It’s my great privilege to welcome Kate McCord to Story Matters today. As I shared in an earlier post, Kate lived for five years in Afghanistan, where she worked as a humanitarian aid worker, delivering projects to benefit the people of Afghanistan. While there, she learned the local language and developed deep and lasting friendships with local Afghans. After evacuating from her home in Afghanistan, Kate transitioned into a mentoring, training, consulting and coaching role to other workers serving in the region. Prior to moving to Afghanistan, she worked in the international corporate community as a business process-and-strategy consultant. Currently, she serves Jesus through writing, speaking, mentoring and conducting workshops and seminars. She is the author of a nonfiction book, In the Land of Blue Burqas, and a novel, Farewell, Four Waters.

Kate, in your acknowledgements to FAREWELL, FOUR WATERS, you give your publisher credit for encouraging you to write this story as a novel instead of a non-fiction. What gave her that vision for this story?

My publisher understood the power of story to communicate the greater truth. This story, as fiction, allowed me to share the truth of my own thoughts, emotions and inner experiences with honesty and transparency.

The power of story to communicate the greater truth–yes, that resonates.

You wrote a non-fiction book before this one. Tell us a bit about it.

IN THE LAND OF BLUE BURQAS is all about faith conversations with Afghans. In that book, I gave print to both Afghan voices and my own, and how our faith conversations affected us.

I love that title, by the way. Now having written it as fiction, what freedoms did you find in telling your story this way? Where did you feel constrained?

So much of my actual experiences can’t be written because of the security situation in Afghanistan. To do so would have exposed my identity and the identities of those with whom I lived and worked, both Afghan and foreign. For their sakes and mine, I couldn’t do that. Writing fiction gave me the freedom to create characters and weave together situations in a way that tell the heart of the truth in a safe way.

To tell the heart of truth. That’s exactly why I am drawn so strongly to fiction.

You spent five years, from 2005-2010, living in Afghanistan as a Christian humanitarian worker. What drew you to this country, especially after the events of 9/11?

I picked up a book about Afghanistan at an airport in Europe and read it on the way home. The stories in that book captured my imagination. Over the winter of 2000 – 2001 I found myself reading everything I could find about Afghanistan and praying for the country and its people. It was through prayer that I found God’s heart for the people of Afghanistan and felt myself drawn to help them. At the time, I couldn’t see how, but when the Towers went down, I knew I would go.

Wow. That’s just incredibly powerful.

From both of your books, it’s evident that you have a heavy heart for the women in Afghanistan. How are women perceived there?

That such a complex question. The United Nations reports that Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. The lives of women in Afghanistan are indeed very difficult, yet women are integral to society. I’ve watched women laugh and cry. I’ve seen them work, grieve, yearn for a better future and love their families. I’ve seen men protect and provide for their wives, mothers and daughters, fear for their safety, and struggle to figure out how to live in a rapidly changing world.

And you paint such a beautiful picture of all this in your novel.

What were some of the biggest struggles you personally experienced when living in Afghanistan?

There was always the struggle with physical threats, oppression and heartache. I heard so many traumas stories, most from the wars but some from ongoing domestic violence, poverty and sickness. I think, though, for me, the greatest struggles were within me; selfishness, impatience and fear. I suppose that’s true for all of us.

I was going to say, that sounds just like me, living right here in Seattle.

What do you miss most about Afghanistan?

There is so much I miss; but the greatest is community; with Afghans and foreigners. I miss people. I don’t miss the overwhelming heat in the summer or the brutal cold in the winter. I don’t miss struggling with sickness or constantly assessing security threats, but I do miss people. They have names, faces and voices – places where they live in my heart.

What one thing would you want readers to take away from FAREWELL, FOUR WATERS?

That God is with us, no matter what happens. One of the greatest lessons I learned in Afghanistan was this; in good times and bad, our hearts find their peace in Christ.

I love that, and that’s another theme that really comes out in FAREWELL, FOUR WATERS.

So, what’s next for you? Another novel? Or does another non-fiction await?

I’m currently working on a nonfiction book, WHY DOES GOD CALL US TO DANGEROUS PLACES. That’s just the working title. It should come out sometime next year, probably in August. I’m also working on another novel about finding and walking in our unique identity in Christ. I love both forms; fiction and nonfiction and hope to keep writing.

As do I, and I hope you’ll be in touch when your new book comes out. Thank you, Kate. It’s been an honor to have you here today.

Friends, would love to hear from you too. What part of Kate’s story surprised you the most? I suppose for me one of the most surprising things is that American workers were allowed into Afghanistan at all after the Towers went down. 

And you?