On Raza Khan

my heart is broken….

need time, need time…..

my thoughts and prayers go out to raza and to his family, a tireless, brave, stalward and indespensible jewel ….

how we continue to vanquish those who we need most…..

thank you for that beautiful tribute……

god’s speed on that appointed dinner my friend….

bob

I have been remembering also Dimitri Chebotayev a lot these days, who was killed in Iraq May 7, 2007, and wondering if he is forgotten!!!

May they rest in peace wherever they are! respects!

I read your tribute and the one on Time. Although I never met him he sounds like just the kind of person one would prefer to be with as a guide, driver and ultimately a friend.

A sad loss to all of those who might of met him.

I also read Teru Kuwayama and Lynsey Addario were also hurt in the same accident.

Let’s hope for a speedy recovery for them both.

phil

Dear Friends of Raza,

The Raza Khan Fund has been established. Here is the URL:

http://www.charitygiving.co.uk

Once on this page you should see a yellow colored square area in the center/top for donating to various charities. Click, then at that page find the toggle option and pull down to Raza Khan.

Setting up this fund so quickly couldn’t have been achieved without the wonderful support of Vaughan Smith with the Frontline Club in London who great lengths in setting up this specific fund for Raza and his family. The fund and account are separate from the normal Frontline Fixer Fund which was established years ago to help fixers injured or killed while working with journalist around the world.

Also lending support was Gary Knight. Immediately upon receiving the first email I sent out two weeks ago, Gary jumped on the phone from Europe to tell me about the possibility that the Frontline Club might be able to help lend support not only with a donation but also setting up this specific fund.

For insight into how this fund will work — all money donated into this specific Raza fund goes directly to his family. I am working with Lynsey Addario to help Raza’s wife set up an account in Peshawar. Raza’s wife will be the controller of donated funds. Once a sizable amount has arrived into the fund, Vaughan Smith will alert me and we’ll begin the process of wiring or even hand-carrying the money directly to Raza’s wife.

As an update regarding Raza’s family…I’m in regular contact via email and phone with his son, Alam. He’s still finishing up the family responsibilities post burial of his father. Alam intends to complete his college education (finishing his BA in accounting through a joint Dublin/Pakistan university program in Peshawar) and for earning money to support his family he will follow in his father’s footsteps as a driver for visiting journalists in Pakistan. He hopes enough funds will be available to purchase a decent used car.

On a related note…Lynsey is thankfully healing well after an operation for a broken collar bone from the accident. Also received an email from Teru that he’s too is doing well.

As a reminder, Tim McGirk wrote a touching piece on the Time.com blog about Raza. If you haven’t read it yet it’s worth a visit as well as to post your thoughts about Raza:

http://mideast.blogs.time.com/2009/05/12/riding-with-raza-khan/

Once again, thank you all for your support for Raza’s family. Lynsey and I will continue to monitor the progress over the next few months so that the family has as stable a future as possible.

Warmest Regards,

John Stanmeyer