wfn.org | Northern Afghanistan remains in need, pastor says

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

March 4, 2002       News media contact: Linda Bloom7(212) 870-38037New York
10-21-71BP{083}

NOTE: Photographs are available with this report.

By United Methodist News Service

Residents of northern Afghanistan are in such need that they are selling the
roof beams of their homes to raise money for food, according to a United
Methodist pastor involved in relief work there.

The Rev. Ray Buchanan, founder and executive director of Stop Hunger Now,
noted that the wood is valuable because of its scarcity in the
drought-stricken region. "Everyday, we watched people using donkeys to drag
two or three poles into the marketplace," he said, after returning from a
Feb. 12-18 trip to Afghanistan.

Buchanan collected more than $3 million worth of aid for Afghanistan -
including food, medicine, blankets and clothing - between his first trip
there in October and the end of 2001, along with another $4 million worth of
aid in January and February. His organization, based in Raleigh, N.C., is
working with Food for the Hungry International, World Concern, Northwest
Medical Teams and the Central Asia Development Agency on the relief project.

He was accompanied on his most recent travels by Mike Ward, a Stop Hunger
Now board member and superintendent of the department of public instruction
for North Carolina. Ward is married to the Rev. Hope Ward, who is on staff
with the United Methodist North Carolina Annual Conference.

Stop Hunger Now and its partners originally set up shop in Dashti-qala with
the thought of working with internally displaced people in the area. But
when the fighting stopped in November, those people left for home, Buchanan
explained, along with many of the aid organizations assisting them.

"What was left were all these villages that were in just as bad shape," he
said. "Our group decided to stay."

The agencies set up compounds in Ch'Ab and Rustaq and targeted 60
surrounding villages to receive assistance. "The partners have done such an
unbelievably efficient job in making sure the people in the greatest need
are getting the aid," Buchanan added.

That task was accomplished by surveying every family in every village and
having the religious leader, educational leader and political leader of each
village agree together on the families most in need. The villages themselves
were ranked as poor, very poor and most needy. In poor villages, 40 percent
are eligible for aid; in very poor, 60 percent; and in most needy villages,
80 to 100 percent.

Those eligible for assistance receive a printed ration card with eight
punch-outs for food and eight for commodities such as blankets and clothing.
When the actual distribution takes place, according to Buchanan, at least
one of the three village leaders verifies that a family member is using the
card and receiving the goods.

The feeding program will continue until at least July, but there is some
optimism about being able to harvest food. Although the area was "dry as a
dust bowl" when Buchanan visited in October, the hills were turning green
and winter wheat was growing in some places because of the snowfall. To get
a harvest, however, "everybody says they need rain all through March and
April," he said.

The February trip also focused on education. Buchanan and Ward visited with
teachers and educational leaders in eight villages. Ward spoke by satellite
telephone from Afghanistan with students from 15 different North Carolina
schools. Buchanan expects the state's schools and United Methodist churches
to collect school kits for distribution in Afghanistan. The churches already
had conducted a blanket drive.

More information on Stop Hunger Now's campaign for Afghan relief is
available by calling toll free (888) 501-8440.

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United Methodist News Service
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