An Afghan woman (C) receives food donated by a charity from a bakery in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Jan. 8, 2022. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
The Hazara Foundation is largely financed by well-off Afghans based overseas, many of them refugees themselves, and does not receive aid from any international agency. The foundation has fed 300 families for three months via bakeries in west of Kabul.
KABUL, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- "It is our moral responsibility to help our fellow Afghans in this time of need and promote a culture of cooperation," said Mohammad Sharif Tabish.
Tabish works for the Hazara Foundation, a local charity that gives daily flatbreads, locally called naan, to poor families.
Afghanistan currently faces its worse times since the collapse of the U.S.-backed administration in mid-August, with more than 9.5 billion U.S. dollars of the country's assets still frozen. Sanctions have led to banking restrictions and poverty across the country as the new administration finds itself difficult to pay salaries. A humanitarian catastrophe beckons this winter with more than 20 million of Afghanistan's 35 million people facing hunger.
Afghan women stand in line to receive food donated by a charity from a bakery in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Jan. 8, 2022. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
"We give one naan to each member of a family every day, if a family has 10 members it can receives 10 naan each day," Tabish said. "It is not much but we have to do what we can."
The Hazara Foundation is largely financed by well-off Afghans based overseas, many of them refugees themselves, and does not receive aid from any international agency. The foundation has fed 300 families for three months via bakeries in west of Kabul.
"My only income nowadays is nothing but the four naan we receive from the Hazara Foundation every day," said Hanifa, a widow with a family of four. She benefits from a new culture of cooperation that may help her survive the freezing winter.
Afghan women wait to receive food donated by a charity from a bakery in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, Jan. 8, 2022. (Photo by Saifurahman Safi/Xinhua)
Many countries including China, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates, have supplied humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, but both UN agencies and the new administration are calling for more.
"We have no fuel and no firewood to keep our home warm. We have no food and no income to organize our lives," said Sayed Hashim in front of a Kabul bakery. "Naan alone is not enough to feed a family. We need help to survive the winter." ■