KBI/Tzu Mission to Afghanistan and
Cambodia
With Coordination provided by the AFPC - Asia Pacific Initiative
July 26, 2002
Bamiyan, Afghanistan
Greetings again:
We spent the day here in Bamiyan City, near the famous Buddhist Statue
Locations.
We were shown a group of 75 refugees living on a hillside within 1 mile
of the statues. They have been overlooked by the normal aid agencies.
This morning, we went the camp to hand out our cards: This is our method
of identifying the recipients of the aid. In this camp, we gave the same
package of aid to every family living there, but the cards are still needed
to make sure we have covered every family, and have included one member
from each "household."
After handing out the cards, we knew the quantity of families, and loaded
the truck with the appropriate clothing.
For each family, we loaded a large blanket, 1 adult coat, 1 child's
coat, 1 adult pair of shoes, 1 child's pair of shoes, 1 T-Shirt, and 1-Sweatshirt.
Then we returned to the camp, split into two areas, and set out the
family unit piles of clothing. After calling the people with cards to
come to the area (all within about 100 yards), we distributed the supplies.
We were told that the next camp to distribute to had about 100 people
and was about 40 km away. So we thought we would go there, distribute
cards, get a census, return to camp, load the truck, and make it back
to distribute the clothes.
We got all but the last part done. The sun was setting on us as we were
finishing loading the truck. We found out that the ride to the camp was
via a long and winding switchbacked road up to about a 10,000 foot elevation,
and it was very slow going. (over one hour)
When we got there, we learned that this camp was different. Last October
/ January, we were delivering food to refugees that had fled the Taliban.
The people from this camp had fled here to escape the Taliban. This camp
is actually a village under reconstruction. It had been destroyed by the
Taliban, and these folks have all recently returned to their village.
There are 350 families, with 100 of them too poor to buy food, or supplies
to rebuild their homes.
They told us of stories of their neighboring village - one that did
not see a need to flee - thinking that the Taliban might not be so bad.
Our villagers found mass graves of over 1000 adults, in 3 graves. The
children had been wrapped in rugs and blankets and stabbed to death with
bayonets.
We identified the poorest 100 families (the village leaders did most
of this) and we headed back to camp to load the truck. We discussed the
plight of these villagers and decided to take the bulk of the remainder
of the clothes to these folks, who are already not sure if they can get
adequately prepared for winter. This area, at its elevation, gets very
cold and a lot of snow.
It took the rest of the evening to sort and load the truck to be ready
to leave as soon as there is light tomorrow. We expect this village to
take the bulk of the day tomorrow. This village is another that fits the
mold of a Knightsbridge project. It is very difficult to get to. They
are not huge so are not receiving a lot of attention from other NGO's,
and it is within our capacity to help them in a big way.
Photos included with this update include:
- 4128: Loaded truck at our camp, looking
out over the valley to the Buddha Statue location.
- 4137: Kid with Knightsbridge Card for
clothing distribution.
- 4164: Cave Dwellings
- 4159: Kids in Cave
- 4157: Girl by her Cave
- 4180: Clothing Distribution
- 4185: Ed helping girl with a donated
coat.
Thanks again for your support, and we are looking forward to another
busy day tomorrow.
Good night.
Walt Ratterman, with Ed Artis and Adrian Belic
Knightsbridge International
Bamiyan, Afghanistan
July 26, 2002
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