NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN REMAINS IN NEED, PASTOR SAYS

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.

In December, the Holston Conference contributed to Stop Hunger Now's efforts by collecting 100,000 pairs of shoes for refugees in a neighboring country, Tajikistan. The shoes were being stored in a warehouse for distribution during March and April, Buchanan said.

Buchanan's 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. Annette Bender contributed to this report.

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