Over the last year-and-a-half, Operation Blessing and our partners
have concentrated on bringing aid to families rebuilding in Afghanistan’s
Istalif region. Thousands have already benefited from food distributions,
planting fruit trees and medical missions. Workers are almost done
repairing and furnishing a medical clinic and a foundation has been
laid for a girl’s school!
The Afghan people are so thankful for help in rebuilding their
lives. We cannot forsake them now. Recently a doctor walked in the
room and in a soft voice said, “We lost a baby today.”
There was nothing more he could do. Malnutrition had taken this
child's life. While it is too late for this one, there are thousands
of others starving in the countryside and mountains of war-torn
Afghanistan that can be saved. Please help us finish the job!
Your gift of $20 can feed an entire family for a month! When's the
last time your grocery bill was $20?
While walking for an hour into the mountains of Istalif in mid-March,
OBI’s relief worker stumbled across Mr. Wakil’s remote
village of about 2,000 families. The man literally begged us to
give him and his starving family food. Hidden from the world, the
community lives in roofless homes and is desperate for food. In
just a few short months the villagers will be able to plant crops.
If all goes well they will be able to begin to feed themselves.
Until then they need a little more help.
From the beginning of this outreach to Afghanistan, our partners
have supported humanitarian efforts in this war-torn land. It started
with opening a soup kitchen in a Pakistan refugee camp and feeding
6,000 Afghans five days each week for several months. You, our partner,
also helped Operation Blessing provide over 2,200
widows and their families with food during a distribution last
May. This was the first time many of them had ever received assistance
from people outside of their families! Since then, thousands of
families have received food packages to help them have energy to
rebuild their lives
. 
Multiple times Operation Blessing has brought both hunger relief
and conducted a medical clinic to the mountainous villages of Istalif.
This past November, brothers Mohammed
and Kassim were among the hundreds of people to receive a food
package and have the opportunity to see a doctor. Realizing that
many women needed attention,
female medical professionals were asked to help in a clinic
last year. It was the first time in over a decade many of these
women received medical care. Even though there haven't been roads
to all of these rural areas, dedicated volunteers have trekked over
mountains and will continue to tend the sick of Afghanistan.
One of the many freedoms that came when the Taliban regime was
defeated, was the renewal of education for girls. They can not however
attend classes in the same building with boys so Operation Blessing
began building a school so girls like Aisha
could learn. With decades of war behind the Afghan people, the task
of rebuilding is mind-boggling for them. Large holes made by bombs
and other weapons of war are seen in the roofs and walls of most
buildings. The only clinic in the area needed a lot of reconstruction.
With the help of other organizations, Operation Blessing is almost
done with the project. The goal is to have the facility open in
May!
The medical clinics and building projects won't matter to these
hungry people unless they receive the nourishment needed to go on
living.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
You can help by making an online donation toward OBI's disaster relief efforts. With your support, we can continue to provide emergency relief and recovery. Please make an on-line donation today.
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