John Deans (Class of 1973) Visits Afghanistan With The Halo Trust

The HALO Trust is a not for profit organisation which specialises in the removal of landmines, unexploded ordnance, and other remnants of war. The charity was founded in 1988 in response to the global landmine crisis and has since grown to become the world’s largest humanitarian mine clearance organisation. Last year, our former pupil John Deans (class of 1978) became a HALO trustee, resulting in a life-changing visit to Afghanistan earlier this year. Recently, we were delighted to catch up with John to hear all about his experience and of course, find out more about the incredible work carried out worldwide by HALO.

Hi John, tell us firstly what attracted you to working with the Halo Trust?

A colleague at work, Anthony Bird, had been a HALO trustee for the last 12 years and he started to talk to me about the charity and the work it did. Armed conflict has been in my family’s history – my maternal Grandfather received a Military Cross in the First World War and my father served in Palestine and was at El Alamein in the Second World War. And I was in the CCF at The Academy. I’d been asked to become a non-exec director at a variety of public companies, but I’d never really been that enthusiastic about doing it,. However, I’ve always wanted to do something in addition to my full-time job, so when Anthony asked if I’d be interested, I thought, well actually, this is really quite differentand the more I got to know about it, the more I thought, this is something completely different to my day job and I said fine, please put my name forward to be considered.

Did you know that a visit to Afghanistan would be on the cards?

When I was being interviewed by HALO, I did say to them, what is the expectation of trustees in terms of actually seeingsome of the programmes in operation? They said, “you’re not obliged but you’re strongly encouraged, as you’ll get a far better insight once you see it in reality”. Then in November ’22 they called and said “we’ve just been thinking about where you should go, and we think you should go to Afghanistan”. I said“you’ve got to be kidding. Of all the 28 programmes around the world, why Afghanistan?” It just seemed incomprehensible that a Westerner would choose to go near that place given recent events. SoHALO patiently explained to me that the security situation was completely different since the U.S vacated in August ’21 – far better – and also there was the prospect that I could get to Kandahar and Helmand, two areas which no non-military Westerner has been able to access for about 12 years. So I said, “okay, you’ve persuaded me, but what’s the pitch to my wife?” So I went home to my wife that evening and told her. She said “You’re an idiot – make sure your will is up to date!” That was the end of the conversation, and off I went.

What surprised you most about Afghanistan?

I had never been to a country 18 months after it’s been subject to conflict, so I’ve never seen the acute deprivation that arisesfrom war, I’ve never seen the abject poverty. When I was a youngster, 19 or 20, I worked in Israel and in some parts of Jerusalem at that time and some parts of Southern Israel, you saw a lot of poverty but not like what you see in Kabul. In the morning as the sun was rising, there are bazaars being set up on the side of the road where people are selling everything from tyres to wood. You see young men with ancient old wheel barrels with nothing in them looking for work, then you have kids carrying bundles of twigs on their way to try and sell them. So that was a real eye-opener, the abject poverty. 

In terms of geographythe country is stunningly beautiful. The mountains are unbelievable. The fields in the south in Helmand are particularly interesting, in a good year they can have four harvests – that’s how fertile the ground is – but sadly at the moment they can’t do that because the fields are littered with landmines. 

The people working for HALO were a wonderful representation of what Afghans are like, extremely welcoming, very friendly and couldn’t have done more to make me feel comfortable.

Interestingly, the Afghans I encountered, understandably, sit slightly on the fence when asked about Taliban policy. I decided early on I wasn’t going to embarrass them and put them on the spot by asking too many direct questions,and just through being with them for 2 or 3 days, it became clear that they didn’t feel comfortable expressing any viewpoints one way or another. In part due to the Taliban’s unpredictability. For example, regarding the issue around women, the Taliban issued a decree at the beginning of this year that no woman can be educated or work, full stop. HALO employs something like 140 women whose principal job is to educate villagers on how to identify a mine, or if you find a mine, what to do. When the decree was issued HALO continued to pay its women their salary, but they had to stay at home. HALO then met the Prime Minister and explained that it’s not in the interests of Afghanistan to stop women working. If they want to get the economy going again, women have to be able to work. . Without understanding how these things come to pass, there are now seven provinces where HALO women are once again able to work.

On my last day, HALO took me to a village in Helmand, an area that had been held by the Taliban but had now been cleared of mines. They said they wanted to show me the local school.Since the conflict finished and the minefields cleared, children have started to return to this school, around 120 of them. However, the building has neither doors nor windows and there are no chairs or desks.Pupils sit on the ground and teachersuse chalk and a blackboard, nothing else. Another eye-opener to say the least.

Lastly, the food in Afghanistan is brilliant, a lot of lamb and chicken! No alcohol, but they do love Fanta!

What was your accommodation like?

When I was in Kabul, I was put in a hotel which could probably accommodate around 300 people, but there were only five other guests. . The international community has not yet returned to Afghanistan since the Americans left. , Some number of NGOs did but after the decree about women not working, a large proportion of NGOs left in protest. I was put up in a suite – believe it or not – but it was minus three degrees because they can’t afford the heating; fortunately I had brought thermals

I stayed in HALO guest houses in Kandahar and Helmandwhich were clean and perfectly adequate for the purpose. Washing facilities were rudimentary but again perfectly adequate.

In terms of safety, did you always feel on edge or did you gradually feel like you could relax a little?

I had a security guy with me at all times when on the move but it was pretty strict as you can imagine. When I went into the hotel in Kabul, theHALO head of security (former Afghan General) said “the first thing I need to do is give you a safety briefing” and he brought out a plastic bag with a phone in it which I had to use. It had a WhatsApp group on it and every time I wanted to move from one location to another I had to message the WhatsApp group with the time, my initials, my ETA etc and then HQ would respond immediately with “received”. If you didn’t turn up at your destination within 15 minutes, they would assume the worst. Then I was given a tourniquet and it was at this point I thought wow, this is really serious! I was told you MUST have your tourniquet on you at all times.

There are many checkpoints, especially in the cities. These are manned by armed Taliban. Often cars were pulled over and the occupants searched, but whenever a HALO vehicle approached it was waved straight through. It was as if the Taliban high command had issued an order that HALO was not to be impeded in going about its work. This in part is because HALO have been de-mining in Afghanistan for 30 years and the Taliban know it is non-political and undertakes work which supports the rebuilding of the economy. It is noteworthy that HALO was the first NGO the Taliban asked to resume its work10 days after the US forces left.

Generally, you get into a bit of a rhythm with security but you always have your wits about you. The most concerning bit for me was leaving the hotel and walking 15 yards down the road to hop in the armoured Land Rover, but I think having a degree of paranoia was probably the best policy to be honest. 

What insights have you gained about HALO now that you’ve seen how they operate up close? Did it reaffirm your decision to become a trustee?

It more than reaffirmed my decision to become a trustee, I feel very lucky to have been introduced to HALO. The relevance and need for this organisation is higher than ever. Even outwithAfghanistan, the rate at which landmines are being laid in Ukraine for example. Our Chief Executive estimates there are 20-25 years worth of work in Ukraine alone to clear landmines laid in the past 12 months.

The extent to which HALO provides employment also caught my attention. All de-miners are locals. In Afghanistan for example, HALO employs over 2,000 people and pays de-miners around $320 per month, which is three time the average wage in Afghanistan for those who actually have a job. It is estimated that one de-miner financially supports 6-10 other Afghans. 

People often talk quite casually about minefields. a In reality, these are fields on which people grew crops that ended up in the middle of a conflict that the local villagers have nothing to do with. The field then gets mined as both sides use it as adefensive barrier. In time, the conflict either moves on or ends, but the villagers are left with this minefield which time and time again claims the lives of farmers and even children walking to school. So the major impact HALO has is going in and clearingthese minefields so that the farmers can sow crops once again and in turn, start rebuilding the local economy. Seeing it in person made the massive benefit HALO brings to the countries in which it operates, much clearer to me.

Final question, what impact has this visit had on you as a person?

At the school to which I referred earlier, I asked how much it would cost to replace the windows, doors chairs and desks – $10,000 – which is di minimus in the grand scheme of things and it would be life-changing for those children. So I have it in the back of my head now, how do I raise that money? Or do I even pay for it myself? I would never have imagined that I would be in a position to orchestrate that sort of thing. It would make the most incredible difference.

Lastly, I drew a relatively large sigh of relief leaving Afghanistan – not because I didn’t enjoy it but from a safety point of view. During my seven hour lay-over in Dubai, I was sitting in a Starbucks watching all of these ‘bling’ people walking around, totally clueless about what’s happening just two hours north-east. I also thought about people in the West worrying about the weather and worrying about the tiny things in life. Witnessing what I saw in Afghanistan, well, it completely changes your perspective.

If you’d like to find out more about The Halo Trust, please visit halotrust.org.