AMERICAN STANDARD BATHROOM FAUCET REPAIR

MCC worker Glen Lapp, of Lancaster, Pa., was killed Aug. 5 in rural Afghanistan. This photo was taken in Kabul, Afghanistan, in July 2010.

MCC photo/John Williamson

AKRON, Pa. – Two months after MCC worker Glen Lapp and nine other aid workers were killed in rural Afghanistan, Lapp’s father, Marvin, brother Jerry and cousin Joe were welcomed in the guesthouse in Kabul where Glen had lived.

They took part in an Oct. 1 memorial service for the 10 who died Aug. 5, 2010.

But they also were able to visit the office where Glen helped to arrange logistics for rural eye camps and contacted village leaders to work out permissions and details. Following Glen’s example, they carried a banana and toffee pie to four friends who lived nearby.

And through each encounter, Marvin, Jerry and Joe Lapp got a closer feel for Glen’s efforts in Afghanistan, for how he was cherished by Afghan and expatriate friends and for the ways in which his adventurous spirit, conscientious attention and compassion shone through in both work and play.

“I frequently imagined how Glen must have done this or that thing, how he interacted with people, how he was able to do what needed to be done,” Marvin Lapp said. “It was a very good experience to be there.”

Glen Lapp, 40, and other members of a team formed by MCC partner International Assistance Mission (IAM), which provides eye care and medical treatment in Afghanistan, were returning from a journey to hold an eye camp in a rural area when they were killed in Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province.

John Williamson, MCC representative for Afghanistan, India and Nepal, notes that the exact circumstances of their deaths may never be known.

For the Lapp family, the trip to Afghanistan didn’t solve this mystery, but it did offer a window into Glen’s world and vividly showed how the same qualities that Lancaster County friends remember Glen for also were prized by friends in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world. According to the United Nations, the average life expectancy is a mere 43 years. Decades of war have taken a toll on people, communities, institutions and structures, including the health care and education systems. Outbreaks of violence are frequent and the security situation can change overnight.

Even though he only began his work in Afghanistan in 2008, Glen quickly became known as a person who reached out to other expatriates living in the midst of these tensions.

“Everyone acknowledges living in Kabul or Afghanistan is very challenging,” Williamson noted. Glen, however, was one of the most active in reaching out to his colleagues. “He brought a lot of life. Other people really enjoyed the life and spirit that he shared,” Williamson said.

Williamson, who accompanied the Lapps on this trip, was told that Glen was known for being conscientious about checking in with security personnel and following any warnings he was given. But in keeping with the adventurous spirit he was known for among family and friends in Lancaster, he also didn’t let fear keep him from living vibrantly and encouraging others to do the same.

He led a Monday morning exercise group. He took time to play with fellow workers’ children. He and a colleague, also among the 10 killed, helped organize volleyball tournaments.

And when security allowed, he and others would go into nearby hills for hikes.

Hiking and biking were such passions for Glen that those who attended his memorial service in Lancaster, Pa., were invited to bike there.

But hiking with someone in Afghanistan requires a far different level of trust than outdoor excursions in a more secure setting – and colleagues chose to place that trust in Glen.

“Several people told me they wouldn’t go on a hike in Afghanistan with just anyone – but they felt confident in being led by Glen,” Joe Lapp said. “People in general felt confident about doing something out of the ordinary with Glen. That’s something that we as a family and friends know about Glen, and that’s something that became clear that people in Afghanistan knew about Glen.”

For all his sense of adventure, Glen didn’t take the prospect of serving in Afghanistan lightly.

Glen had long wanted to serve abroad. But he had been busy – working as a nurse, a realtor, traveling, climbing mountains in South America and trekking in Nepal.

When the assignment opened in Afghanistan, he and his parents, Marvin and Mary Lapp, talked not only about the opportunities in going but also with each other and with MCC about the risks, the violence and the insecurity of the setting.

“It wasn’t always easy thinking about Glen being there, but it was a choice we had made,” his mother said.

The assignment drew on skills and qualities Glen honed over years of working and of traveling.

From conversations through e-mail and Skype, his parents could sense how much he liked the process of spending time with village leaders to work out the details of eye camps.

“It was clear he

Okay, so I left my parents around 3pm on Sunday night to head home. Now, I usually do not drive on Sundays or evenings because I know how hard it is to find repair places that are open then, but this trip was planned in a hurry and I wanted to cram in too many things. I had a meeting on Monday I was going to be a polling volunteer on Tuesday, etc.

As the light began to dim I found myself getting sleepy, and I actually slid across the road into the other lane more than once. Luckily, there were no cars nearby to hit! I even had an audio book on in the car and I could not pay attention to it because I was so sleepy. Then, something weird began to happen with the car- I noticed that I could no longer read the computer light for the clock, and when I used my turn signal indicator the speedometer went loopy. When I turned off the headlights the car ran better. I knew I was running on my battery, and it would only be a matter of time before I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the dark on a Sunday night. Foolishly I passed a settlement with a hotel and gas stations at Harris Ranch, and after I had driven by I figured that maybe I should have stopped...

As things got more desperate, I lost speedometer completely (even with no headlights, in the dark), by the best fortune I found that I was right at a bigger familiar settlement known as Kettleman City with a Best Western motel; I looked in vain for any kind of a car repair place there, but found nothing, and drove into the parking lot of the motel where, once I shut off the motor, the car died. For good.

I checked into the motel- there were no car repair services, of course, at 6:30 on a Sunday night and I would have to wait until the next morning to call AAA. It would cost $1750 to tow the car back to LA, so that was out of the question. Frantic, I just wanted to shoot myself. Or die. I was ready to give up. I was a nice guy, I told myself, why did this have to happen to ME?!?!? My legs hurt, it was hard to walk, even with a cane, I was once again out in the middle of nowhere, by myself, having to take care of myself and Pepita. I finally hobbled to get some dinner at a local sandwich outlet and when I came back by the front desk there was a guy there, an assistant manager named “Chris,” who offered to work on the car- he was sure it was the alternator, and he would be up at 8am and let me know. I felt like an angel had come down and made things easy for me, and I was VERY grateful.

The next day dawned, and I looked for Chris around 8. Nothing. At 9 I went to the front desk to see if they could page him or me. Nothing. The woman at the front desk promised to call me when he replied. Nothing. I debated about whether or not to call AAA, but if Chris was out buying an alternator, I did not want to have to have a tow truck come out for nothing. I took a nap, waiting for the phone to ring, not sure how this day was going to go- the weather outside, after a cold day of rain on Saturday, was COLD and WINDY, and the ground was damp. Horrible weather for sore joints!!!

Finally, at noon, with no word, I decided to call AAA, and Chris called while I was on the phone with them, so I hung up with them. He was trying to find an alternator for my car but there were three it could be, so he had to come to get mine out of my car first. Cutting this long story shorter, eventually Chris looked at the car, figured the problem was bigger than the alternator and told me I would have to call AAA, so I did (later on I realized he could not turn on the car because of the ignition guard I have on the car that I had not told him about, but he would have not been able to find the right kind of alternator, anyway, and he would have delayed me even more. It was an alternator that I needed, in fact, once I got to a repair place).

The tow truck guy came at 1:15 or so, and by 2pm and 25 miles later I was at the place “Chris” had recommended to repair my car. Those guys were great, the car was fixed by 4:40, and I got home at 7:30, safe and sound, about 23 hours later than scheduled.

I learned that the pass between the Central Valley, where I was, and LA, had been closed that night anyway, for snow, and did not open until 10am Monday morning, so I would not have been able to get through, anyway. So- two horrible scenarios (falling asleep at the wheel- because I knew that I would not stop to “sleep it off-“ and having a collision or running my car off the road and possibly overturning it, or being stuck having Pepita and I sleep in my car at the base of the mountains because no rooms would be available so close to the closure) were averted by this car breakdown. So I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I NEVER would have gotten home on Sunday night after this ill-conceived quick trip, and maybe I had it a little easier than it could have been. So I am grateful to the God Universe for helping me out here.

But thankfully this adventure is OVER and I am finally home, safe and s