Knows No Bounds
Posts: 2,976 
October 9th, 2006, 10:40 AM
Food Aide for Afghanistan's poor to be phased out.
Article by Sue Bailey.
Article:
KABUL (CP) - A long line of widows in tattered blue burkas waited for hours Sunday for Canadian-bought rations of flour, cooking oil, dried peas and medicine.
Younger women had weary children alongside them who rarely fussed. The eldest widows, with mouths full of rotting teeth, described illnesses they can't afford to treat.
They are the poorest of Afghanistan's poor, yet their monthly food support is to be cut off by April.
That's when the Canadian International Development Agency plans to replace the rations, worth C$2.5 million a year, with training designed to help widows support themselves.
"Food aid is always needed," says Fazila Banu Lily, program manager for CARE Afghanistan which has delivered the basic essentials for CIDA since 1996.
"But for a development organization to go with relief for a long time - it doesn't really fit with their objective."
The goal is to begin shifting Afghanistan toward self-sufficiency, she explained.
After 25 years of almost relentless conflict and displacement, Kabul alone has an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 war widows. Many are illiterate and at the mercy of in-laws to care for them. Widows have no property rights here.
It's not unusual in the bustling capital of Kabul to see women begging in heavy traffic, their hands outstretched as cars zip past.
About 7,300 widows now rely on the monthly food rations.
Sunday's lineup was a display not just of bleak hardship, however, but also dignity. Many of the widows want nothing more than a decent job.
Gulzia is one of them. The mother of three children aged four to nine years said she has no last name and wasn't sure of her age - a common trait among those who've never learned to read, write or do arithmetic.
Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack three years ago.
"No one helps me," she said of her in-laws through a translator. "I'm worrying about my life and about my children's future."
Training sounds good if she could find care for her youngest child, she says. "If there will be no other way for me, I'll take him with me."
Others said they don't know what they'll do if the food rations end.
"I am weak and can't work," said Bobogul, whose struggles to raise five children are complicated by a heart condition. Like Gulzia, she said she has no last name and was not sure of her age. Her husband, a vegetable vendor, was killed in a rocket attack eight years ago.
She and her children now live in one room of her father-in-law's house, she said.
"God forbid the rations will be finished."
Ottawa planned to end them last year but extended funding for another 12 months when the widows planned a protest - an extraordinary act for one of the country's most voiceless, marginalized groups.
Zainab Wahdi, deputy manager of women's programs for CARE Afghanistan, hopes Canada will reconsider.
"Vocational training is the best, but it will not be enough," she said.
Proposals being considered so far would only cover about 5,000 widows - and many will face child-care issues and resistance from men who don't want them to work, she added.
The reality is that thousands of women still desperately need help to feed their families, Wahdi said.
"We're afraid that if the money is cut off, many won't receive food or training. "Instead of putting all this money to fighting, I think widows should be the priority," she said of Canada's military efforts against anti-government forces in southern Afghanistan. "If they have money for fighting, it's better to have money for food too."
I can understand the need to help these women to be self reliant but I'd rather we gave them rations until they have been trained to work ergo feed themselves. This makes me cringe, I'd be happy to adopt an Afghan family. Why not have a benifit concert or something, I'd hate to see them abandoned.
Food Aide for Afghanistan's poor to be phased out.
Article by Sue Bailey.
Article:
KABUL (CP) - A long line of widows in tattered blue burkas waited for hours Sunday for Canadian-bought rations of flour, cooking oil, dried peas and medicine.
Younger women had weary children alongside them who rarely fussed. The eldest widows, with mouths full of rotting teeth, described illnesses they can't afford to treat.
They are the poorest of Afghanistan's poor, yet their monthly food support is to be cut off by April.
That's when the Canadian International Development Agency plans to replace the rations, worth C$2.5 million a year, with training designed to help widows support themselves.
"Food aid is always needed," says Fazila Banu Lily, program manager for CARE Afghanistan which has delivered the basic essentials for CIDA since 1996.
"But for a development organization to go with relief for a long time - it doesn't really fit with their objective."
The goal is to begin shifting Afghanistan toward self-sufficiency, she explained.
After 25 years of almost relentless conflict and displacement, Kabul alone has an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 war widows. Many are illiterate and at the mercy of in-laws to care for them. Widows have no property rights here.
It's not unusual in the bustling capital of Kabul to see women begging in heavy traffic, their hands outstretched as cars zip past.
About 7,300 widows now rely on the monthly food rations.
Sunday's lineup was a display not just of bleak hardship, however, but also dignity. Many of the widows want nothing more than a decent job.
Gulzia is one of them. The mother of three children aged four to nine years said she has no last name and wasn't sure of her age - a common trait among those who've never learned to read, write or do arithmetic.
Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack three years ago.
"No one helps me," she said of her in-laws through a translator. "I'm worrying about my life and about my children's future."
Training sounds good if she could find care for her youngest child, she says. "If there will be no other way for me, I'll take him with me."
Others said they don't know what they'll do if the food rations end.
"I am weak and can't work," said Bobogul, whose struggles to raise five children are complicated by a heart condition. Like Gulzia, she said she has no last name and was not sure of her age. Her husband, a vegetable vendor, was killed in a rocket attack eight years ago.
She and her children now live in one room of her father-in-law's house, she said.
"God forbid the rations will be finished."
Ottawa planned to end them last year but extended funding for another 12 months when the widows planned a protest - an extraordinary act for one of the country's most voiceless, marginalized groups.
Zainab Wahdi, deputy manager of women's programs for CARE Afghanistan, hopes Canada will reconsider.
"Vocational training is the best, but it will not be enough," she said.
Proposals being considered so far would only cover about 5,000 widows - and many will face child-care issues and resistance from men who don't want them to work, she added.
The reality is that thousands of women still desperately need help to feed their families, Wahdi said.
"We're afraid that if the money is cut off, many won't receive food or training. "Instead of putting all this money to fighting, I think widows should be the priority," she said of Canada's military efforts against anti-government forces in southern Afghanistan. "If they have money for fighting, it's better to have money for food too."
I can understand the need to help these women to be self reliant but I'd rather we gave them rations until they have been trained to work ergo feed themselves. This makes me cringe, I'd be happy to adopt an Afghan family. Why not have a benifit concert or something, I'd hate to see them abandoned.
House Member
Posts: 2,761 
Location: California
Location: California
October 9th, 2006, 11:15 AM
http://www.womenforwomen.org/
Quoting Sassylassie
I can understand the need to help these women to be self reliant but I'd rather we gave them rations until they have been trained to work ergo feed themselves. This makes me cringe, I'd be happy to adopt an Afghan family. Why not have a benifit concert or something, I'd hate to see them abandoned.
If you're serious Sassy, there is an organization that allows women in the west to support women in poorer countries. They have great programs and are involved in Afghanistan.I can understand the need to help these women to be self reliant but I'd rather we gave them rations until they have been trained to work ergo feed themselves. This makes me cringe, I'd be happy to adopt an Afghan family. Why not have a benifit concert or something, I'd hate to see them abandoned.
http://www.womenforwomen.org/
House Member
Posts: 2,761
Location: California
Location: California
October 9th, 2006, 03:59 PM
Oh I didn't mean to imply you'd like to see them starve to death, just didn't know if this was the type of thing you were looking for. They have a very good reputation, been on several shows and in several articles down here. I like the microloans in particular.
Oh I didn't mean to imply you'd like to see them starve to death, just didn't know if this was the type of thing you were looking for. They have a very good reputation, been on several shows and in several articles down here. I like the microloans in particular.
Metal King
Posts: 938
Location: Golden Horseshoe, Ontario
Location: Golden Horseshoe, Ontario
October 10th, 2006, 07:32 AM
Considering from most sources there IS no "economy" in Afghanistan, this sounds like a pretty bad deal, and yet another example of how much has been bitten off in this whole fiasco. Teaching elderly people "how to have jobs" is a friggin sick joke
Considering from most sources there IS no "economy" in Afghanistan, this sounds like a pretty bad deal, and yet another example of how much has been bitten off in this whole fiasco. Teaching elderly people "how to have jobs" is a friggin sick joke
Senate Member
Posts: 5,228
Location: Saint John, N.B.
Location: Saint John, N.B.
October 10th, 2006, 09:56 AM
Yeah.
I think this is stupidity to the nth degree. If we have a couple of billion bucks to fight the Taliban and try to build roads, schools, and other infrastructure, we've got the money to provide food to those that desperately need it...........
Dumb.
Yeah.
I think this is stupidity to the nth degree. If we have a couple of billion bucks to fight the Taliban and try to build roads, schools, and other infrastructure, we've got the money to provide food to those that desperately need it...........
Dumb.
Council Member
Posts: 1,531
October 10th, 2006, 10:18 AM
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for his life.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for his life.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
Senate Member
Posts: 5,228
Location: Saint John, N.B.
Location: Saint John, N.B.
October 10th, 2006, 10:21 AM
Quoting earth_as_one
I agree whole-heartedly.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for his life.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
Knows No Bounds
Posts: 2,976
October 10th, 2006, 10:49 AM
Quoting earth_as_one
That is exactly what they should do, I wonder why the Pharmeceutical Companies arn't considering this, it must be cheaper than their current supply. Good Post.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for his life.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
Handouts should be considered a temporary emergency measure. I hope these people who depend on handouts have found others ways to feed themselves, before they are pulled off this support network, but it doesn't sound like it. More bombs and less food will not win hearts and minds.
The only thing Afghanistan seems good at producing is opium. Maybe the pharmceutical companies should buy their entire production. That will keep Afghans busy and take illegal drugs off our streets. Addicts can get their drugs from addiction clinics who get their drugs from the pharmaceutical companies who buy raw opium from Afghanistan which employs ordinary Afghans.
