Khris Nedam
Inspired by President Kennedy’s challenge to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” Michigan educator Khris Nedam has devoted much of her life to serving others.
She lived, taught, and worked around the world, but Afghanistan became her enduring commitment. Her involvement spanned thirty years that saw civil war, the rise of the Taliban, the American intervention, and the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
Three days after Nedam began teaching in Kabul in 1991, Mujahideen forces surrounded the capital and her school closed. As foreigners evacuated, she stayed, joining a mobile eye clinic that traveled to remote villages to provide eyeglasses, cataract surgery, shrapnel removal, and vitamins to prevent blindness.
In 1993, Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires asked her to work at the Afghan Embassy in Washington. Nedam spoke Dari, understood Afghan culture, and was considered a neutral party. She helped bring tribal leaders together for peace talks. Negotiations failed and she returned to Afghanistan—until an Afghan colleague warned that she was on a Taliban hit list and escorted her to safety.
Back in Michigan, where she taught school, Nedam transformed those experiences into something remarkable. Inspired by what they learned about Afghanistan, her students decided to help Afghan children through education.
Working remotely with village elders, they struck an agreement: villagers would provide land and labor; Nedam and her students would raise construction funds. Importantly, the elders agreed that girls could attend. The first school opened in 2000.
The effort was named Kid 4 Afghan Kids, and grew to include additional schools. By 2025, more than 2,000 Afghan students attended annually, some walking four hours for the opportunity to learn.
Nedam’s courage was both moral and physical: staying when others evacuated, dealing with death threats, returning after experiencing danger, insisting that girls be educated, and sustaining those relationships for decades.
Her work represents a form of American power that is increasingly endangered today: soft diplomacy. She carried no weapon and commanded no army. Her tools were education, cultural respect, persistence, and trust. At a time when America is retreating from much of its traditional foreign assistance, her life demonstrates what can be accomplished by building relationships rather than imposing power.
“People are far more important than things.”
GAYLORD, MICHIGAN – JULY 13, 2024