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Nabi
and I are back recovering from the 12 hour time zone difference,
culture shock, and dust inhaled while in Kabul. Thank you for all
those "stay safe" emails. Each trip is significantly more productive
and rewarding than the last, as you can probably tell.
I've
received several emails recently asking me what I think about President
Obama's decision. I hope to respond in a newsletter, later this week.
First, I want to share one more event from our trip.
The day before we left, we distributed buckets of rice and clothing to 185 internally displaced families living in Kabul. We met with the director of the United Nations' refugee program a few days earlier. These families lived in one of the settlements targeted for assistance by the United Nations this winter. We will, as much as possible, coordinate with them and other relief organizations to fill in the gaps.
The families pictured in these photos are from Wardak, an area that is considered too dangerous to visit, even by Afghans living in Kabul. We provided four buses to bring one representative from each family to our office. The young boy and girl pictured below were selected as representatives of their families. The buckets were heavy yet they were determined to carry the buckets themselves. If you haven't previously watched the video of the young Afghan girl collecting clothes during an earlier distribution, watch it now. The girl who stole everyone's heart She personifies Afghan independence and resolve.
 
Families sent more men than women. Many women are not allowed to go out without being accompanied by a male member of their family. We'll need to find a way to include more women in future distributions. They're better at selecting clothing for the entire family
Everyone who came was very grateful. Several stopped sorting through the clothes long enough to look up at me, place their right hand over their heart and bow their head slightly. This gesture should be adopted around the world. The hand placed over the heart conveys a much more powerful message than a handshake. Moreover, it can be delivered from a distance and is germ free.
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Once again, I was pleased, but no longer surprised, to see there was no hoarding. Our clothes are qualitatively superior to the clothes generally available in Kabul. The temptation to take clothes to sell must be extremely difficult to resist. Yet, time and time again, I saw valuable garments lifted up and returned to the piles. One very tall Afghan man took only one pair of pants because nothing else would fit him. They obviously care as much about one another as they do about themselves.
We're a little backed up with clothing now (over 30,000 pounds in the pipeline) So, I haven't been soliciting more. We'll have another collection drive once we finish delivering what we have. Hang on to your excess winter clothing, blankets, comforters, shoes, sweaters, knitted hats, gloves etc. The real challenge in Afghanistan is surviving the winters, which are brutal.
There was more great news following my return. Stop Hunger Now has approved TIE to distribute an entire container load of rice packages for 2010. That's another 285,000 meals, in addition to the over 200,000 meals Stop Hunger Now provided this year. We'll be able to fill a lot of gaps. And, we will provide a bucket of rice to the families of the street children we sponsor, and families identified by our teachers as the neediest families.
The rice program all began because Reverend Billy Olsen and his congregation in North Carolina decided a year ago to "do something" about conditions in Afghanistan. Tell everyone to rest up Billy. We'll surge in 2010 ourselves.
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The solicitation mail is starting to arrive, which means I need to devote some attention to a year end fundraising effort. What TIE needs is someone who can build an inexpensive pocket poverty converter that we can send out each year. I carry one in my head for months, after each visit. For example, yesterday's dinner with friends equals a teacher's salary for a month. This afternoon's movie, small popcorn and large coke equals the monthly cost of providing a street child with a education etc. Converting expenditures into humanitarian aid equivalents is an unavoidable infliction for those who have witnessed abject poverty up close.
So, here's the first pitch. Start taking an imaginary Afghan family to dinner with you from time to time and send the cost of their meals to TIE. One dinner out in the United States probably provides a month of meals for an Afghan family. That's a leverage factor of 30 to 1! Help us address present needs and invest in their future.
Budd
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