A medical doctor, photographer, founder of Afghanistan based medical aid group, Dr Karen Woo was killed along with nine other volunteers while delivering medical supplies to Nuristan, North east of Afghanistan. The group was gunned down and the Taliban have taken responsiblity for the killings
I came across her blog http://explorerkitteninafghanistan.blogspot.com/awhile ago and gotten to know about her death only today. Her writings touches me and how difficult it must have been living in Afghanistan coping with the death of her friends. Writings about how a 26 year old Afghan woman with 5 kids disappointed that she was pregnant again and facing the loss of her job as a teacher.
Karen born in England dropped out of school at age of 16 to enrol at London Contemporary Dance School before deciding to become a doctor. She went on to becoming a surgeon and found her mission while visiting a friend in Afghanistan.
I admire her guts moving to one of the most dangerous country in the world, a tragic loss for the people of Afghanistan whom she came to help.
On the blog-hosting website Bridge Afghanistan, she explained how she had visited a number of medical projects in Kabul in April 2009:
“The things that I saw during that visit made me, as a doctor, want to bring back the human stories both good and bad.”
Rest in peace Karen, (1975 – 2010)
I have the Travel Lust - photographing one place at a time 