War Kids Relief

On this page you can see the compelling videos chronicling the progress of Briquettes Into Bridges. Scroll down to view them all — the first report is at the bottom of the page.  (Videos are shown here at a size that will work well for most viewers. To fully appreciate the visual quality of these videos by videographer Elissa Bogos, you may wish to click through to the YouTube pages and select the higher-quality video option (480p).)

Your donations are, of course, also very important and welcome as we carry out this peace-building work in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Thank you.

Things are moving along with this exciting project! In Chapter Five the trainees are graduating from their briquette training course and getting ready to launch their businesses in hopes of economic independence. More »

While the project got off to a rough start, things have finally turned a very positive corner! In just the past couple weeks the trainees have made such remarkable emotional transformations… even veteran-trainer Dr. Zekria is amazed. More »

Again, a lot has happened over the past weeks, and we’ve had a number of challenges to deal with in getting this project going. Sadly, in the first week of training we lost three of our Afghan trainees to the Taliban as they were financially lured back to Helmand to harvest poppies.

(Fun Fact: Ninety percent of the world’s opium comes from the poppy crops of Afghanistan. In 2008, opium sales brought in $50 million in Taliban funding.) More »

A lot has happened over the past several weeks getting this project off the ground but “Briquettes Into Bridges” is now officially in motion.

The selection process for the first six trainees has been completed but not without a number of challenges, namely, figuring out how to choose six people out of the thousands in the camp all desperately in need of work. More »

After nearly three months of organizing, including getting the full support of the Afghan Ministry of Returnees & Repatriation and the camp elders, as well as coordinating the briquette training operation, the project is finally ready to launch. More »