Tetsu Nakamura, 73, arrived in Afghanistan in the 1980s to treat leprosy. But he changed many more lives with the canal-building techniques he brought from his native Japan.
Tetsu Nakamura, 73, arrived in Afghanistan in the 1980s to treat leprosy. But he changed many more lives with the canal-building techniques he brought from his native Japan.
The Afghan authorities in Nangarhar said, by the time of his murder his canals had improved the livelihood of nearly a million people, and irrigated nearly 60,000 acres of previously arid land.
“A doctor treats patients one by one, but this helps a whole village,” Dr. Nakamura had said. “I love seeing a village that’s been brought back to life.”
“He showed us life — he helped build our land. He was a leader to us,” said Hamidullah Hashemi, a resident of Khewa. “I feel like they have killed my closest family member. They left us without Nakamura.”