November 13, 2003

Freezing Nights, Desert and Falling Snow: Lighting up Hope in Afghanistan

Period of Assistance: 1998.2-2002.8
Relief Work: Medical Equipment and Supplies, Food and Clothing

"Is the wheat important to you?" The cameraman had followed the old man to his home after he had received his 50 kg bag of wheat. The home was made only of tree branches and grass. It looked like a huge bird's nest. This nest was home to the old man, his wife and two daughters. The cameraman asked the question, and the old man let out a sigh. He said that a week ago he had three daughters. The cameraman was led to a small grave beside the house where he wept. The third daughter had starved to death.

Although far removed from the rest of humanity, the mountainous country of Afghanistan has not been isolated from turmoil. To date, Afghanistan has produced one of the largest numbers of displaced people in the world. The country was torn by an invasion from the Soviet Union in 1979 and then a series of civil wars throughout the 1980's. Because of more than twenty years of unremitting conflict, half the population of Afghanistan are widows and children under the age of fifteen, and over six million people - one fifth of the country's population - have been forced to take refuge in the neighboring countries of Iran and Pakistan. The conflicts resulted in destroyed infrastructure and lack of basic medical care, educational and economic institutions, forcing the people of Afghanistan to fight for survival day by day and with the future far from their minds. Living in despair with critical conditions for survival, those who could not leave the country continue to wait near the border, patiently abiding an immense hardship for a light of hope to shine through the destitution.

Human Crisis
Already suffering the constant threat of war and drought, even prior to September 11, 2001, more than four million people in Afghanistan were starving and more than 10 million mines were laid among the lands. Sadly, the 9-11 attacks on the United States resulted in an additional 1.5 million Afghans fleeing their homes in anticipation of the US strikes.

For too long now, the magnitude and depth of human suffering in Afghanistan has largely outstripped the capacity, resources and personnel of the aid community. The deteriorating security situation post 9-11 forced all staff members of the United Nations, Red Cross, and other non-governmental relief agencies who were there under the UN "Deepening Crisis" assistance plan to withdraw from the country. A few missionaries and relief personnel from organizations such as the Red Crescent Society (the Islamic counterpart to the Red Cross) and Médecins du Monde have risked staying behind to support the refugees. According to a report on Afghanistan by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), each day one child dies from acute respiratory infection, diarrheal disorder or malnutrition. And every winter an average of 300,000 children pass away.

Millions of more Afghans have become homeless since the US strikes. Few Afghan refugees made use of the pre-packaged meals dropped by US planes for fear the Taliban had contaminated the food packets. Entire families, some who were on the run for more than a year, walked more than two weeks to find shelter. Many live on the outskirts of refugee camps without shelter, blankets or winter clothing. At one camp, some families were fortunate enough to secure one of 700 tents among more than 10,000 other refugees. The small tents protect them from the wind and rain, but not from extreme desert temperatures or the reality of having to depend on outside aid to survive.

Together Again
Within one month of 9-11 Tzu Chi and Knightsbridge International joined hands again to deliver food, medicine, clothing and other critical necessities to Afghanistan. The contract was signed on October 11, 2001. Tzu Chi would provide the relief supplies and Knightsbridge would deliver them. Afghanistan Relief Organization (ARO) will also assist with the project. This would be Tzu Chi and Knightsbridge's third humanitarian aid partnership to Afghanistan since 1998 and though not one of the most dangerous, it would by far be one of the most challenging missions ever undertaken.

The small team from Knightsbridge departed on October 14, 2001 and would arrive two days later in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, near the northern border of Afghanistan. The team members were Knightsbridge Chairman Sir Edward Artis, President Dr. Sir James Laws, Sir Walter Ratterman and filmmaker Adrian Belic. The first part of the mission would last through November. On January 8, 2002, eight Tzu Chi medical and humanitarian relief volunteers from Taiwan and the United States would fly to Tashkent to meet up with Artis and Ratterman for the second phase of assistance.

Coming Through for the Refugees
Knightsbridge would follow through with Tzu Chi's principles of relief work and deliver as much of the aid as possible directly into the hands of the refugees and return with a signature from each recipient. It would be a highly dangerous mission as the US air strikes in Afghanistan had been ongoing since October 7, 2001. Materials to be distributed in the remote mountain areas would have to be flown in by helicopters. The only belongings each team member had with them were two changes of clothes; the rest their luggage was filled with communications equipment that eventually broke, leaving them isolated from all contact for eight days.

The mission will be accomplished under the protection of the Northern Alliance and the United Front. Open their arrival at the Tajik-Afghan border, they would see that many humanitarian aid organizations along with 1,300 reporters, all who had been trying for some weeks to enter the country, would be barred from entering Afghanistan due to either customs or visa problems. Yet under the substantial help of Ambassador Mohammed Hasham Saad, the Afghan Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Knightsbridge team obtained diplomatic visas and entered through the Tajikistan border into Afghanistan ten days after their initial arrival.

Black winds of winter, the severe sandstorms particular to Afghanistan, would be howling across the snow-covered yellow lands within a few weeks. With another winter approaching soon, the urgency of getting a message worldwide that help was still being offered outweighed the personal risk of the relief team. The refugees would die if no more relief supplies reached them.

Into Afghanistan
Aid arrived by two routes. The goods included: surgical equipment, antibiotics and other medicine, blankets, winter clothing, shoes, wheat flour, beans, rice, sugar, cooking oil, tea, kerosene oil, gas lamps, tents, first aid kits and other necessities. The first route of delivery was via Tajikistan, north of Afghanistan. From October to November 2001, Tzu Chi and the Knightsbridge International distributed more than eight 40-foot containers of relief goods to more than 13,000 Afghan people living in Hoji Malla Camp and a hospital in Khoja-Baldeen, Cha Ab, and Hazrati Sultan Camp in Aibak.

The second route went into western Afghanistan. Knightsbridge returned to Afghanistan at the end of December. In January 2002, after bringing aid to Afghan refugee camps in eastern Iran, the Tzu Chi-Knightsbridge team departed from these camps to distribute further aid to those just across the Afghan border from Zabol, Iran. Knightsbridge International delivered rice, wheat, tea, cooking oil, sugar, tents and first aid kits to Mazar-e-Sharif and Bamiyan. Tzu Chi, with the help of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, delivered clothes, blankets, shoes and medical supplies to the Makaki and Mile 46 Afghan refugee camps and to the city of Herat in northwest Afghanistan

A Tradition of World Peace
Back in 1998, on a snow-covered mountain in Afghanistan up 9,500 feet in the foggy sky, a plane delivering aid from Tzu Chi and Knightsbridge had touched down on a runway that the residents had cleared overnight with their bare hands, so pressing was their need for relief care. Below are the accounts from the latest mission--the Christian Knightsbridge International organization partnering with the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, to bring relief aid to Afghanistan, a Muslim country-a genuine symbol of world peace. Master Cheng Yen believes that only Great Love can ease human suffering and by transcending national, racial and religious boundaries, the power of Great Love is truly revealed.

AID TO AFGHANISTAN:
October 2001
On October 19, 2001 after much difficulty in logistics, communication and obtaining visas, the Knightsbridge team left from Uzbekistan to Dushanbe the capital of Tajikistan. Waiting in Dushanbe was a 40-foot container filled with medical supplies, clothes for 500 families, 2,500 pairs of shoes and other necessities that was shipped from Tzu Chi. Upon their arrival, the team purchased 15 tons of wheat, sugar, cooking oil and other shipments of items to meet them at the Afghan border. On October 25 after jostling along barren roads six hours, the team along with forty vehicles piled high with the relief supplies crossed into Afghanistan. The team endured sandstorms, driving rain, scorching sun and took turns being sick.

Hoji Malla: The team made their first major food delivery on October 30, 2001 to 1,000 refugees living in Hoji Malla, a camp on the outskirts of Khoja-Baldeen. This food delivery came at the heels of a major medicine delivery earlier during the week. Fifteen tons of wheat separated into 300 fifty-kilo (100 lbs.) bags was delivered to the 300 families residing in the camp. This village had been in existence for a little over five months and, with the exception for some minimal amounts of wheat, no other aid organization had yet provided any assistance to this camp. Many people ended up eating garbage that soldiers left behind.

Members of the team personally placed every one of the 300 bags of wheat into the hands or on the backs of the aid recipients. Each bag of wheat was enough to feed a family for one month. Within the camp, there were families with no shelter, and some with only makeshift shelter. More than 1,200 people lived in shabby tents made of earth, paper, tree branches or plastic sheets. Women and children were living on the ground with nothing between them and the elements. The team was only able to find nine tents to purchase, which they assembled immediately. It became an urgent undertaking to find more tents, as each passing night brought closer the chill of winter. The team requested Tzu Chi's help in acquiring tents to help the refugees front the winter. The team had visited the camp a total of four times with food that could last each family up to two months.

The food distribution was covered by many of the major media organizations from around the world, as the team was the only NGO in the entire area. Yet as many media organizations as there were in the area, few had provided aid to the refugees. They were mainly there to cover the fighting between the United Front and the Taliban. One of the reporters followed several of the bags of wheat to their destination. There, a woman shared that, although it was only a bag of wheat, it meant that her remaining two children might not die. She took the reporter to a graveyard near the camp. One of her children who had died just days ago was laid to rest along with five other children who had died within the past week due to hunger or exposure.

The team held firm that all aid should be representative of what the people needed, and that it should be delivered directly into their hands. They met with leaders of the village to determine the primary needs of the residents. After these meetings, another 45 tons of supplies consisting of more wheat, cooking oil, sugar, beans, and 1,000 blankets were purchased to arrive at the end of the week. Determined to deliver aid to whatever extent they had the resources for, the team would not leave until this refugee camp was provided with sufficient food and supplies to make it through the winter.

Unfortunately, on October 31, 2002 Dr. James Laws and Adrian Belic had to depart from Afghanistan, cutting the manpower of the Knightsbridge team in half. Laws had donated most of the medicine for this mission and had suffered a sudden foot injury. Belic had prior filming engagements to attend. That morning, the now two-man Knightsbridge team Edward Artis and Walt Ratterman, along with Abul Khalili from Afghanistan Relief were awaiting clear weather for transportation by helicopter into the Panjshir Valley. The United Front had requested they travel into the Panjshir Valley where tens of thousands of refugees were fleeing the fighting and bombing in Kabul. From what they had been told these refugees were in a far worse situation. The team had planned a delivery of 60 tons of food to 60,000 refugees living in Jebul Seraj, approximately 65 kilometers north of Kabul, yet the mountain passes were snowed in and the weather kept the helicopters on the ground.

Artis and Ratterman were within 14 kilometers of the front lines and could hear the US air strikes on Taliban positions. Freezing snows were now less than four weeks away, and the lives of tens of thousands of refugees were at risk. The two-person Knightsbridge team continued on. Their new destination was deeper into Khoja-Baldeen.

November 2001
Khoja Baldeen: In the city of Khoja Baldeen about 150,000 refugees were living in dire conditions. There, the team purchased various food items from the local market and distributed them along with 15 tons of wheat purchased earlier. An additional 45 tons of food had been delayed at the border due to military traffic in the area. The mission proceeded, in hopes these food items would soon be delivered.

An extreme need for medical equipment was pervasive throughout the entire country. At a hospital in Khoja Baldeen the superintendent, a cardiologist and the other doctors were still able to perform sophisticated operations despite minimum equipment, little power, makeshift recovery rooms in tents, and a very sporadic supply of medicines. This hospital had not charged patients any fees over the last five years.

On November 7, 2001, the team donated a new electrocardiogram unit to the hospital that was immediately used to save lives. Delivering the unit was made possible by the collaboration of Partners International Foundation, Knightsbridge International, Afghanistan Relief International, and Tzu Chi Foundation. A week earlier, Knightsbridge International, Afghanistan Relief International, and Tzu Chi Foundation had delivered over US$8,000 worth in medicines and supplies to this hospital.

Several days had passed and the delivery of aid continued to be delayed as a result of intensification of fighting nearby at the front with the Taliban. When the aid finally arrived, the team immediately started distributing it to the refugees. Nearby, a team from National Geographic was filming at the frontlines for a documentary depicting the war zone and the humanitarian work of Knightsbridge International. While the Knightsbridge team was delivering blankets, in a strange and extremely unfortunate turn of events, two of the men from National Geographic were injured by nearby artillery fire from the Taliban. One man incurred shrapnel wounds to his leg and buttocks, and the other suffered a concussion after being thrown back against a tank. Both men were treated and were recovering at the hospital. Dr. Artis, who assisted the doctors in treating the wounds used the very medicines and supplies that the team had delivered to the hospital just ten days prior.

Later that same day, in the same location where to two men from National Geographic were injured, three journalists, two from France and one from Germany were tragically killed in the intensifying battles.

Cha Ab: It was now nearing mid-November. The team had been in Northern Afghanistan for a little over two weeks. They were now heading four hours due east of Khoja Baldeen to the town of Cha Ab, where no relief had been delivered for four years. Cha Ab had recently seen a large influx of refugees fleeing the oppression and war created by the Taliban. Together with Afghanistan Relief International, the team delivered over 40 tons of supplies over the weekend of November 10 and 11, 2001. The relief supplies included 30 tons of wheat, five tons of sugar, five tons of cooking oil, and 1,000 blankets.

Each family was given one blanket and food to last for one month. A third of the food and half of the blankets were retained by the mayor of Cha Ab for use of payment in the town's "work-for-food" programs. The food will assist in continuing public work projects and infrastructure improvements.

Hoji Malla: That Sunday, November 11, 2001, the team returned to Hoji Malla to deliver an additional 500 blankets and food.

January 2002
Among the team members were Li Wei-huang, director of the Tzu Chi Department of Religious Affairs Stephen Huang, relief worker Chen Chin-fa, and Dr. Tseng Tun-hua.

Tzu Chi Taiwan and Knightsbridge International started sending more relief supplies to Afghanistan in December 2001. 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.

The supplies, which will go to 6300 families, included not only what Tzu Chi collected, but also donations from private and government organizations such as the Field Relief Agency and the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense.

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.

In March 2002, 150 Tzu Chi volunteers gathered in the Tzu Chi US headquarters in Los Angeles to pack new shoes that were sent later to Afghan refugees. A company owner was so touched in a Tzu Chi candlelight vigil that he donated 2,000 pairs of new shoes for men, women, children and even babies, hoping that the refugees could have the shoes that fit their feet.

Tzu Chi members in the US gathered more relief goods in April 2002 such as: blankets, medical supplies, two solar ovens donated by the Knightsbridge International for the girls' school in Afghanistan, jeans, T-shirts, jackets, school supplies, sleeping bags, and socks. These goods were shipped in three containers and arrived in Afghanistan in June 2002.