Timo Smeehuijzen - May 24, 1987 - June 15, 2007
There are no words to fully express what the Smeehuijzen family has gone through since 2007, when their son Timo was killed in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan.
The bomb went off as a Dutch convoy headed back to base after celebrating Women’s Day in Tarin Kowt. Three other Dutch soldiers were wounded in the attack, as well as several Afghans, including 9 children.
In some ways, grief will always be a private, personal thing, something that nobody else can ever really understand or share.
But when the Smeehuijzen family heard that Afghan children had also died in the attack, they knew exactly what their parents were going through.
And they wanted to do something.
So, after a lot of thought, they decided to build a school - a girls school - in Afghanistan. They joined forces with Save The Children and raised the money… and construction is now finally underway.
A model of the Timo School
Unfortunately, Michel and I didn’t get to see the school while we were in Afghanistan (we were told it was too risky, not so much for our sake, but for the sake of the school - if it was seen to have military associations, it might be targeted by Taliban). But we did speak to the Smeehuijzens before we left.
You can listen to our interview with the Timo’s parents here.
To read more about the Timo School project - in Dutch - click here.
To donate to the project, click here.
To see more photos of Timo, you can watch the tribute video below.
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