10 | LEHIGH ALUMNI BULLETIN | FROM THE NEST CULTURE | ALUMNI ʼ91 Seeking Solace in the World’s Most Dangerous Places Sean Carberry writes about his time overseas in his new book, ‘Passport Stamps: Searching the World for a War to Call Home.’ Veteran foreign correspondent Sean Carberry ’91 has traveled to some of the world’s most dangerous places, including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, where from 2012 to 2014 he served as NPR’s last full-time Kabul-based journalist. During those years in Afghanistan, Carberry reported on the deaths of friends and colleagues as the Taliban began targeting foreign civilians. “I realized over the years of doing that work that it was affecting me, that I was changing,” Carberry said. “You’re just absorbing trauma and the worst of humanity all day long for years.” When he returned home from his overseas trips, Carberry said he was having trouble relating to people. He was always on edge and jumpy when he heard loud noises. He said he started partaking in risky behaviors, something he wouldn’t have done had he been in a better state of mind. Carberry had training for physical safety and security, but there was never any discussion about the psychological and emotional impacts of being a civilian who works in a war zone, he said. In 2021, at the height of the COVID pandemic, Carberry decided to write a book about his experience, “Passport Stamps: Searching the World for a War to Call Home.” The memoir, published by Madville Publishing, has been both therapeutic and eye-opening, he said, while raising awareness of the lack of support for civilian workers stationed in war-stricken areas. “Part of it is trying to educate the next generation, but also … put pressure on news organizations to provide resources and be cognizant that journalists are dealing with different things,” Carberry said. He’s been busy promoting the book, including a presentation to the National Press Club last summer, and presentations to Lehigh journalism students in the Fall 2023 semester. As a student at Lehigh, “journalism wasn’t on my radar as a thing,” Carberry told students in the senior seminar journalism class taught by Teaching Assistant Professor Meredith Cummings. Carberry had majored in urban studies as a fallback if his plans to go into the music industry didn’t pan out. He spent several years working in a recording studio in Boston before getting a job as a producer on a Boston-based NPR talk show. In that role, Carberry researched topics, came up with ideas, booked guests and (Below) Speaking with Afghan villagers in Laghman province, Afghanistan, during an embedment with U.S. forces. (Right) Taking a break in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province, Afghanistan, in October 2013 while reporting on the surging opium production there.
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