With nearly 3 billion people around the world living on less than $2 a day, and almost 1.4 billion living on less than $1.25 a day, the scale of extreme global poverty is daunting and harrowing. Eugene Cho and his wife Minhee knew the statistics by heart. As a pastor in Seattle, WA, Eugene had preached, taught and blogged about them. But, he says, “It came to the point where we were doing lots of talking and we wanted to take deeper steps.”

After traveling to impoverished areas around the world and “witnessing some courageous examples of people trying to uplift people,” the Chos decided to commit their entire 2009 salary to the cause of fighting global poverty. They were left asking themselves one question: “How do we mobilize others?” They sought encourage their family, friends, and the rest of the world in their efforts by starting One Day’s Wages, a grassroots movement dedicated to fighting extreme global poverty.

One day’s worth of wages is approximately .4 percent of annual income. The amount may seem trivial, but it can make a world of difference. Celebrities garner so much press and attention for their philanthropic efforts, and the scale of the issue is so massive, that it can be easy to lose sight of how powerful an impact average individuals can have. One Day’s Wages was formed to communicate this message.

“The stats are so overwhelming,” Eugene says. “What can one person do in the face of such things? Here’s what one person can do.” It is a straightforward, yet powerful concept. One Day’s Wages is using the relationship-building power of social media to communicate its story, as well as the stories of men and women worldwide who are doing great work to reduce poverty. One unique aspect of One Day’s Wages is that it is “an advocate of the smaller organizations,” Eugene says. “Money is not the only metric. We want to ensure that projects are sustainable and healthy.”

By building partnerships with smaller NGOs, churches, religious organizations, and schools, One Day’s Wages promotes organizations that have healthy relationships with local people. With a problem on the scale of global poverty, small organizations are vitally important. Ultimately, One Day’s Wages hopes to empower every individual to join the fight by showing that their donations can make a substantial impact. The manner in which all funds are used is traced and publicly available, so donors can know where their money is going. Donors can also choose to nominate an organization to receive funds, so long as the organization is aligned with the Millennium Development Goals set forth by the UN.

“The power of many,” as Eugene puts it, is an invaluable resource that One Day’s Wages is just beginning to tap into two months since its inception. So far it has raised more than $100,000 with a goal of reaching $1 million in the next 12 to 18 months. As illustrated by stories like the Harvard professor who asked that her engagement gifts be given to One Day’s Wages, and the young Seattle woman who sold her motorcycle to donate money, there is an incredible capacity for individuals to be creative in their efforts to make change.

One Day’s Wages

Five students graduated from sixth grade this fall in the small Guatemalan village of San Rafael. To many readers, this might seem like an everyday occasion. For those five kids, it was a major achievement, one which few in their village had achieved before.

On first glance, the beauty of San Rafael is breathtaking. The indigenous Mayan community is full of the colorful and intricate dress worn by the women and girls. Tucked into the rolling hills, the village is surrounded by a luscious, vibrant patchwork of cropland.

A CYCLE OF POVERTY

Just below the surface, however, you begin to see the depth of poverty in San Rafael. Many homes have dirt floors and cornstalk walls. Families cook indoors over open fires that cause burns and respiratory disease. Most adults work as day laborers in fields owned by large landowners, and families earn an average of $50 to $130 each month, sometimes not enough to provide three meals a day. Children, many of whom help their parents in the fields, often face pressure to leave school before sixth grade.

A home and farmland in San Rafael.

The history of San Rafael is much like other rural villages in Guatemala. The community suffered from the country’s 30-year civil war, which left more than 200,000 Guatemalans dead and one million displaced. The war formally ended with peace accords in 1994, but the residue of violence and corruption has persisted. Guatemala has long had an uneven distribution of land, with some 96 percent of producers cultivating only 20 percent of the land, and this hasn’t changed much since the end of the war. Needless to say, livable wages are hard to come by, and the cycle of low education and low pay continues for another generation.

CHANGE THROUGH EDUCATION

Common Hope has been working in Guatemala since 1986 to unwind this cycle through education. Its main goal is to help children stay in school as long as possible. If a young adult can graduate from high school, she can find a job as a professional and have a much better chance of moving beyond a paycheck to paycheck existence. After 20 years in the country, Common Hope has helped hundreds of youth graduate from high school and begin careers as medical workers, business professionals, social workers and more.

Common Hope started working in San Rafael in 2008. It chose the community for its depth of need as well as several existing community assets, including an NGO medical clinic and a public school receptive to partnering to strengthen services offered to students and families. Its work started at the elementary school, building relationships and presenting its educational model to parents and teachers.

The program works like this: families partner with Common Hope, agreeing to keep their children in school. In turn, Common Hope pays any expenses associated with education including books, schools supplies, and fees, and families gain access to the other opportunities Common Hope offers to improve their health and housing. This way, children can bring more benefits to their family in school than they can in the fields. And the longer children stay in school, the better chance they have of finding a job with a livable wage down the road.

Girls line up for a snack at the elementary school.

LONG-TERM VISION

The initial results in San Rafael have been promising. Interest in the school has risen considerably since Common Hope started bringing supplies and support to the village: a record 372 students attended school in 2009 compared to 300 students the year before, and a number of community members have pitched in to build a new classroom and expand the school lunch program.

Boys head home from school in San Rafael.Common Hope understands that transformation in San Rafael won’t happen overnight; it will be a long-term effort. The organization has done it before. Board chair Bill Huebsch has been involved with Common Hope since the early days. After visiting San Rafael last year, he reflected, “This looks just like San Pedro did when we first began working there in the 90s. A lot has changed in San Pedro since then.”

Since 1990, hundreds of students have graduated from high school in San Pedro and other surrounding Antigua communities. Common Hope has seen real change happen, and is ready to make it happen again in San Rafael. The organization is off to a promising start: elementary school attendance in San Rafael is expected to rise another 15 percent in 2010, and all five San Rafael sixth graders who graduated in 2009 plan to continue on to seventh grade next year.

Common Hope

This article was submitted by Toni Oberto.

What you’re not getting out of men dressed in fruit costumes singing about underwear, you will get out of PACT. PACT http://www.wearpact.com/ manufactures men and women’s underwear that is fully sustainable from production to delivery. The product starts at an organic cotton factory in Turkey. It’s then adorned in vibrant and bold designs with inks and dyes that meet or exceed GOTS and EKO standards. Before long, it’s delivered in a reusable fabric bag. And with 10 percent of all proceeds going to notable non-profit partners, it’s a smart choice for holiday presents.

What started as an idea light bulb in the minds of then Berkeley classmates, Jason Kibbey and Jeff Denby, has become a social movement and collaboration of designers, business partners, organic cotton farmers and nonprofit organizations. “We’re committed to seeing business as a part of positive social and environmental change. This business is an extension of our personal values,” says co-founder Kibbey. His and Denby’s socially responsible underwear concept became a reality when it caught the eye of designer Yves Sebhar during a product development course at Berkley. “Yves said if you can raise the money, I’d love to design for your product,” Kibbey says.

After seeing the first design in 2008, Kibbey knew it was a go. Sebhar has now designed four unique and fun lines for PACT and its participating organizations. Each print is tied to a specific cause: 826 National, Oceana, Forest Ethics and Global Green USA.

826 National assists and tutors students ages six to 18 in writing skills. Headquartered in San Francisco, 826 National now has centers in seven US cities. Founded by author Dave Eggers, the centers provide drop-in writing assistance for youth, free of charge, to encourage strong writing skills and future success.

Oceana is the world’s largest organization devoted to ocean conservation. In an effort to restore and protect the nearly 70 percent of our world covered by oceans, Oceana integrates marine scientists, lawyers, advocates and economists to campaign for policy change, reduce pollution and protect ocean life.

Forest Ethics commits its time and energy to forest and wildlife conservation, primarily in North America. Forest Ethics has helped protect more than 65 million acres of endangered forests. As an early believer in PACT, Forest Ethics signed up early to support Denby and Kibbey in any way possible.

Global Green USA is an international organization geared toward a sustainable future. Global Green is the American arm of Green Cross International, which President Mikhail S. Gorbachev created to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future, by reconnecting humanity with the environment.

Now, after thousands of dollars in donations, a carefully sculpted supply chain, and one incredible pair of undies, Denby and Kibbey have created a well-fitting, beautiful product that helps change the world one behind at a time.

“The most important step [as consumers] is trying to understand where the product is coming from. If you can’t find out where products came from or how they were made, you should really consider buying elsewhere,” Kibbey says of sustainable consumerism. “We value transparency. Our factory name is on the product itself. PACT is made in the least impactful way possible.”

With such high quality doing so much good, it’s hard to not try PACT underwear. Customers can choose from a variety of colors, patterns and styles. Or pick by cause. Whatever your method, PACT underwear wants you to rethink the way we purchase the things we need.

NEED readers can enjoy 25 percent off a purchase of PACT underwear by entering the coupon code NEED25.

PACT 826 National Oceana Forest EthicsGreen Global USA Green Cross International

Rahim, Sahebo, Fatima, Qadir, Marai, Ajabhul, Zib, Frishta, Sawid, Qandagha, Rohina, Suirullah, Shirhd, Piroz, Ayob, Nuzia, Pulwasha, Hayutullah, Khomari, Faizullah, Omarkhan, Nazia, Saifulla, Fatima and Ajabhul.

These 25 kids living in the Charahee Qambar IDP camp were the first to receive urgently needed hospital treatment as a direct result of donations to our Helmand Children’s Medical Fund. And as I write this report, one month since we began this grassroots effort, 151 additional children have been taken to Kabul children’s hospitals for treatment. That makes 176 kids, and the number continues to grow every day!

If that wasn’t cool enough, donations from all over the world have so far helped us purchase 96 pairs of shoes, 96 sets of warm clothes and 150 malnutrition kits. Upon discharge from the hospital, each child is given a kit including a three-week supply of milk, sugar, high protein biscuits, soap and a toothbrush. These kits were Najib’s brilliant idea, and he even sourced all the items in a wholesale market for maximum value.

Equally important as the tangible benefits that this effort has created, the intangible benefits are opening up paths to some serious peace-building. Just one month ago the people living in this camp told me how US bombs tore apart their lives and forced them into this squalid camp. They couldn’t imagine that anyone on this side of the world even knew that they existed, let alone cared about helping them. But now they are aware that Americans in every corner of the US, as well as people in Singapore, Finland, Switzerland and Hong Kong (thanks CNN!) have reached out in support of their families.

This is big deal when you consider that Afghanistan is an extremely clan-oriented society, which means that for every child saved approximately 50 relatives are directly touched by this show of support. (Unfortunately, the same formula can be applied to every civilian casualty or displaced Afghan, which works against our military efforts and strengthens the Taliban who exploit these people’s hardships.) Whether these relatives are living in the camp or back in Helmand, the word is out on what we are doing! According to my math, nearly 9,000 Afghans have seen the generous spirit of Americans, and there is no telling how far this effort can go towards promoting peace.

As for the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund, Najib and Wasim continue daily trips from the camp to the hospital, and they estimate that 50 more kids need hospital treatment. They believe that they will be able to screen and treat the rest of the sick children at the camp with the drugs available through the on-site health tent. If donations keep up, we should be able to provide warm clothing for every child who needs them as well. That means that by mid-January, we will have helped every sick child in the camp. Wow! However, before we break out the champagne, we need to make sure that this effort amounts to something long-term. Winter has begun and the mud camp is now covered in snow and ice. Even with warm clothes, we need to prevent these newly-healthy kids from backsliding into sickness.

So where do we go from here, you ask? Well, for the past month Najib and I have been networking maniacs, leveraging every resource to put together a pretty amazing game plan.

First, we have formed a partnership with A4T (Afghans4Tomorrow), a highly respected, US-based nonprofit that focuses on the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan. A4T established one of the girls schools that we visited on our trip, it runs the A4T guesthouse where we stayed, and both Najib and Santwana Dasgupta, executive director of Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan and our partner in the War Kids Relief program Junior Investor, are on the A4T board.

In January, A4T will set up shop in the IDP camp to continue our health care work, provide education for the children and create business opportunities for their parents.

• Health: A4T is joining forces with SHARDO, the camp health tent provider, to strengthen its existing effort, and to continue providing the supplemental support we have been giving: assessing the children, providing hospitalization and transportation for serious cases, and distributing malnutrition kits.

• Education: Remember Aschiana, the organization that provides schooling to Kabul’s many street children? A4T is joining forces with Aschiana, as well, to develop a camp school that will be able to educate the thousands of children there who are currently out of school.

• Business: A4T will set up a vocational training operation in the camp to help IDP parents learn how to start low-tech businesses such as bicycle repair and briquette making (an inexpensive brick-like heat source for wood stoves made from paper scraps, water and wood shavings) to better provide for their families during their displacement. Meanwhile, here in Minnesota I am rounding up civic-minded entrepreneurs who want to help finance the first 50 upstart businesses and to provide mentorship. It will be like microcredit, but the return on investment will be in the form of monthly progress reports from each Afghan businessperson, and the realization that entrepreneurs on both sides are using their skills to create amazing change in the world! Just like War Kids Relief’s Junior Investor program, but for adults.

The reason we are able to do this is that every day for a month we demonstrated to the camp elders that we truly care about them. We built the solid relationships that anyone who has read Three Cups of Tea knows are necessary to do any sort of business in Afghanistan. “The first cup of tea you share with us, you are a stranger. The second cup, you are a friend. The third cup, you become family — and for our families we are willing to do anything, even die.” According to Najib’s last report on how happy they camp elders are about HCMF, we just had our proverbial third cup of tea.?

So that’s my big news! Starting in 2010, all these players (Children’s Culture Connection, Afghans4Tomorrow, Aschiana, SHARDO and American entrepreneurs) are coming together to create an exciting, holistic approach to supporting Afghanistan’s future.

Synergy rocks.

The one question still on everyone’s mind is, “How is baby Rahim doing?” Najib told me that on the day before New Year’s Eve, Rahim finally left the malnutrition center at the hospital and returned to his family. He had a happy reunion, especially with his mom who got to hold him for the first time in a month. For my New Year’s celebration, I made a midnight toast to a year filled with continued magic and miracles for Rahim’s family, for all the families in the Charahee Qambar camp, and for your family, too!

PS. In order to provide warm clothing and shoes for every camp child, we are going to keep the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund open until January 15.

• HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief
• Children’s Culture Connection
• A4T
• Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan
• Aschiana

More than 70 children have received urgent medical care through this unprecedented collaboration of American and Afghan civilians.

Exciting things continue to unfold with the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund project. Every day donations come in, and every day Najib and Wasim run more and more children to the hospital. So far over 70 children have received urgent medical treatment. I am home recovering from the most exhausting 15 days of my life. I have also been working on a strategic plan to leverage our resources in order to provide more substantial and lasting support to these IDP kids in such desperate need. My goal is to make sure that this effort is more than a temporary “Band-Aid.”

I have just a few more details to work out and will soon be making an official announcement on the future plan for the fund. It’s a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself, so cross your fingers that it all comes together!

In the meantime, check out these videos posted by CNN and KARE 11.

>> Read the article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune
>> Read the initial blog on how the HCMF got started

HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief Children’s Culture Connection

One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is traveling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

If I thought the past two weeks have been busy, they’ve been nothing compared to the past two days of running around getting the last video footage for our project before we leave. It’s been a wild carnival ride as Habibi, our driver, whizzes us all over Kabul in his little Toyota while Najib lines up appointments on his cell phone as fast as I can think of things to put on the list, which includes interviewing a bank and a radio station, attending a girls basketball game and a conference for disabled land mine victims, taking three more kids to the hospital and attending a wedding. Somehow Najib stays calm and collected throughout all this. I guess praying five times a day really helps him stay centered. Maybe I should try that, too.

Yesterday, of all the things Najib managed to line up for us, the only one he was having trouble arranging was an invitation to an Afghan wedding. As I already mentioned, Najib is a master networker who seems to know half of Afghanistan so I could tell it was bugging him that this wasn’t coming together. Every day when I asked him if we scored a wedding invite he’d quietly say “not yet.” Unexpectedly, while we were at the International Disabled Persons Day conference (Afghanistan works especially hard to take care of the many victims of the landmines laid during the wars. Would you believe that of the ten million land mines buried in Afghanistan, more than 3 million are still active?), Najib overheard a manager in the hall talking about a wedding that would be held there the next day.

So in a last-chance-Hail-Mary-pass effort, today we showed up on the doorstep of this wedding where Najib somehow convinced the parents of the bride to let us crash. He explained that we are making a film to teach American students about Afghan culture and that they would be doing a great thing to help children of the world unite. I’m telling you, the guy has a gift.

At Afghan weddings there are actually two parties in separate rooms for men and women. Kelly and Najib went to the guys party and I went solo into the gals party to schmooze my way through hundreds of women dolled up in their glitziest gowns (like an explosion in a sequin factory), tons of jewelry and even more makeup. It was amazing to be in the middle of this wild celebration with Afghan music blaring, women dancing and shimmying and gyrating all over the dance floor, confetti flying and children chasing one another around the room just like at an American wedding.

Of course, I was getting plenty of strange looks from the guests with no way of explaining why in the world I was there, so my strategy was to smile as much as possible, say tashakur (”thank you,” the only Dari word I know) to every woman I saw, and fawn over their children.

I sat at a table in the back to keep a low profile but, with tremendous hospitality, the mother of the bride brought me to the front table to hang with her friends. After a lot of dancing they served a huge meal of lamb and rice and naan, and finally, the bride and groom slowly entered the room and went up on the stage while bursts of confetti rained down from overhead.

Because Najib thinks of absolutely everything, he ran to a nearby store, bought gifts and had them specially wrapped so I had something to take on stage to present to the bride and groom. Despite being very surprised to discover a strange foreigner at their wedding, they were incredibly gracious. Afghan hospitality!

While I pack my luggage to fly back home, I can’t stop thinking about how much the Afghans amaze and impress me. Two weeks ago when we first landed I imagined a depressed, war-torn country, bullets and rockets flying by every street corner, and I would have considered myself lucky to get out with my life. What I discovered was completely different. Yes, it is a depressed, war-torn country, but it is filled with the most passionate and loving people I have ever met. People who truly care about and look out for one another. Even though every day is a struggle for them as they rebuild their country (again), they do it with class and dignity. Even though they haven’t managed to catch a break in over 30 years, they refuse to let the world get them down. They have shown me what endurance is, because no matter how many roadblocks get thrown in their way, they find a way to keep on going. They are deeply religious people, but not in a way that others need to fear. They are not bitter and they don’t hold grudges against those who have wronged them in the past. They are survivors.

Afghanistan remains a dangerous place, but it was hard to worry about death in a place that makes me feel so alive.

This will be my last post from Kabul as we are leaving in just a few hours, but I will continue to post updates about the children being served by the Helmand Children’s Medical Fund on the NEED blog. Thanks for hanging in with me on this crazy adventure. Thanks also to all of you who opened your hearts (and wallets) to help children in the IDP camp get the medical help that they need. You have made a difference in the lives of these children, and when their families realize where this money is coming from they are overwhelmed by this outpouring of love from some American civilians. These people now know who Americans really are, and instead of being afraid of us (and us of them), some seeds of peace have been planted. I think that is a beautiful beginning.

HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief Children’s Culture Connection

One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is traveling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

Wow, it’s been just over a week that we started our little HCMF fund and I am blown away at how it continues to significantly change the lives of IDP families as it gains momentum. Yesterday we weren’t able to bring any new cases to the hospital because we had some follow-up to do with a few current patients. Wasim brought the little boy with the eye problem to another specialist, and the two girls in the hospital suffering from malnutrition and bone disorders (Sahebo and Fatima) were discharged. With medication, their malnourishment should be under control, but they will need extensive physical therapy so we took them to get registered at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital. ICRC is a Kabul facility famous for working with thousands of amputees injured by land mines planted during both the Russian invasion and the civil war (1980-90s). Since Najib and Wasim worked there as medics, both have lots of peeps on the inside. ICRC will provide physical therapy for the girls on a weekly basis, and will also give each a wheelchair. It won’t be easy to wheel them through the mud in the camp, but it’s a start.

We went back to the camp to pay Rahim’s mother a visit because CNN wanted to meet her for its news piece. It has been over a week since she has seen her son and she was eager to learn how he was doing. There wasn’t a dry eye in the mud hut when Rahim’s mom watched the video of him in the hospital on the CNN laptop. Despite her tears she was happy that he is getting stronger and is going to live. She said thank you to me a million times but I told her she shouldn’t thank me. I am a mother and it’s our job to look out for one another. She’ll pay it forward someday, too.

Even though we are doing our best to help the kids in the IDP camp with their medical needs, I can’t stop thinking about why this situation is as bad as it is. Every day I get emails from people who are shocked that nobody is doing more to help these folks out. Where are the big NGOs? With all the aid money pouring into Afghanistan, why is this little health tent so underfunded? Being the busy-bodies that we are, we returned to the local health tent directors to do our own investigation into this matter.

It turns out that the whole IDP issue is a sticky situation. Because these people really shouldn’t be there (they should be back in the provinces where they came from), the Ministry of Repatriation doesn’t want to make life too comfortable for them here in Kabul. It wants them to go back to their homes (or what’s left of their homes) the instant that the bombing and fighting stop in Helmand Province so that Kabul doesn’t have to absorb this massive influx of people. These people would like to go home as well, but unfortunately, nobody knows when that will happen so they continue to linger in the camps. I could tell that the director wasn’t too comfortable answering my queries (he’s caught the middle of this political web), but he admitted that “the government doesn’t encourage donors/NGOs to support the IDP camps.” NGOs have to keep their political standing in order to continue their work in Afghanistan, and it wouldn’t be in their best interest to make a huge stink about this IDP crisis. The result is thousands of innocent people who everyone basically wishes didn’t exist.

Sometimes I wonder if I am being a bit dramatic about all this, but then I go back and look at some of those photos of the camp and the way these innocent people are living and I get all upset. These aren’t just “poor people” we are talking about. They are people who are stuck in this camp as a direct result of the war effort. It’s unfair that they are invisible simply because they are inconvenient.

Back to our film project, we also visited a madrassa. It was a great experience not only because it was one of the most beautiful buildings I have even seen, but because I learned that the term “madrassa” is not synonymous with “terrorist training camp” as the media had led me to believe. It is actually a religious-based school where law, sociology, philosophy and other subjects are taught in addition to religion. Like Notre Dame for Muslims. Some of the college students who attend school there were very happy to speak on camera to students in the US for our project. Nearly every group of students we have spoken with on this trip has the same message for the American kids: please help us.

We also visited the National Mine Museum, which was eye-opening for me. It was so creepy to see the many forms of weapons that have been used to tear apart this country. When we were looking at a display of missiles, Najib said, “Those make just a terrible noise.” Kelly and I realized that this man we spend every day with has seen war with his own eyes to the point where he knows what sounds these bombs, mines and missile make. It was chilling.

Later in the car I asked Najib a few questions about his life during the civil war in the 90s, the darkest and bloodiest time in Afghan history. For the record, the Afghan civil war started when the mujahidin fighters, to whom the US had given billions of dollars of weapons to fight the Russians for us, fell into a massive power struggle after the Russians left. Helping the Afghans defend themselves seemed like a good idea at the time, until you consider that these fighters were also militant extremists, including Bin Laden. And these same weapons were used to kill thousands of innocent people caught in the crossfire of the ensuing power struggle, many of whom Najib knew, loved and treated as a medic.

The US has a bit of a fingerprint left on this situation.

Najib told us candidly what it is like to watch missiles fly by your head, see people blown in half right in the middle of the street and watch just about everything around you get destroyed. As we drove along we passed a bombed out/shot up movie theater and he told us about how he used to enjoy going there. It’s almost like if the World Trade Center aftermath never got cleaned up and New Yorkers were forced to walk by the wreckage every day for 20 years. Imagine the trauma that people would experience every single day seeing that. Najib is only 39 years old and has seen war, not as a soldier, but as a guy trying to get to work in the morning and get home at night to his family.

Kelly and I talk a lot about most how Americans have no clue what war really is. We know that we don’t.

HCMF Donations at War Kids Relief Children’s Culture Connection

One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

Because of the press coverage, Helmand Children’s Medical Fund got a lot of donations, so Sunday was a busy day at the hospital. So far we have brought 26 children from the IDP camp to the hospital for desperately needed medical treatment. In addition to our first three patients suffering from malnourishment, there have been cases of severe pneumonia, tonsillitis and respiratory tract infections. We are providing a three week supply of milk to every child upon discharge from the hospital to help them continue to gain strength. It’s just a few bucks but will go a long way in their recovery. Depending on how strong donations come in, we may buy blankets for them as well. It’s hard to get better when you can’t stay warm, and the weather is getting steadily colder.

(I’ve also personally discovered that you can’t get better from a cold if you don’t stop running around for five minutes … but that’s my own problem to deal with. I’ll recover when I get home, just in time to do my holiday shopping. That’s always relaxing!)

Through visiting an organization called Aschiana and meeting a family, we got an incredible glimpse into the lives of Afghanistan’s youth, and saw what these kids are made of despite their difficult situations.

Aschiana serves thousands of Kabul’s impoverished street children who are forced to work at young ages to help feed their families. Due to the effects of war, many children become the heads of their families at a young age. Aschiana provides half day schooling, sports facilities, artisan training and art therapy to help these kids get an education, take pride in themselves and imagine the possibilities of a different life.

It all started ten years ago when Mohammad Yousef, the founder and current director, was having his shoes polished by a young boy on the streets. While talking with the boy, Yousef instantly saw how bright he was. The boy explained that he couldn’t go to school because he had to work to provide for his family. Yousef thought that even though he couldn’t change the economic realities of the boy’s family, perhaps he could provide enough support to help redirect the course of the boy’s future and others like him. He started Aschiana with that goal. Ten years later, there are still thousands of kids out on the streets who must polish shoes, wash cars, or sell chewing gum to survive, but because of Aschiana, many of them have become skilled artisans and craftsmen, and have gotten an education that they otherwise wouldn’t have had.

We spent the second part of the day visiting the home of a family with an epic story who, like many Afghan families, have struggled through decades of war. With their three girls and one boy, they were tortured by the Taliban, escaped to a Pakistani refugee camp, lost a son, used opium to subdue the pain and hunger, and lived in an empty bombed-out building because they couldn’t afford rent anywhere else. (Have I mentioned that Najib knows absolutely everyone?) They’ve had more than their share of hard times, but they are hardworking people and little by little they have been getting back on their feet. With the help of a social worker they kicked their opium addiction and moved back to Kabul. The father works as a cook in a military hospital, the mother works in a raisin factory for $5 per day, and they now have just enough money to rent a home. Their new home is basically two cement rooms with a ceiling caving in, no heat, electricity, water or plumbing (just think of an austere garage with rugs on the floor and you’ll be getting close) but it was the best home they have had in years and they were proud to invite us over for lunch to celebrate.

What is most incredible about this family is 14-year-old Karema. A real firecracker, she runs the household while her parents work, including cooking, cleaning and taking care of the other children. From the first moment she came outside to greet us with her infectious smile and firm handshake, I knew I was meeting someone very special. We interviewed her while she cooked us lunch and learned that she can’t go to school because she needs to run the home while her parents raise enough money for the family to eat and pay rent, but that doesn’t stop her from learning on her own. More importantly, it doesn’t stop her from dreaming big. I asked her what she wants to be when she grows up and she was dead serious when she answered that she wants to be a journalist. More specifically, a TV news reporter. There was no doubt in my mind that that is what she should be, so after lunch Kelly and I gave her a crack at the real thing. We got her mic’d up and had her give a full report on the goings-on of the day. The kid was a natural!

Karema is an example of a kid who is already imagining a new possibility for her life, and I want to help redirect her future as soon as possible. You know my wheels are turning as to how I will get this girl back in school to make this happen, and mark my words, I will think of something.

Children’s Culture Connection Aschiana Friends of Aschiana War Kids Relief (Donations can be made to this project through War Kids Relief. Please indicate HCMF in the PayPal memo.)

One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

After all the excitement with the media on Friday (from CBS and CNN in Kabul to the front page of the Star Tribune in Minnesota), we got back to business on our filming project.

Saturday morning started with an hour and a half meeting with Mr. P.M. Akram, the chief director of the Afghanistan National Independent Commission for Peace and Reconciliation. I honestly don’t know how Najib manages to know every single person in Afghanistan. Established five years ago, this organization works to bring opposition parties into the peace-building process. So far it has convinced more than 8,000 Taliban and insurgents to disarm and work for peace, and have nearly 7,000 more ready to join. Part of the way they do this is by establishing relations with the tribal elders in all regions of Afghanistan. Unlike the US, Afghanistan is tribal, which means that ideas don’t always work when forced from the top down. These Peace and Reconciliation folks understand that each community needs to be brought into the fold individually. Mr. P.M. Akram said that they are in support of the US troop surge as long as Afghan forces are trained to take over. Like the former Taliban I met the other day, he said that the real problem is coming from Pakistan, and he hopes that foreigners will help them develop economically in order to strengthen their country. Some days I feel like Ann Curry.

What I liked best about Mr. Akram is that he is a former Minister of Education and believes that helping children understand peace-building is vital. I told him he was a guy after my own heart and that since Children’s Culture Connection has the same mission, he can count us in if there’s anything we can do to help out. He said he appreciated this and would give thought to some possibilities before we meet again. Stay tuned for this!

Next I attended a meeting with the school directors, teachers, community elders and four students from the Khost school who came to Kabul for the day to discuss the vocational training program that American students are co-investing in in an effort to help them communicate with one another. This was a monumental meeting because Khost, seven hours away by car, is a very conservative community and heavily influenced by Taliban. Santwana, director of Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan, said that it took five years to get the community elders on board with this. Baby steps. We discussed the importance of education as well as economic security for their children. Having this much contact with westerners is completely unprecedented but it turns out they loved it!

Following the meeting we asked the kids from Khost to record a video message for the kids in Cannon Falls middle and high school who are participating in the pilot project. Again, this level of contact is completely unprecedented. It was really cute and at first they were nervous. As they talked about their lives and what they appreciate about Afghan culture and society, everyone loosened up. It was so cool to see these neo-conservative elders laughing and smiling at how proud the kids were to share their culture. Look out world peace, here we come!

By the time that was over, it was late. We met Wasim at the hospital to visit baby Rahim and the other kids. That day he had brought in a little boy who was blind in one eye and had serious infections in both eyes. The doctors gave him some medicine to take over the next four days. If there isn’t improvement he will likely need surgery.

Wasim also brought in a 15-day-old baby and a three-year-old toddler who both suffered from severe pneumonia. The hospital wanted to admit the baby but the mother was unable to stay with him because she needed to get back to her children in the camp. Wasim will try to find someone else at the camp who can watch her kids because the baby really needs to be admitted to the hospital. I am sure Wasim will find a way.

Meanwhile, baby Rahim and the other patients are doing better every day, and I brought them some toys to cheer them up. My daughters always give me some of their toys to share with kids when I travel.

Children’s Culture Connection Partnership for the Education of Children in Afghanistan War Kids Relief (Donations can be made to this project through War Kids Relief. Please indicate HCMF in the PayPal memo.)

One of the founders of NEED, Kelly Kinnunen, is working on a video documentary project in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is travelling with Dina Fesler of the nonprofit Children’s Culture Connection. Among other places, they have been visiting Charahee Qambar, an IDP camp where people are living in desperate conditions with very little aid. Dina emailed an update about what they are doing and we wanted to share it with you.

The HCMF momentum is growing, and we not only took two more children in for medical treatment, but both CBS and CNN news tagged along with us for the fun! I’ll admit it makes things a bit more hectic slogging through the muddy camp with an entourage, but I am happy that they want to help us get the word out, not only on the relief effort, but the reality of the situation for people in these camps as well. I am hoping that by seeing this story that someone or some organization with more power than me can get involved to make a more substantial, enduring difference for these people.

Unfortunately, we won’t be able to go back to the camp for awhile because the security situation has become too dangerous. One of the sad realities in Afghanistan these days is that kidnapping is big business for a lot of people. It’s not always Taliban related, and many opportunists will kidnap foreigners simply because we are worth money. Hopefully somebody would miss me enough to cough up a little cash.

Yesterday at the camp, the guides noticed some creepy guys circling the area, and they even saw some of the camp elders telling them to leave us alone because we were good people who were here to help their children. My fears of danger were overshadowed by knowing that in only a few days we have built a real relationship. That’s amazing. But even though the camp elders have our backs, we have become too predictable, so Wasim transport the kids on his own now. He’s the real talent on this part of the team anyway as Kelly and I alone would never be able to coordinate this in a million years. Wasim assesses the kids to determine the greatest need, convinces their parents to trust us, ensures safe transportation to and from the hospital and handles all the admission paperwork, bill paying, negotiations and more.

Afghanistan can be difficult to navigate in many ways. Both Wasim and Najib must call on lots of personal and professional favors, and understand the ways of the Afghan people and systems to get all this done. They are real superheroes if you ask me. As for the rest of the team, Kelly is creating magic with the video and making sure that this powerful story gets told, his wife Stephanie (who also runs NEED magazine) is handling our PR back home, and I am just trying to keep the energy and momentum growing in my own little way.

We are a small but mighty team!

One of the children we took in is a 15-year-old girl who has a similar situation to Sahebo (the girl we brought in the day before), including malnutrition and a serious problem with her bones that will require many specialists and extensive physical therapy. Apparently, both these girls had existing problems with their bones, but living in the cold, damp camp environment exacerbated it to the point that they are now unable to walk. Although these medical bills will be higher for their inpatient stay, the hospital promised that it is committed to their ongoing rehabilitation treatments as long as necessary at no cost. That’s wonderful news! We also brought in a 6-month-old baby boy who has had complications from pneumonia and required more substantial medicines. Luckily, he didn’t need to be admitted and could go home that same day.

After the kids were checked in safe and sound, and the news crews finally left, we visited Kabul’s famous Chicken Street to film the local culture. It’s a cool shopping area that sells lots of beautiful Afghan arts and crafts, lapis stones and jewelry (something Afghanistan is famous for), traditional clothing and lots of fabulous Afghan rugs. I don’t recall see any chickens. Najib told me that a long time ago the area primarily sold chickens with many restaurants serving their famous chicken soup. Who would have guessed that Afghanistan is famous for chicken soup?

Either way, I was in shopping heaven and pretty much wanted to buy everything in sight, but managed to restrain myself. Business first.

Stay tuned for the next adventure.
Children’s Culture Connection War Kids Relief (Donations can be made to this project through War Kids Relief. Please indicate HCMF in the PayPal memo.)