Date: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 23:34:49 +0100
From Lincoln to Yemen: Living Between Terror and Humanity
![[image]](http://klkn.images.worldnow.com/images/6314156_G.jpg)
Posted By: Bill Schammert
bschammert@klkntv.com
bschammert@klkntv.com
30.12.2014
From Pius graduate to wanted man, Kyle Foster has been around the world many times over. For the better part of the last 15 years, he's lived in Yemen as a contractor, watching from the front lines as one of the oldest countries in the world is slowly overtaken by terrorists.
"We heard shots about two o'clock in the morning and I knew, they'd come for me. I don't know how I knew," said Foster.
Seventy-eight hundred miles away from those gun shots is Kyle Foster's hometown. Growing up a track star and a Husker fan, he was your typical Lincoln teenager; a teenager who always wanted more.
"I was always interested in politics, particularly the Arab Middle East as a hot spot, a place where there's politics going on all the time," said Foster.
Tensions in the Middle East in the early 1980s created road blocks. Foster went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in literature, before an opportunity with the Peace Corps came knocking in 1989.
"I grew up in catholic schools and pictures of John F. Kennedy were right next to Christ," said Foster. "He was instrumental in starting the Peace Corps and that was a dream for me as well."
Foster's first experience in Yemen wouldn't last long; he was forced to flee during the First Gulf War. He would go to graduate school in Vermont, earning his degree in international development, before Yemen came calling again in the late 1990s. Documenting his journey along the way, he worked as a contractor for different humanitarian organizations, like CARE and U.S. Aid, heading up projects.
"We really targeted the poorest of the poor and some of the most poverty stricken areas on the planet. We worked in areas that had no water, no schools, no electricity, no medical facilities, no roads and no shoes," said Foster.
A world traveler for so long, Yemen became home. He married his wife in 2008. They now have thee daughters.
"Ninety-nine-percent of the people are fantastic. It's not just all terrorists running around. Most of the Yemeni people are just concerned about taking care of their families and being good neighbors," said Foster.
As the years passed, life in Yemen started to change. He said Al Qaeda had a presence of just more than 300 militants in the mid 2000s. In under a decade, he estimates that number had grown to about 5,000, and now he was a target.
"I knew they wanted me. I knew I was a big fish. I was an American," said Foster.
He knew Luke Somers, an American photojournalist captured in 2013 by Al Qaeda and killed just weeks ago. For Foster, life was different now. As Yemen changed, so did he. To avoid capture, he would change his route to work.
"Everyday, change your route, change your time. Sometimes, wear a disguise," said Foster. "If I was leaving the city, I'd wear a turban, sunglasses and drive a little quicker."
In February, fear became reality. Foster recalls the night he heard gun shots some 20 yards away.
"And I just knew, maybe subconsciously, I'd been expecting them. Got my wife and kids down. I went up to the roof looked around."
What Foster saw was an attack. He said he later found out, the terrorists were looking for him, but they had gone to the wrong house. Officials later told him two militants were killed in the operation. Foster, his wife and three kids escaped. He alone fled across the Gulf of Aden to Ethiopia, his family left behind in the hands of the Yemeni government.
"I have friends in the Yemeni government. I was able to call people up and network on an almost daily basis," said Foster.
Months passed before Foster took diplomacy into his own hands.
"I was able to come back to Yemen in early June, where I went into a private safe house in the old city of Sana'a."
There, with the help of the Yemeni and American governments, he finally got Visas for his wife and three daughters. The four landed on American soil, believe it or not, on July 4th.
"We all breathed fresh of air. We met with Homeland Security, who were wonderful as well," said Foster.
Fluent in Arabic and used to the pace of Yemeni life, like his family who had never touched foot in the U.S., Foster needed to adjust.
"There's elements that seem a little Sci–Fi. Banking, the new way credit cards are done. I'm still trying to figure it out."
We asked Foster, why do people here in Lincoln, Neb. need to care about what is happening so many thousands of miles away?
"We know they're out there, we know they want to hurt us. It's become an increasingly small world and we need to all care about it," he answered.
Foster said it took him months to come to terms with that night, the assassination attempt on his life for simply being an American. Now he's ready to share; he's in the process of writing a book.
"It's in my soul. I have a wonderful wife and children, I wouldn't change it for the world. I've led the most interesting life of anybody I know."
Foster will turn 50 next month. When asked whether he would ever return to Yemen, the place that gave him so much, and almost took it all away, he said he'd love to visit. But, looking ahead, he's ready for a new chapter. One that starts where it all began; at home in Lincoln, Nebraska.
For more information on Kyle Foster and to view is blog, Arabian Notes, click here.
From Pius graduate to wanted man, Kyle Foster has been around the world many times over. For the better part of the last 15 years, he's lived in Yemen as a contractor, watching from the front lines as one of the oldest countries in the world is slowly overtaken by terrorists.
"We heard shots about two o'clock in the morning and I knew, they'd come for me. I don't know how I knew," said Foster.
Seventy-eight hundred miles away from those gun shots is Kyle Foster's hometown. Growing up a track star and a Husker fan, he was your typical Lincoln teenager; a teenager who always wanted more.
"I was always interested in politics, particularly the Arab Middle East as a hot spot, a place where there's politics going on all the time," said Foster.
Tensions in the Middle East in the early 1980s created road blocks. Foster went to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in literature, before an opportunity with the Peace Corps came knocking in 1989.
"I grew up in catholic schools and pictures of John F. Kennedy were right next to Christ," said Foster. "He was instrumental in starting the Peace Corps and that was a dream for me as well."
Foster's first experience in Yemen wouldn't last long; he was forced to flee during the First Gulf War. He would go to graduate school in Vermont, earning his degree in international development, before Yemen came calling again in the late 1990s. Documenting his journey along the way, he worked as a contractor for different humanitarian organizations, like CARE and U.S. Aid, heading up projects.
"We really targeted the poorest of the poor and some of the most poverty stricken areas on the planet. We worked in areas that had no water, no schools, no electricity, no medical facilities, no roads and no shoes," said Foster.
A world traveler for so long, Yemen became home. He married his wife in 2008. They now have thee daughters.
"Ninety-nine-percent of the people are fantastic. It's not just all terrorists running around. Most of the Yemeni people are just concerned about taking care of their families and being good neighbors," said Foster.
As the years passed, life in Yemen started to change. He said Al Qaeda had a presence of just more than 300 militants in the mid 2000s. In under a decade, he estimates that number had grown to about 5,000, and now he was a target.
"I knew they wanted me. I knew I was a big fish. I was an American," said Foster.
He knew Luke Somers, an American photojournalist captured in 2013 by Al Qaeda and killed just weeks ago. For Foster, life was different now. As Yemen changed, so did he. To avoid capture, he would change his route to work.
"Everyday, change your route, change your time. Sometimes, wear a disguise," said Foster. "If I was leaving the city, I'd wear a turban, sunglasses and drive a little quicker."
In February, fear became reality. Foster recalls the night he heard gun shots some 20 yards away.
"And I just knew, maybe subconsciously, I'd been expecting them. Got my wife and kids down. I went up to the roof looked around."
What Foster saw was an attack. He said he later found out, the terrorists were looking for him, but they had gone to the wrong house. Officials later told him two militants were killed in the operation. Foster, his wife and three kids escaped. He alone fled across the Gulf of Aden to Ethiopia, his family left behind in the hands of the Yemeni government.
"I have friends in the Yemeni government. I was able to call people up and network on an almost daily basis," said Foster.
Months passed before Foster took diplomacy into his own hands.
"I was able to come back to Yemen in early June, where I went into a private safe house in the old city of Sana'a."
There, with the help of the Yemeni and American governments, he finally got Visas for his wife and three daughters. The four landed on American soil, believe it or not, on July 4th.
"We all breathed fresh of air. We met with Homeland Security, who were wonderful as well," said Foster.
Fluent in Arabic and used to the pace of Yemeni life, like his family who had never touched foot in the U.S., Foster needed to adjust.
"There's elements that seem a little Sci–Fi. Banking, the new way credit cards are done. I'm still trying to figure it out."
We asked Foster, why do people here in Lincoln, Neb. need to care about what is happening so many thousands of miles away?
"We know they're out there, we know they want to hurt us. It's become an increasingly small world and we need to all care about it," he answered.
Foster said it took him months to come to terms with that night, the assassination attempt on his life for simply being an American. Now he's ready to share; he's in the process of writing a book.
"It's in my soul. I have a wonderful wife and children, I wouldn't change it for the world. I've led the most interesting life of anybody I know."
Foster will turn 50 next month. When asked whether he would ever return to Yemen, the place that gave him so much, and almost took it all away, he said he'd love to visit. But, looking ahead, he's ready for a new chapter. One that starts where it all began; at home in Lincoln, Nebraska.
For more information on Kyle Foster and to view is blog, Arabian Notes, click here.