Beneficiaries of YWC winter clothing project, 2013. Photo: YWC

Struggling for Life in Afghanistan

Zafar SalehiBy Zafar Salehi - member of Young Women for Change (YWC)

There is heavily snowing in Kabul today, Afghanistan is known for its severe winter in the past few years. We are consistently losing many lives of Afghans because of heavy snow and unforgiving winters.

Today, when I woke up early in the morning, and looked out of the window of my room, I noticed that there is a heavy snowfall. It reminded me of the people who lost their lives during winter in our country last year and the previous years. I decided to purposely walk from the place where I live (Kart e Char) to Pol e Sorkh, to feel the burden of the difficulties that people have on their shoulders during winter and to feel the pain of those people for a short while: those of us whose life is limited to the basic facilities of life like food for the day, shelter, a pair of shoes and warm clothes to wear, even forgetting about healthcare, education and much more.

Sorting & packing donated clothes. Photo: YWC In an independent and people-chosen regime in the world, these facilities are the legitimate right of the citizens - to be provided by the government for its people who are in need.

Now despite the fact that we have thousands of national, international, civil and human right organizations working in Afghanistan, the circulation of the enormous amount of aid in the country, we still find so few people and few organizations that focus on providing possible aid for those who are in need in Afghanistan in the winter.

Young beneficiaries. 2013. Photo: WYCLast year, we [YWC] were able to collect some warm clothes and an amount of money donated by friends and online through Young Women for Change to implement the winter project, although it such work does not fall entirely within our mission or vision, we felt their need and we ignored the vision and mission of the organization for a few months and focused on the project. I am not writing to prove YWC’s work or to say that we did was enough or good.  I am writing this so that everyone of us who live a luxury life should feel responsible and should fulfill their part of the responsibility, stand up and help those who are in need - whether it is women's rights issues or a cold winter, before it is too late.

 Editor's note: This year, Young Women for Change have again been successful in collecting and distributing clothing.
YWC members and supporters have distributed clothes to around 200 families this winter.

TO DONATE TO THE YWC WINTER APPEAL PLEASE CLICK HERE

See more photos on the YWC Facebook Page

Any views or opinions presented in this post are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the YWC or Safe World for Women