Farewell, Four Waters by Kate McCord - Book Review

Day 14: It should have been the beginning . . .

All she needed were stamps and signatures. Marie and her translator stood in the government offices in Kabul, Afghanistan to complete the paperwork for her new literacy project. The women in her home town, the northern village of Shehktan, would learn to read.

But a spattering of gun shots exploded and an aid worker crumpled. Executed. On the streets of Kabul. Just blocks from the guesthouse. Sending shockwaves through the community.

The foreign personnel assessed their options and some, including Marie's closest friend, Carolyn, chose to leave the country. Marie and others faced the cost and elected to press forward. But the execution of the lone aid worker was just the beginning.

When she returned home to her Afghan friends in Shehktan to begin classes, she felt eyes watching her, piercing through her scarf as she walked the streets lined in mud brick walls.

And in the end . . . 

It took only 14 days for her project, her Afghan home, her community-all of it-to evaporate in an eruption of dust, grief, and loss. Betrayed by someone she trusted. Caught in a feud she knew nothing about, and having loved people on both sides, Marie struggled for the answer: How could God be present here, working here, in the soul of Afghanistan?

If you enjoy the show HOMELAND on Shotime, you'll enjoy this novel. At first I was thinking, how can anyone live like this? How can women give up their American lives and homes to go to a foreign land where there is constant fighting, where women live in fear of being kidnapped or killed, and where women have little to no rights? Women can't drive cars, must be covered in public, can't own things, can't have money of their own, but by the end of the book I was so impressed with the friendships they formed and the progress they made. I even found myself wanting to be part of this world. I was sad to see them leave all their friends and projects behind. It was a very well written book, and I loved reading Marie's honest thoughts as she went through the highs and lows, especially how she struggled to see God in the crisis. Many people think missionaries are saints and without questions or doubts, and I really appreciated this honest look at one woman's experience!

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