"I was very scared" Bastian Baker experiences moments of fear in Afghanistan
The musician Bastian Baker actually wanted to travel to Afghanistan for a good cause. But the trip turned out to be a rollercoaster of fear. As an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund, he finds himself in a precarious situation.
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- Bastian Baker finds himself in a dangerous situation during his first Unicef mission in Afghanistan without a return flight, passports or internet access.
- The team had to return to Kabul with a police escort under unsafe conditions, where they received their documents back shortly before departure.
- Despite the threatening situation, Baker emphasizes the urgency of humanitarian aid for children and families on the ground.
Musician Bastian Baker will probably never forget his first mission as an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef). "I was very scared," he says about his experiences in Afghanistan.
During a humanitarian mission in Afghanistan, he and his team suddenly found themselves without a return flight, money or passport, as Blick wrote in Wednesday's edition. "I didn't know whether I would get home safely and quickly," says the 34-year-old musician.
After arriving at a UN camp in the province of Bamiyan, he thought nothing of it at first when the internet didn't work. "Before I left, I told my family not to wait for a message from me, it could be difficult with the internet," he says.
But a day later, the head of mission informed them that the situation was "much worse than expected". Bettina Junker, head of Unicef Switzerland and Liechtenstein, was also on site with the musician, as Blick reports. "In Afghanistan, I experienced how complex, widespread and directly life-threatening poverty is for children and families," she says.
Police escort to Kabul
One day before the end of the mission, Bastian Baker and the Unicef team finally had to travel back to the capital as quickly as possible. But no plane had taken off, the banks were closed, the internet had been switched off and passports had been confiscated. They waited for a police escort for two days. In the meantime, they tried to carry out their program as best they could.
Finally, they were escorted back to the capital. "On the journey back to Kabul, we didn't know whether we would be attacked on the way or whether the capital would be bombed," recalls the Unicef ambassador. "We were safe, but the circumstances full of uncertainty made me very worried." Their passports were returned to them shortly before their departure from Kabul.
Despite what happened, Bastian Baker is grateful to have been in Afghanistan. "The people need our help. So that the children don't lose sight of their brilliance as adults," he says.
