PN Winter Appeal aid delivered in Kabul

IssueFebruary 2012
Food being delivered to Chamne Babak refugee camp, Kabul. PHOTO: Guy Smallman
News by PN staff
January is always a desperate time of year for the occupants of the Chamne Babak refugee camp in Kabul. Temperatures at night drop to well below freezing and the little work that the men in the camp can find dries up as the snow begins to fall. This year however some relief was delivered thanks to the readers of Peace News and members of the National Union of Journalists at the Financial Times.

Well over £2,000 was raised (over £1,700 through Peace News) and on 3 January it was delivered to the camp in the form of food and firewood. A little money can go a long way with the right people administering it.

Raz Mohammad, the camp elder, came to both the firewood merchant and Kabul’s biggest wholesale market to drive a hard bargain with suppliers. After two hours of negotiation, an entire truckload of wood and another of flour, sugar and tea arrived at the camp.

It was evenly distributed among the families just one day before the snow began to fall. Raz has recorded a video message to the donors which will be subtitled and put online for viewing in due course. No intermediaries, no bureaucracy, every penny that was raised reached its intended recipients. (Peace News covered the charges imposed by WorldPay for the donations made through the PN website, so that every penny of every donation went to Kabul.)

Thank you and well done to everyone who donated.