
And yet, this is where Du Bruille wants to be. He said the danger is “just part of the landscape.”
“I don't want to live my life to protect it,” he said. “A person evaluates risk in everything they do and I consider the potential benefits to be more than the risk at this point.”
More than anything else back home, Du Bruille said he misses his two teenage children. He
e-mails them almost every day and said his 15-year-old daughter wants to visit her dad at work. He said that would be fine.
“I think it's important for them to expand their horizons,” Du Bruille said.
“We're a part of this world and there are problems in this world and I want them to understand that and be involved.”
He wishes more people like himself used their skills to help rebuild the struggling nation at a crossroads in its history.
“I think there's a wonderful opportunity to make a real difference there.”
Kelli Shillito can be reached at 664-7153 or by e-mail at shillito@wenworld.com
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