wfn.org | ABCUSA: RELIEF FUNDS AID RECOVERY IN KABUL

[RICH.SCHRAMM@ecunet.org]

AMERICAN BAPTIST NEWS SERVICE 
Office of Communication  
American Baptist Churches USA 
P.O. Box 851, Valley Forge, PA 19482-0851 
Phone: (610)768-2077 / Fax: (610)768-2320 
Web: www.abc-usa.org
Richard W. Schramm, Director 
 E-mail: richard.schramm@abc-usa.org

AMERICAN BAPTIST RELIEF FUNDS AID RECOVERY 
IN AFGHAN CAPITAL
 American Baptist International Ministries, 
supporting the work of  ecumenical partners through One 
Great Hour of Sharing, has contributed $50,000 for 
funding the delivery of emergency supplies to the Afghan 
capital city of Kabul.
 The American Baptist endeavor has been 
undertaken in conjunction with Hungarian Baptist Aid, 
which has been working with the Hungarian Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and which had an on-site presence in Kabul 
as supplies began to be distributed.
 David Gal of Hungarian Baptist Aid recently shared 
a first-hand account of conditions in Kabul as those 
supplies were received:
 "Kabul is a city in rubbles. After 28 years of war, 
entire districts, once beautiful castles and mansions lay 
shattered in the dust.  Mines and used ammunitions lay on 
the ground...  Burnt cars [are] turned upside down along 
the streets, monuments of brutal and insensible 
destruction. 
 "The Americans did not leave this behind [and] 
common people greet them as liberators....  It takes a 
long time to find the few houses that were destroyed by 
the American Air Force.  The attacks were precise and well 
planned; only armored vehicles, military bases and 
strongholds of the Taliban were demolished....
 "The need is so great and the hungry people are 
so desperate that distributing food must be conducted in 
the most careful way.  We need to inform the local 
municipality and the police chief; we need to decide who 
and how should receive the food support.  Where the 
needs are so tremendous, aid and relief becomes a 
distinct profession....
 "In the poorest district of Kabul, among pregnant 
women, the malnourished [and] hurt...we must give, give, 
give...food items that mean sheer survival.... They keep 
coming for hours, crying, pleading, sometimes standing in 
lines, sometimes pushing all over in a way we can hardly 
manage....  By this time we [are] throwing food cans, toys 
in plastic bags, yelling in Hungarian and English, 
explaining to bring back the empty cans, so that we can 
give out the rations for the next five days..
 "...We bring in us every pain and joy of the day 
spent in the slums of Kabul, feeling that whoever gives to 
the needy will be rich."
 Contributions for continuing relief may be sent 
through One Great Hour of Sharing.  American Baptists 
may send through customary mission channels marked as 
One Great Hour of Sharing (line 7 on Monthly Report of 
Mission Support) designated for "HB Aid/Afghanistan."  
Those wishing to contribute online can do so by accessing 
the "American Baptist Missions" or "Give Now" pages of 
the ABCUSA Web site
--www.abc-usa.org.

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