NEWS
Nooristan Foundation News & Updates - Fall/Winter 2009
Dear Friends,
Given your generous interest toward Afghanistan, I am certain that you have paid great attention to what is happening there. Events can be confusing and even discouraging. However, instead of dampening our commitment to help our Afghan friends move their country toward greater peace and stability, this should strengthen it. This is the time to make a difference.
Poverty, as Nobel Prize winner Mohammed Yunus states, is a threat to peace. The investment in social change will pay off provided we stay the course. I believe that our “soft” strategy of helping people will continue to build friendships. I am writing to ask you to maintain your support to the Nooristan Foundation. Together we have started to build a better world, let us continue.
In recent months, thanks to your help, Nooristan Foundation has been able to make tangible progress (see below). I want to thank you again for your continued trust and generosity. By themselves, the Nooristan Foundation’s programs are modest, but each makes a tangible difference in the lives of poor Afghans. We are contributing to our nation’s effort in Afghanistan. To enable us to continue this work, we hope that the Foundation can count on your further financial support. Afghanistan remains a worthy cause.
Thank you very much for your support,
Marie Kux
President
TAKHAR MIDWIFE TRAINING PROGRAM
The Nooristan Foundation, with its partners, the Marigold Fund and the Afghan Midwives Association, has supported the training of 80 midwives in Takhar province. This area has one of the worst maternal mortality rates in the world, with approximately 1600 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births per year. Throughout Afghanistan, there is a critical shortage of health care workers and facilities. It is estimated that there is presently only one doctor for every 50,000 (UNDP).
Your donations at the Foundation’s spring benefit at the Embassy of Greece and a further $10,000 grant from American Women for International Understanding (AWIU), our key benefactor, have enabled us to continue to fund the midwife program. Most women have embraced this profession after witnessing tragedy and often death in childbirth. We know that a mother’s death has costs beyond the loss of life. Given how vital midwives are, we hope that in the future the Foundation will be able to raise the funds for similar training programs in other needy areas. To view images, click on our gallery
PASIGAM VILLAGE SCHOOL, NOORISTAN
Nooristan Foundation and Raqim Foundation have partnered to support the establishment of a village school in the Nooristan province of Afghanistan, an area that has seen heavy warfare recently.
With over $5,000 in donations gathered by Raqim Foundation and Nooristan Foundation, funding was sent to provide support for the first three months of operation of the school. This covered teacher salaries, caretakers, school supplies, transportation, rent for suitable quarters, school bags, and art supplies. Local craftsmen were hired to build desks and chairs. Classes started on July 1st, 2009. Despite the tense security situation in Nooristan and logistical obstacles, significant progress has been made.
The support of Nooristan Foundation, Raqim Foundation, volunteers and donors like you has led to the establishment of the only primary school in Pasigam Village. One school at a time, we can make a difference.
NEW BEGINNINGS, BAGHE DAOUD CAMP
Several million Afghans fled to Pakistan and Iran to escape fighting and the Taliban. Many have returned hoping to rebuild their lives, but the ongoing conflict and the lack of socio-economic opportunities have left thousands in heart-breaking conditions, abandoned by the government.
Last winter, again thanks to you, the Foundation provided $11,000 for emergency relief to some 92 internally displaced families at Baghe Daoud, an hour from Kabul. Our help enabled these destitute refugees to survive the bitter cold. We provided each family with plastic sheeting, blankets, fuel, rice, flour, beans, sugar and tea.
The Foundation is now working with PARSA, a local NGO, to develop and implement a program to give these desperately poor families a “new beginning,” the skills they need to lift themselves out of poverty. We are trying to answer their desperate plea that we not abandon them.
THANK YOU
Through the generous support of donors like you, and the dedicated service of its Board and Committee members, Nooristan Foundation has helped to get assistance from the people of the United States directly to the people of Afghanistan. This has been done with very little overhead since Nooristan Foundation’s Board and Committee members are all volunteers. The three programs above are the current projects of focus for the Foundation, but more can be done. You can make a difference in the lives of individuals who have experienced great conflict and hardship.
SPECIAL THANKS TO:
Parween Mascari for organizing “Generation Morgantown Fundraiser for Pasigam Village School” in West Virginia in June 2009. The event raised awareness and funds for Nooristan Foundation’s village school project.
Ann-Scott Ettinger and the Unitarian Universalist Church of Spokane WA for organizing an auction in the month of October to benefit Nooristan Foundation.
Embassy of Greece Fundraiser Host Committee:
Mr. Omar Sultan
Ambassador of Afghanistan Said Tayeb Jawad and Mrs. Shamim Jawad
Mr. Omar Khan Masoudi
Senator Olympia Snowe
Congressman and Mrs. Howard Berman
Congressman and Mrs. Lee H. Hamilton
Congressman and Mrs. Dana Rohrabacher
Congressman and Mrs. John Sarbanes
Congressman and Mrs. Chris Van Hollen
Congressman and Mrs. Robert Wexler
Ambassador and Mrs. Ronald Neumann
Ambassador and Mrs. Thomas Pickering
Honorable Mr. and Mrs. Robert McFarlane
Mr. and Mrs. Arnaud de Borchgrave
Mrs. Doris Buffet
Mrs. Caroline Firestone
Mr. and Mrs. Ray Mahmood
Mrs. Robin Read
Mrs. Diana Rowan Rockefeller
Mr. and Mrs. George Stephanopoulos
Mr. Nick Verreos
All of Nooristan Foundation volunteers and sub-committee members!
The Nooristan Foundation is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization that was established in 1999. Its purpose it to provide support for charitable and educational projects in rural areas of Afghanistan. After beginning its activities in the Nooristan Province, it has expanded and has provided assistance in other areas of Afghanistan, including Bamiyan, Takhar, Laghman, and Kabul. Nooristan Foundation believes that supporting development of rural areas of Afghanistan is a key to the country’s stability and global security.
