After the deadly September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, a New Zealand vet and his family found themselves in a tricky situation in Afghanistan.
The family from a small town in Taranaki risked being caught up in a dangerous global conflict in the country which had played host to Al-Qaeda, mastermind of the attacks.
Neil and Sandra Chesterton at home in Inglewood, Taranaki Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
At the time, Neil Chesterton was working with a German charity in the ancient city of Fayzabad in north-eastern Afghanistan, helping opium addicts.
It was his second trip to the region. Nine years earlier he had worked over the border in Pakistan for three years training Afghan farmers in veterinary techniques.
Neil assists vets in Afghanistan to vaccinate sheep in 2001 Photo: Supplied
Arriving back in 2000, with his wife Sandra and youngest two children in tow, he was also able to reconnect with the vets and help them in the field.
"They just so impressed me," Chesterton said.
He would go with them to summer pasture high up in the mountains vaccinating sheep, cattle and goats and help them treat lame donkeys or injured horses after a game of Buzkashi, where players on horseback aim to put a headless goat carcass in goal.
Neil was able to help vets he had trained earlier while living in Afghanistan in 2000-2001 Photo: Supplied
The Chestertons' sons learned to speak the local language and for two years the family lived a very simple life in a traditional mudbrick house with a long drop and a spectacular view.
They were sitting in their garden one evening when the news of the attacks broke over the short-wave radio and in subsequent days there was a rush of Westerners to flee the country.
The Chestertons were living in the only province not yet taken over by the Taliban but expats in all the other provinces had been kicked out, leaving via Russia and Tajikistan, Sandra explained.
Soon the family was among very few expats left and with winter about to close the mountain passes, and no flights out, the Chestertons decided to make the journey out of Afghanistan on horseback, over the Hindu Kush.
"A nice adventure," Sandra said.
Neil, Sandra and their two sons crossing the border of Afghanistan into Pakistan after 9/11. This was the only way they could get out of the country. The Taliban blocked every other way out. Photo: Supplied
With tension in the area, they dressed in local garb and - apart from a bus breaking down on their way off the mountains - they made the three day journey to Pakistan successfully.
But, despite reaching safety, Chesterton felt the need to help out the locals they had left behind, so, after settling the family in Peshawar, he returned to Afghanistan for a month to finish off the project.
"I didn't want to feel I'd run away from it."
"One morning I woke up and saw big circles in the sky ... US planes were circling round and bombing the Taliban that were 50 kilometres away."
Time to depart and head back to New Zealand. Just another chapter in the story of the vet from Inglewood.
