Dr Ellen Nelson used all her networks (team mates, Chris Parsons and Martin Dransfield, several interpreter friends, and many more supporters) and knowledge to bring 563 Afghan evacuees to live safely in New Zealand. A former captain in the New Zealand Army, she served with the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan province; she never forgot the local people she worked with and they never forgot her. When the Taliban seized the country in 2021, those people that had supported the New Zealand Army became immediate targets. More than 40 of her former colleagues reached out to her, seeking assistance. It was the middle of a global pandemic and there was no Government representative on the ground. From her home in rural Manawatu, her and her team worked remotely, day and night, for almost a year, to help make emergency visa applications, lobby the Government, garner media attention, raise several hundred thousand dollars from generous New Zealanders, collaborate with government officials, distribute funds and travel documents, and facilitate border crossings. Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta set up a government task force to evacuate these vulnerable families and agreed to work alongside Ellen and her team. All 563 people on Ellen′s team′s list, which included the wives and children, have now been successfully evacuated to New Zealand.