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Afghanistan became a key Cold War battleground
after thousands of Soviet troops intervened in 1979 to prop
up a procommunist regime, leading to a major confrontation
that drew in the US and Afghanistan's neighbours. The country's
protracted civil war dragged on long after Soviet forces
withdrew. In late 2001, the US accused Osama bin Laden of
masterminding the bombing of their embassies in Africa in
1998 and the attacks on the US on 11th September 2001. After
the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden, the US initiated
aerial attacks, paving the way for opposition groups to drive
them from power. Over twenty years of fighting has left more
than a million children orphaned, about two million have
been forced to flee their homes and some thirty five thousand
have become victims of landmines.
The Farm Project
War Child has been implementing an innovative Farm project for vulnerable women living on the poverty line in Urdu Khan, Herat province since October 2002. 10 acres of land has been provided free by the Department of Agriculture. In western Afghanistan it is traditional for women to work in their own gardens but women have not been allowed to work on a larger-scale agricultural project before. The main aim of this project is to train women in agricultural production so that they are provided with free produce to improve their nutritional status and that of their families and so that they can earn an income from the produce sold in the bazaar. There is a child care facility on the farm.
The farm is now run by the farm workers themselves. Income earned from the sale of the produce is sufficient to cover all the running costs of the farm and to provide the workers with a small income. War Child Australia has recently provided funding for the purchase of a tractor and trailer for the farm. This is a huge boost to the project as it means they no longer have to hire a tractor to prepare the land, they can use it to take the produce to the bazaar and can rent it out to other farmers.
In spring vegetables and fruit seedlings are transferred from the greenhouse and planted. These will produce crops which this year includes: egg plants, spinach, strawberries and tomatoes. The wheat harvest in 2005 was abundant.
Cotton is harvested in the autumn months and is sold to the cotton factory, whilst during the winter months War Child provides literacy and livestock training for the women.
Child Protection
The obvious problems are the presence of landmines in residential areas, malnutrition, and the increased risk of physical and mental illness. Many children are left without an education, and as a result, their future prospects of earning a living are severely diminished. Worse, they may be forced by adults to take revenge by becoming a martyr.
But war has less obvious effects too. Increased divorce rates, violence and suicide, which leave children lacking support and confidence. It is much more difficult to rebuild social fabric than bridges and roads. The breakdown of social ties is most obvious among the children held in adult detention centres. These children have mostly been rejected by parents and family members. In Herat, War Child continues to negotiate the release of these children, held without trial for mostly petty offences.
Aziz is 14 years old and lives in Western Afghanistan. Two years ago he was arrested for stealing a pack of cigarettes. Unable to read or write, with no defence lawyer, and no juvenile court to try him, Aziz found himself incarcerated in Heart's prison alongside the city's adult offenders. The prisons do not seek to rehabilitate children like Aziz. There is no education, no training, and most alarmingly, no protection.
When War Child found Aziz he cried all day. Whatever crime he had committed, adult prison is no place for him and many other boys. Some were imprisoned for child prostitution even, grotesquely, for being victims of child abuse. War Child has now helped establish a separate juvenile detention centre housing
children between the ages of eight and 17. The weekly visits to the centre from War Child's representatives are met with eager excitement. Here the children are able to access educational material, art and sports equipment. A cinema shows films every week. Literacy classes have been introduced and an English teacher is due to arrive soon.
Despite the tremendous progress made there is still more to be done. Due to strong social stigma, the majority of the released child prisoners are rejected by family and are without any caregivers. So they often re-offend – one child has been through the centre no less than six times. Currently there are no social workers or a structure for rehabilitation.
War Child is working to improve the rights of children. As much as it can, War Child successfully reunites and reintegrates as many children as possible. Approximately 40 per cent of the detention centre boys War Child has worked with have gone on to better things. Aziz now works in a bicycle repair shop, others work in the building trade. A few of the better off have continued their education. More than anything children from the detention centre want their families and community to believe that they have something to offer. A recent War Child report revealed that many of the children had ambitious yet practical goals for the future. The Herat city boys said that they wanted to become doctors, engineers, teachers, journalists, actors and even the President.
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Past projects
War Child has been working in Afghanistan since
2002. Here are some highlights of previous achievements:
In January 2002, War Child set up a field bakery in Herat,
Western Afghanistan. The bakery produced between eighteen
thousand and twenty eight thousand loaves of fresh bread a
day in order to feed the entire internally displaced persons’ camp of Shaidayee for over ten months. By the end of the ten
months, the bakery had produced loads of bread.
Since then, War Child has worked on setting up the bakery
in a permanent site in Herat and eventually handed it over
to local authorities in October 2003 as part of capacity building
and infrastructure recovery of the country. By the end of
2003, two thousand loaves of bread were being delivered daily
to four orphanages, three kindergartens, disabled children
and a Women and Children’s prison. A further twelve
thousand loaves of bread were being sold in small commercial
outlets in the city centre and surrounding districts, creating
employment opportunities and a source of income to keep the
bakery running and ensure its sustainability. The project
has continued to operate effectively since.
Afghanistan has one of the highest birth rates in the world
and an Afghan woman will have an average of 6.9 children in
her lifetime. Combined with the fact that, after the fall
of the Taliban, women were returning to work,
there was an enormous need for the creation of additional
crèches and kindergartens.
Work on a kindergarten in Herat, part-funded by ATI/IOM and
Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation (SDC), has been
completed and the doors opened on 21st September 2003. The
facility benefits five hundred and fifty children per day
aged from six months to five years and is encouraging mothers
to return to work or education. In addition, children who
are born to the women of Herat’s prison also now attend
(the women have mostly been imprisoned for adultery.) There
are approximately twenty five of these children who now have
the opportunity to integrate and mix with other children and
receive informal education. Whilst the building construction
was in progress, War Child provided an Early Childhood Development
training programme for the kindergarten teachers. A three-day
workshop focussed on training the women on how to teach and
work
with disabled children and the importance of incorporating
the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC) into their everyday teaching. Many of the women
are experienced and have a sound knowledge of
early childhood development and have volunteered to assist
in training teachers.
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DISTRIBUTION OF CHILDREN’S NOTEBOOKS, PENS, STORY
BOOKS AND EDUCATIONAL TOYS, HERAT
A donation from War Child Australia allowed War Child in
Afghanistan to purchase 1400 notebooks, 1000 sets of coloured
pencils, over 3000 story books and a large selection of
educational toys to assist children in their
education and learning.
They were distributed to children in the four orphanages
in Herat city and the orphanages in the western provinces
of Ghor, Badghis and Farah. They have also been distributed
to the three kindergartens in Herat
city. 2850 children benefited from the distribution.
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