Touch is love.  There is a certain something about a father that only his child can know.  For me it was the size and feel of his hands.  It has been more than a  decade ago that I was in church when a stranger took my hand in his during the Lord's Prayer. 

I was taken aback by the immediate flood of memories of my father and of the warmth that embraced me.  This stranger's hands were strong yet gentle, firm and calloused but soft; my hand felt very tiny in his.  I felt protected, safe, and secure.

My dad's absence leaves a hole that cannot easily be filled by anyone or anything else.  There was no one else in the whole world like my father.  And yet, this stranger's hands reminded me of the structure my father gave our household, of the freedom he encouraged and of all the memories and gifts my father gave me, perhaps unknowingly.  I realized the importance of his contributions to my development.

My dad provided a living example for me to follow concerning reliability and putting in an honest day's work - every day.  I can only recall two days that my dad missed work.  And both of those days I can remember thinking that something must be terribly wrong.

One day he stayed home with a patch over his eye.  Flying debris entered his eye through an open car window.  The other day he missed only after narrowly escaping death when a tunnel he entered with two other co-workers exploded.  His friends were killed.

I was proud when my mother told me, "You look just like your father doing that", or when my sisters tell me, "You're just like dad."

Since his death, wherever my journeys take me, I have felt my father's presence and treasure his incomparable gifts.  And, the stranger that took my hand in his - I now affectionately call him my adopted dad.

Fathers and World Refugee Day

World Refugee Day, observed June 20 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the situation of refugees throughout the world.  It's only fitting that as we salute our father's today, we also salute the courageous refugee fathers on Father's Day.

I know how much my father sacrificed for his five girls - my mom, my 3 sisters and me, but we did not have to struggle.  We had a comfortable life growing up.  I can't imagine the agony I would have felt knowing my father had to go to sleep worrying about where he would get the next meal to feed his children.

Women of Hope Project works closely with the refugees of Kabul and outlying areas.  We began by teaching the women in the camps how to grow soil-less gardens. This was a wonderful project that not only trained them to grow their own food in small spaces but the process of growing from seed lifted their

Neighborhood built with your help

depression and gave them hope.  

With your help, we continued with this same community, after the Afghan government moved these internally displaced people to desolate, permanent land.  We helped them establish homes for themselves and to develop their new neighborhoods.  We provided wood for their rooftops, wells, established a House of Prayer and created a school for 200 children.  We also planted over 700 fruit trees and 750 fir trees to provide food and shade for them in the barren landscape they were given.

Women of Hope Project hopes to create a soccer league to give the young men in the community a positive activity and to create a bazaar, which will launch their ability to be completely self-sufficient.   

Kuchis are nomads and shepherds.  However, during the war, all of their animals

Typical Kuchi (Refugee) Camp

died, making it impossible for them to make a living and sending them spiraling into extreme poverty.  Since they are nomadic, they have no land and no rooted community and have been living as refugees ever since.

We started a school there for 65 children and the parents are very supportive and involved in their children's education.  With the help of One World Projects, we were able to get a well for this community.  So far, this is their only well and they are in need of two more to support the populations need for water. 

Last July, the teacher of this school asked WOHP if we could provide a lunch

A father plays with his daughter

program of rice and nan (Afghan bread) for the children while they are in school.  We are currently raising funds to do so.  We need your help to begin a lunch program.  For most of these children, this will be their only consistent meal of the day.  We have found that the Afghan families we work with only average about 4-5 meals per week!  Some not even that! Usually, these are not nutritionally balanced meals, as they consist of all starches that contribute to the high percentages of diabetes in the refugee communities.