Second Afghanistan relief mission begins

TAIWAN - Tzu Chi sends more winter supplies to Afghanistan.

Following their successful venture in November, Tzu Chi Taiwan and Knightsbridge International are sending more relief supplies to Afghanistan in December. The supplies will be delivered to two areas: Knightsbridge International will deliver rice, wheat, tea, cooking oil, sugar, tents and first aid kits to Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamian; the Iranian Red Crescent Society will help Tzu Chi deliver clothes, blankets, shoes and medical supplies through Iran to the Makaki and Mile 46 refugee camps and the city of Herat in northwest Afghanistan.

The supplies sailing to Iran left Keelung harbor today, and will arrive in Afghanistan in January. The supplies, which will go to 6300 families, include not only what Tzu Chi has collected, but also donations from private and government organizations such as the Field Relief Agency and the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense.

Sending warmth and love
Over 600 volunteers sorted and packed donated clothes. They packed 6300 bags, each containing clothes for a family of five or six. In addition to clothing, relief supplies also included 900 pairs of shoes from the Field Relief Agency, 14,000 blankets provided by the Ministry of Defense, and medical supplies from other organizations.

The volunteers packaged the clothes with care in the hope that the recipients will feel the love from this far-away land.

Dire conditions
Hsieh Ching-kuei, Deputy Director of the Tzu Chi Department of Religious Affairs, visited refugee camps in southwest Afghanistan in November. He reported that 750,000 people lived in destitution caused by civil war and drought.

Furthermore, after September 11 an additional 1,500,000 people fled to neighboring countries to take refuge from war.

In refugee camps, families survive in tents with blankets and daily rations of six loaves of flatbread provided by international relief agencies. Those unable to enter refugee camps stay near the camps, building makeshift shelters with tree branches and living a life of starvation. An untold number of Afghan refugees have lost family members and live without tents or food.

Master Cheng Yen was extremely worried about the refugees in the severe winter. She sought cooperation with other international relief organizations to deliver relief supplies to Afghanistan and asked Tzu Chi volunteers in Turkey and Jordan to help with relief distribution in refugee camps.

Related links:
Knightsbridge International
Field Relief Agency