Afghanistan Worse Than Ethopian Famine

CCF and the Afghan Red Cross are now supplying food to children suffering from extreme malnutrition in the northern regions of Afghanistan.

“The situation is far worse than anything that we (CCF) saw in Ethiopia during the famine of two years ago” says Daniel Wordsworth from the CCF Trauma Team, which also provided emergency assistance during Ethiopia’s severe famine.

Approximately seventy children in Taloqan, Afghanistan have been identified as suffering from second and third degree malnutrition; these children are now receiving aid through CCF’s award-winning Trauma Programme.

The Programme is designed to assist children in the acute phase of emergency, by establishing ‘Child-Centred Spaces’ where children’s emotional, educational and physical needs are meet.

CCF has already established two ‘Child-Centred Spaces’ in Feyzabad, Afghanistan, providing food, schooling and a place for children to begin healing the emotional scars of war, but in Taloqan the most immediate need is food.

“CCF assesses the area and we use local resources and network with other agencies to ensure that the children’s most immediate needs are met,” says Adam Laidlaw, Chief Executive of CCF New Zealand.

In addition to the food provision, The CCF Trauma Team is also teaching families how to continue caring for a malnourished child and how to administer the supplemental feeding.

In Kunduz, fifty miles east of Taloqan, CCF is also beginning the operation of Centres to assist more than ten thousand children living in a nearby refugee camp.

CCF aims to provide these children with activities and regular schooling.

“In the camps, most children have nothing to do, no school to attend,” says Mr Wordsworth.

In some instances many of the young Afghani girls will never have attended school.

Hundreds of teachers, living in the camp are eager to assist with the educational programmes as under the Taliban regime these teachers were unable to work.

CCF has implemented similar programmes in areas of emergency such as East Timor, Honduras, Angola, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone. The organisation also extended its service to New York to work with youths in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and now to the children in Afghanistan.

The Trauma Team is being funded through donations made to the Child Alert Emergency Fund. Please call CCF toll-free on 0800 223 100 or visit www.ccf.org.nz to make your donation today.

ENDS

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