UMCOR Continues Response to Afghans

The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) continues to be involved in the faith-based response to the plight of the Afghan people. As members of Action By Churches Together (ACT), UMCOR and Church World Service (CWS) are working to assist Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Tajikistan and to get food aid and winterized shelter supplies to vulnerable populations inside Afghanistan.

The United Nations World Food Program estimates that 7.5 million Afghan people are at risk for starvation because of civil war and years of drought. Even before the events of Sept. 11, more than 3 million people in Afghanistan depended on food aid for survival, a survey by nongovernmental organizations has shown.

From its office in Tajikistan, UMCOR is working with Mercy Corps, an American nongovernmental organization, to help internally displaced families survive the winter in northeastern Afghanistan, according to Kristin Sachen, an UMCOR executive. The agency will buy winterized tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and other items and transport them through customs to the Afghan border, where Mercy Corps will pick them up for distribution to some 4,000 families. Sachen said funding for the project would come through UMCOR's "Love in the Midst of Tragedy" response. Money also has been requested from ACT.

In Pakistan, UMCOR's connection is through the CWS, whose offices there and partner programs in Afghanistan remain open with more than 300 staff and volunteers. The relief agency of the U.S. National Council of Churches, CWS has a goal of raising $6.28 million to provide emergency shelter and food to 15,000 families in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Particular attention will be given to female-headed households.

Family shelter kits for new arrivals in the border cities of Quetta and Peshawar, Pakistan, and the rural areas of Hazarajat and Panjsher Valley, Afghanistan, include a family tent, tarp, plastic ground sheet and four blankets. The cost is $90 each. Food packages, at $256 each, include a six-month supply of wheat, cooking oil, rice, beans, sugar and tea.

CWS also has provided health services for 60,000 in the refugee camps in Pakistan. UMCOR is supporting an emergency quilt project among refugee women in Quetta. The women will earn money by producing quilts, which will be purchased by relief groups and distributed to the displaced.

Other ACT partners based in the region are Christian Aid, the Middle East Council of Churches and Norwegian Church Aid. Christian Aid works with local partners throughout Central Asia. It is focusing on aid to Afghan refugees and vulnerable local members of host communities in Tajikistan and Iran, as well as farmers and villagers who have stayed at home.

The goal of the Middle East Council of Churches is to assist 12,000 Afghan refugees in Iran who make their way to the eastern border between Iran and Afghanistan. Norwegian Church Aid is assisting the U.N. high commissioner on refugees in setting up adequate facilities to receive the refugees, along with identifying the needs of people inside Afghanistan.

UMCOR 9/11 Update September 2004: UMCOR's response to the aftermath of September 11 continues. We thank are thankful for all of contributions that United Methodists and others have so generously given.

November 5, 2001