Bitter winter threatens survival for thousands of children in AfghanistanUrgent help still needed from people of Reading - 3 December 2001
Rapidly changing circumstances in Afghanistan have prompted the despatch, before Christmas, of a second container of emergency aid which will be leaving the Feed the Children’s (FTC) Aid Supply Centre on 6 December 2001 bound for the refugee camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.Ian Lethbridge, FTC’s Executive Director and Emergencies Co-ordinator, is currently in Islamabad and will be returning on Wednesday 5 December to report back on FTC’s emergency aid operation to the region. It is estimated that over 2.5 million people within Afghanistan are now dependent on outside help. The most deprived children and their families are those who have been affected by the three year drought and have been forced to leave their homes in search of food. These families exist in makeshift camps and are at serious risk from disease and the descending brutal winter. Lethbridge is working closely with the FTC’s local partner CHA (Co-ordination of Humanitarian Assistance) to prepare the ground for the rapid access of emergency aid. Speaking from Islamabad he reported:
"Arian Abdul, head of CHA, our local partner, has confirmed that our emergency aid will reach the most vulnerable children and their families. CHA has five operational bases in Afghanistan, including Kabul, and staff have proven their ability to gain access to some of the more remote regions. Children and their families are experiencing absolute misery, fear and destitution and our main concern is to identify routes, in this case through Uzbekistan and into Mazar-e-Sharif, which provide the most effective means of transportation to get this aid in quickly. We are already supporting 34,000 vulnerable families with wheat and other basic food such as bean oil and salt and there is a sense of real urgency now " already vulnerable children are facing a cruel winter and thousands of families in remoter communities may be cut off as the bitter weather closes in.
The second container of aid, worth over £70,000, contains high value emergency goods such as Shelter Boxes and Aqua Boxes specially designed and funded by Rotary clubs across the UK. Mother and Baby hygiene packs, blankets and baby clothing will also be sent, together with basic food staples appropriate to the local diet. Yell, publisher of Yellow Pages, has also donated 28,000 exercise books made from excess paper from production of its directories which will provide children bereft of recreational and educational opportunity to express themselves through drawing and writing.
Richard Duggleby, head of external relations at Yell, said: "We are delighted to be involved in the Feed the Children operation and pleased to play a small part in helping the children of Afghanistan during this dreadful time."
Feed the Children’s first container was destined for Peshawa, on the northern Pakistan border with Afghanistan, where CHA are able to deliver the aid directly into the hands of the most needy. Refugee camps in Pakistan are under severe pressure with numbers swelling as families flee Afghanistan. The camps now house some three million refugees who are living in appalling conditions, conditions which will threaten the health of the young, the elderly and the sick.
Committed FTC volunteer, Kathy Barrow from Tilehurst, Reading said: "Local people have already responded to our first call to action in October this year and the funds and aid from families in Reading has enabled us to fill and deliver another container of high value, quality aid. I know we’re always asking for more but I can’t stress enough how important it is to continue to support the children in Afghanistan who are dependent on outside help for their survival this winter."
If you would like to know more about how you can help the families of the Afghanistan crisis please call Gaynor Jones, Community Support Manager, on 0118 932 0095. If you are able to make a donation, however small, please call our hotline number on 0845 355 1234.
