After months of preparation fifteen volunteer members of ARO’s Humanitarian Relief Team—including volunteers from California, Nebraska and Colorado—boarded a plane for Afghanistan on April 15, 2004. Relief trips are always a paramount and life changing experience for volunteers, as they work to improve the lives of Afghan men, women and children.

Technical Education Center (TEC)
    The TEC has exceeded ARO’s expectations. The school building was refurbished and furnished by ARO, and is now in very good condition. Among the improvements are new lighting installations, computers and internet access, a greenhouse, 150 desks and chairs, new kitchen equipment, property gardens, and overall cleaning, replacement and improvement of the physical structure. Recent additions to the TEC are the multi purpose conference / lecture room, a small reading library, and a raised platform with lectern for guest seminars.

    Three of our relief volunteers taught English and Computer classes alongside ARO’s Afghan teachers, providing a warm and friendly experience for the young girls and boys. The TEC offers Math, English, and Computer lessons five days a week (Saturday through Wednesday). The volunteers found the students to be eager and willing to absorb all the resources the TEC has to offer.

    Conditions in Afghanistan can be challenging, even when though the TEC is better prepared than many education centers. At times, generators disable the computers. As a testament to how eager they are to learn, TEC students patiently wait until it re-starts, and continue studying past regular school hours. There are approximately three hundred students attending the TEC; they are primary school age, high school and even college graduates for special lectures.

Children from the Streets of Kabul
    Volunteers from ARO’s Midwife Project partnership made a generous donation to assist local street children, who number in the hundreds. Through this donation, ARO established new English classes specifically geared for these children.
 
    This project is done in coordination with the Save the Children organization. Save the Children gathers children from the streets to teach them Dari and Pashto lessons, their native languages. ARO’s commitment is to provide two classrooms per day, free to Save the Children, five days a week, for one-hour classes in Basic English. A better command of these necessary languages are an effort to assist these children become self-sufficient and employable (there may often be no family to help support them).

    Recognizing that many of the children from the streets had inadequate clothing, ARO also is providing clothing as needed. Providing these children with a safe place to be and educational opportunities reduces to some degree the risks they encounter in their daily life. Save the Children works to provide food and shelter options for these children, and they receive our gratitude for this important work.

Community Midwife Training
    Our midwife partners from Colorado made their first trip to Afghanistan with ARO in mid April. Jennifer Braun, Jan Lapetino and Carmela Weber traveled with and were hosted by ARO at the TEC in Kabul (all volunteers stay at the TEC). Goals were to assess first hand the healthcare needs of women, research the current programs addressing midwifery, and evaluate how the program can most effectively work to improve maternal care in Afghanistan. (See more information about the Community Midwife Training project on this website).

    During their one-month stay, they were able to offer training to TBAs (Traditional Birth Attendants) and other young women interested in learning about midwifery in the Paghman District, an area west of Kabul.

    In order to arrange this training, ARO’s president, Abul Khalili, met with the “Shuras” (community leaders) and community members. In the typical welcoming hospitality of Afghanistan, ARO’s Kabul staff member, Daud, arranged for his family to host training in their home in Paghman. ARO appreciates their kindness and generosity.

    The women in Paghman have no clinic. Access to hospitals in Kabul requires resources, such as a car, that few have. Therefore, women in Paghman rely on TBAs and each other for assistance with childbirth. The classes were scheduled and structured around the women’s availability, interest, and knowledge. The classes addressed nutrition and hygiene, breech birth instruction, hemorrhage care instruction, and instruction in how to recognize the signs and symptoms of problems. The group of 35-40 Afghan women attended consistently, and at the end of the workshop each received a new baby kit with hygiene supplies, cloth diapers, a receiving blanket, socks, and hat. These newborn kits were assembled by ARO members around the country and are much needed and appreciated. The more experienced TBAs received a birth kit with latex gloves, soap, cord tie, etc. The TBAs were grateful and ready to use their new knowledge. While this training was an important step, the women of Paghman are very representative of women in all areas of Afghanistan, who need access to healthcare.

    The midwives also provided assistance at two area hospitals, Rabia Balki Hospital and Malalai Hospital. The Director of Rabia Balki requested that the midwives help update the skills of the working midwives at the hospital and provide care. Rabia Balki Hospital has approximately 70 deliveries a day. The midwives “caught” babies and provided expert advice on complicated cases. Malalai Hospital is a site for the Ministry of Health Midwife Training Program. The midwives observed midwife trainees and offered training to them, and assisted with the births of 200-250 babies! The needs in the hospital for training and equipment are great, but the staff of Malalai is working to improve conditions and provide excellent training. The midwives were able to provide medical supplies and infant kits to both hospitals.

    Wakil Samad, the local leader of the area (Samad Street is named after him), offered introductions to several women and families in the immediate area that were pregnant, or otherwise in need of general healthcare. The midwives listened and offered support, advice, and medicine when they could. The midwives e-mailed doctors back in the US to ask technical questions and followed up on the residents. With the enormous assistance of some generous American donors, ARO members brought newborn baby kits, hygiene kits and clothing to the families and those in need.

    Word about the midwives at the TEC spread among the community. Women arrived day and night at the TEC to see them! With the help of ARO volunteers, the midwives provided a family planning workshop at the TEC conference room to address the local interest in health education.

    Our midwife partners plan to return to Afghanistan soon to offer training and medical services on an ongoing basis.

The Sewing Initiative – Vocational Training at the TEC
    Another group of warm-hearted volunteers from Colorado developed a women’s sewing program for the TEC vocational curriculum. Three state of the art Pfaff sewing machines were purchased in the United States and brought to Afghanistan along with the small tools essential to sewing. Most of these items—as well as financial contributions—were donated by people in Fort Collins, CO. Margaret Stockover, a Colorado volunteer, joined the Spring 2004 relief team to help create the sewing program.

    The sewing room at the TEC was refurbished to accommodate the project, including special shelving for fabrics. A professional tailor was hired to provide tailoring skill instruction, so students may later create their own home businesses as neighborhood or community tailors. Students also continue to do “piece work”, preserving the art of Afghan embroidery with the use of simple patterns, local fabrics, needle and thread. Students learn to sew and embroider traditional Afghan dresses, shawls and shirts, along with kitchen accessories, such as hot pads and oven mitts.

    In order to create a self-funded vocational program, the Sewing Initiative will sell the training and sample work sewn by the Afghan students (contact us at info@afghanrelief.com if you are interested in purchasing any items, which are a tax deductible charitable donation). All of the proceeds from the purchase of these traditionally embroidered items will benefit the Sewing Initiative program and classes. ARO plans continued development of the Sewing Initiative, and hopes to assist students in establishing their own businesses.

The Traditional Jewelry Project
    The traditional jewelry of Afghanistan is unique and beautiful! ARO’s vocational jewelry project is geared towards student instruction on traditional techniques and in the design and production of new jewelry. Students learn to work silver lapis lazuli into works of art. As a relatively new program, ARO is exploring strategies to develop and maintain a jewelry-making program as part of the vocational curriculum and as a means of preserving traditional Afghan craftsmanship.

The Greenhouse: introducing the “Gulkhana”
    ARO now has a beautiful greenhouse at the TEC! The greenhouse will be utilized as an educational resource, to teach food production and preserving. Plant seeds for the greenhouse were donated by “Seeds International” in Boulder, CO, as well as Common Well Institute International, Inc.: and other American nurseries. Colorado volunteer and author Jennifer Heath-Collum helped develop the Seeds for Afghanistan project and continues to lead this important project for ARO.
Please visit the “Greenhouse” page on this website to learn more about the goals and objectives of the vocational gardening program, and the need for food assistance in Afghanistan.

Bamiyan Relief Distribution: At the feet of the vanished Buddhas
    ARO members prepared for the long and arduous trip to Bamiyan by first packing two truckloads full of clothing, shoes, hygiene material, tea, and school supplies. After 12 hours of rough driving on unpaved roads, ARO volunteers proceeded to distribute the goods collected to a remote and poor area in Bamiyan called “Shaheedahn”. As always, an ARO advance team arranged for escort and permission from local leaders in order to provide for an organized distribution.

    Basic Relief Supply Distribution – “We arrived at the designated spot, in the middle of nowhere, and started to unpack and set up our distribution stations. Then, out on the hillside, villagers from two nearby communities quietly arrived and sat down to wait. Their clothing was so colorful; it was like someone scattered jewels on the hillside.” (ARO volunteer Judith Sepull)

    ARO volunteers distributed bags of clothing and food, while the midwives visited women in the local community. The need in this region is tremendous, and the tension of local community members waiting for supplies was palpable. It is extremely difficult to distribute supplies in these conditions, when you know it cannot be enough to address the need. Relief volunteers will never forget the faces, expressions of thanks, and the need of the people of Bamiyan.

School Supply distribution in Bamiyan – Although the school supplies collected seemed substantial in quantity, the need is always so great that it is never enough. Boxes of school supplies were carried in ARO vehicles at all times to distribute to smaller schools and to children on the street.

    Members distributed school supplies to village children outside the schools, inside classrooms, and within the walls of a make-shift UNICEF tent, which housed over 75 children. The children received items such as: backpacks, notebooks, pens/pencils, and calculators. The parents were given bags of clothing and tea. Teachers were also given a “Teacher’s Pack,” which included a planner, notebooks, calculators, sharpeners and other much needed instruction supplies.

    In “Shaheedahn”, educators deal with an ongoing lack of school supplies. The low ratio of teachers to students is a severe problem. In addition, classrooms and tents lack proper ventilation, causing sickness and fatigue among students. Many students are seated on the floor due to a lack of chairs. Despite these shortcomings, it was obvious to our volunteers that the students were content to receive instruction in some form, and elated in accepting ARO’s school supplies. It is ARO’s firm commitment to continue to collect and distribute more school supplies and the educational tools necessary for the children of Afghanistan.

    Other Relief Supply distribution - In another project, a truckload of clothing and goods were distributed to an Afghan NGO serving 800 Afghan widows in Khair Khana. This distribution and coordination was done with the assistance of the local NGO.

Zarghoona Kindergarten Refurbishing Project in Kartay Char
    Due to a special project organized by California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) students ARO assisted with a rebuilding project for an Afghan school. The Zarghoona Kindergarten building was completely bare of necessities, and the damage a faulty and unsafe electrical system, with wires pulled out of the walls. Plastic covered the windows and there were no doors. This project truly made a difference in the lives of these little children.

    CSUF students spearheaded the rebuilding project and raised $3000. With this money and contributions from other Afghan-Americans, CSUF students purchased desks and chairs, and rehabilitated the building with glass windows throughout, and new carpeting throughout the school. ARO donated floor mats, drapes, 50 mattresses for children’s nap time, and much need school supplies. Donations included blankets, clothing, toys and school supplies.

    ARO is working to get the school daily necessities, such as biscuits, milk and other nutritional food products for students. The children attending this kindergarten are by far the poorest of this area and definitely in need of ongoing attention.

What’s Next?
    The work continues! ARO plans for the Spring 2005 Relief Trip while the memories of the 2004 trip are in our minds and hearts.

    We will remember a 12-year-old boy named Aziz; a young man so charming and bright that our volunteers took a personal interest. ARO tried to make a difference in his life and helped enroll him in school. In addition, we tutored Aziz at the TEC with personal English classes. Aziz was homeless and living on the streets of Kartay Char. We provided him with shelter, and provided him with education and skill training. As a result, Aziz became adamant about his studies and shows new interest in his future.

    Aziz is one of thousands. How many more can we reach with your help?