NEWS FROM
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF
October 16, 2001
For more information contact Jonathan Frerichs at (410) 230-2802.
In this news release:
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Food Aid for Afghanistan in Race Against Time, and News of Hunger Deaths
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"People are Angry and Afraid of the Bombing"
Trucks being offloaded at the Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) compound in Peshawar, Pakistan. Photo courtesy of Rainer Lang, ACT International. |
FOOD AID FOR AFGHANISTAN IN RACE AGAINST TIME, AND NEWS OF HUNGER DEATHS
Baltimore and Peshawar, Pakistan, October 16, 2001 - From a mountain village in central Afghanistan the first report of hunger-related deaths has reached the Pakistan-based staff of Action by Churches Together. An area director for one of the local aid organizations working with ACT inside Pakistan has reported 600 deaths from severe malnutrition and related diseases. The village in question is isolated and difficult to supply, and will be cut off by winter snows in a matter of weeks. More information on conditions there is expected in Peshawar shortly.
Racing against hunger and winter in such places, ACT is focusing aid work on more than 25,000 of the embattled country's most vulnerable families. Food distributions have begun in the poorest neighborhoods on the outskirts of Kabul and will reach into central Afghanistan as soon as possible. There are also shelter materials and clothing in a supply chain that begins in Pakistan.
ACT is appealing for $17 million from member agencies which include Lutheran World Relief. Norwegian, British and U.S. member agencies have pre-crisis aid partnerships still functioning in Afghanistan. The onset of winter in mid-November makes delivery of aid more urgent by the day.
The United Nations World Food Program says 7.5 million people are facing starvation due to years of drought and civil war -- a situation made worse by the U.S.-led military attacks. Even before the September 11 attacks in the U.S., more than three million people depended on food aid for their survival, according to a survey by non-governmental organizations.
Norwegian Church Aid estimates that 150,000 families, or 60 percent of the people in the areas it serves are extremely vulnerable. NCA and its local partners aim to help at least 20,000 of the most needy of these families. Already 3,400 families have received food aid. The Taliban have reportedly stopped paying people's salaries in Kabul, leaving people without any means of coping. The beneficiaries of the food aid receive 220 pounds of wheat and three gallons of cooking oil - enough to last them about two months.
Church World Service, another ACT member, has sent 1000 shelter kits to central Afghanistan for people who have fled the cities in fear of the air strikes. Christian Aid, the British agency, is focusing on the western region of Herat to get food and tents to thousands of families in need.
There is an increasing gap in food resources in Afghanistan. According to the United Nations 50,000 tons of foodstuffs were imported into the country per month before the current crisis. This has dropped drastically to only 20,000 tons per month.
Click here for information on how to contribute to LWR's efforts to help the Afghan refugees or call 1-800-LWR-LWR2 to make a donation.
Click here to read the current LWR Afghanistan Fact Sheet.
"PEOPLE ARE ANGRY AND AFRAID OF THE BOMBING"
by Rainer Lang, Action by Churches Together
Mansehra, Pakistan, October 16, 2001 -- "People are angry and afraid of the bombing", says Ahmad Shah (photo, right), who fled the city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan recently, ending up in a refugee camp in this north Pakistan town. His new 'home' is one of nine camps in the area where Church World Service provides health care for 60,000 people. The camps were established more than 20 years ago after the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. (CWS is a Lutheran World Relief partner agency in the emergency alliance, Action by Churches Together.)
Ahmad Shah recently fled the city of Jalalabad in Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Rainer Lang, ACT International. |
"The majority of families from Jalalabad went to the neighboring provinces of Laghman and Kunar," says Ahmad. The 25-year old man, who worked as a medical student at the civil hospital in Jalalabad, adds that people only became afraid once the numbers of civilian casualties started increasing. "Before the bombs started hitting residential areas and villages, people thought the strikes would hit only military targets", he explains. He says that although many of the injured were delivered to the hospital in Jalalabad, some were taken to the hospital in the Pakistani town of Peshawar. "There is still medicine available in the hospital in Jalalabad," Ahmad says. "But too many innocent civilians are dying."
According to Ahmad Shah, 90 percent of the inhabitants of Jalalabad have left the town and are either staying with relatives or in the open air in the villages. Conditions are already extremely tough because of the drought. Life for the Afghan people is deteriorating rapidly, he says: "Already the price of bread has doubled."
He reports that although food is available in the bazaar in Jalalabad, only those who work for the Taliban and have money can afford the food. The rest of the people have little or no money. He said many people he spoke to could not even afford bread for an evening meal. He added that people are also concerned about security, as cases of theft are on the increase since the start of the bombing campaign against Afghanistan.
There are not many new arrivals from Afghanistan in the camps of Mansehra. But the elders of Brari camp expect that should the border open, many people will flood into the area. The elders are afraid that this will add to the existing problems in the camps. "Malnutrition is already a serious problem", says Dr. Mohammad Arif, the medical co-ordinator at the CWS office in Mansehra.
CWS has expanded its activities across the border into Afghanistan, establishing four health units to treat about 125,000 people in Jalalabad. A staff of 70 people provides basic health services. These include vaccinations, medical assistance in cases of tuberculosis and malnutrition, as well as offering support to pregnant women. Malaria and other diseases are also being treated.
Click here for information on how to contribute to LWR's efforts to help the Afghan refugees or call 1-800-LWR-LWR2 to make a donation.
Click here to read the current LWR Afghanistan Fact Sheet.
