War Kids Relief

But just as important as the tangible benefits that this effort has created, it is the intangible benefits that are opening up paths to some serious peace-building. Think about it, just one month ago the people living in this camp told me how US bombs tore apart their lives and forced them into this squalid camp. They couldn’t imagine that anyone on this side of the world even knew that they existed, let alone cared about helping them.  But now they know we DO care, and they are aware that Americans in every corner of the US, as well as in Singapore, Finland, Switzerland, and Hong Kong (thanks CNN!!!) have reached out in support of their families.
 
This is major-big deal when you consider that Afghanistan is an extremely clan-oriented society, which means that for every child saved there are approximately 50 relatives who are directly touched by this show of support. (Unfortunately, the same formula can be applied to every civilian casualty or displaced Afghan…which not only works against our military efforts, but actually helps strengthen the Taliban who exploit these peoples’ hardships.)  Whether these relatives are living in the camp or back in Helmand, the word is out on what we are doing! According to my math (yikes), that’s nearly 9,000 Afghans who have seen the generous spirit of Americans…and if the ripple-effect keeps rippling, there is no telling how far this effort can go towards promoting peace. 

As for the HCMF, Najib and Wasim continue their daily trips from the camp to the hospital, and they estimate that there are approximately 50 more kids that need hospital treatment. They believe they will be able to screen and treat the rest of the sick children at the camp with the drugs available through the on-site health tent. And if donations keep up, we should be able to provide warm clothing for every child who needs them as well. That means that by mid-January, we will have helped every sick child in the camp. Wow! Not bad for a five-week effort, I say! However, before we break out the champagne and start celebrating, we need to make sure that this effort amounts to something long term. Winter has just begun and the mud camp is now covered in snow and ice. Even with warm clothes, we need to prevent these newly-healthy kids from backsliding into sickness again.
 
So where do we go from here, you ask?
 
Well, for the past month Najib and I have been networking maniacs (I thought I was good, but I have definitely met my match with this guy), leveraging every resource we could come up with to put together a pretty amazing game plan. In fact, this is like the tri-fecta of game plans, so you might want to sit down while you read this next part:
 
Okay, first, we have formed a partnership with an organization called Afghans 4 Tomorrow/A4T (www.afghans4tomorrow.com), a highly respected, US-based nonprofit that focuses on the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. (A4T established one of the girl’s schools that we visited on our trip, they run the A4T guesthouse we stayed at, and both Najib and Santwana Dasgupta, PECA’s executive director and our partner in the Junior Investor program, are on the A4T board.)
 
Starting in January, A4T is going to set up shop in the IDP camp to not only continue our health care work, but to provide education for the children and create business opportunities for their parents, as well. Here’s how:
 
Health- A4T is joining forces with SHARDO, the camp health tent provider I told you about (Kabul Report: Day Seven) to strengthen their existing effort, as well as continue to provide the supplemental support we have been giving them for the past month: assessing the children, providing hospitalization and transportation for serious cases, and malnutrition kits. There’s strength in numbers, they say.
 
Education- Remember Aschiana from Kabul Report: Day Eleven? The organization that provides schooling to Kabul’s many street children?  A4T is joining forces with them, as well, to develop a camp school that will be able to educate the thousands of children there who are currently out of school.
 
Business- A4T will be setting up a vocational training operation in the camp that will help IDP parents learn how to start low-tech businesses like bicycle repair and briquette making (an inexpensive brick-like heat source for wood stoves made from paper scraps, water and wood shavings) to better provide for their families during their displacement. Meanwhile, here in Minnesota I am rounding up civic-minded entrepreneurs that want to help finance the first 50 upstart businesses, as well as provide mentorship. It will be like the micro-credit concept, but the return on investment will be in the form of monthly progress reports coming from each Afghan businessperson…and the realization that entrepreneurs on both sides are using their skills to create amazing change in the world! (Just like our Junior Investor program…but for adults!)
 
As I mentioned before, taking advantage of poverty is one of the greatest ways the Taliban is able to gain new recruits, so this strategy is highly effective on the peace-building front. But the main reason that we are able to do this isn’t because just we want to, or because it seems like a good idea. It is because every day for a month we demonstrated to the camp elders that we truly care about them. We built the solid relationships that are necessary to do any sort of business in Afghanistan…and anyone who has ever read Three Cups of Tea knows the importance of building relationships first. “The first cup of tea you share with us, you are a stranger. The second cup, you are a friend. The third cup, you become family—and for our families we are willing to do anything, even die.” According to Najib’s last report on how happy they camp elders are about HCMF, we just had our proverbial “third cup of tea.”
 
So that’s my big news! Starting in 2010, all these players (CCC, A4T, Aschiana, SHARDO and American entrepreneurs) are coming together to create a very exciting, holistic approach to supporting Afghanistan’s future.
 
Synergy rocks.
 
I will provide regular updates on how all these projects are taking shape as we go along…but the one thing still on everyone’s mind is how is baby Rahim doing??? Well, Najib told me that yesterday Rahim finally left the malnutrition center at the hospital and returned to his family, where he had a very happy reunion…especially with his mom who got to hold him for the first time in a month. So cool.
 
So that’s my report for today, but here’s to a new year filled with continued magic and miracles for Rahim’s family, for all the families in the Charahee Qambar camp, and for your family, too!
 
Happy New Year!
 
Dina
 
P.S. In order to provide warm clothing and shoes for every camp child, we are going to keep the HCMF fund open until January 15. If you would like to donate please go to www.warkidsrelief.org/donate