Naweed Ahmadzai Public Discourse Research Report #2 Clothe-a-Child for the winter As we are getting closer to the winter

season here in Minnesota, I am constantly reminded of how much the cold winters has been and is a huge issue for the poor in my community that I grew up in. Koshal-Khan, a district located in Kabul, is the community that I grew up in Afghanistan. The population of Kabul boosted up after the city was filled with people from different provinces that sold most of their property and came to Kabul thinking there is more economical opportunities and ended up not making it in the big city and they could not afford to go back and start a living. These people make a good proportion of the community that I grew up in. These people are not in refugee camps but either lives in tents or in houses that are in real bad shape. The issue that I am trying to tackle down is the fact that these families do not have enough funding to keep them warm in the winter. Which lead me to the different ideas as far as what I can do being in Saint Peter to help my community in Afghanistan. Fundraising was one of my first thoughts, but I could not fundraise for its not allowed for this specific project. My second thought was to do a coat drive where people will donating clothes that would be send to Afghanistan through an organization and once it would get to Afghanistan it would be dispersed to the needy in my community. I. The issue that I would want to tack down with my project is to help out the poor families who either live in tents or in abolished residents in Koshal-Khan district. In order to understand the issue more, there is several aspects to the issue that should be taken in consideration such as the history, and what sorts of harms its bringing to the community and what are the causes of it being a problem. a. History of Kabul Afghanistan i. I realized through talking with many of my friends here that there is little understanding of what the poverty means to them in a developing nation like Afghanistan. ii. The population growth in Kabul and why that led to lots of poverty. b. There are HARMS that this issue can bring up in my community that entails people loosing their lives in the cold winters or live in severe cold conditions. There would be also more harms relating to the issue if there is no connection made between the residents that Khalida Ahmadzai 1would

Khalida Ahmadzai, personal interview via Skype, October 15, 2013, School Principle Afshar Middle School, Koshal Khan, Kabul, Afghanistan.
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see fit for the help and themselves. i. In a personal interview with Khalida Ahmadzai, she mentioned that I havent seen the poor living in my community represented or given much attention to, especially the nomads they are seen as the people who move around a lot, so no one is investing time or anything with them. 1. Throughout my interview with Khalida Ahmadzai, she told me about how she has been living in the community for almost most of her life, and she has not seen much attention from the international aid groups or governmental agencies giving to these nomads and the impoverished. 2. Khalida Ahmadzai also mentioned during the interview that there are no prominent political figures in her community to gain the attention of the community or to do something for their own community because that is the traditions of the different communities. People who are rich often help out the communities they are coming from whereas Koshal Khan is not a community with rich people that can afford to do much for their community. ii. In an Al-Jazeera article posted last year, it was mentioned that Afghanistan faces tough winters that cause many deaths in the yearly basis. 1. The results of 2012 winter in Afghanistan caused 40 people to die in the refugee camps in the outskirts of Kabul. 2. With my interview with Khalida Ahmadzai, she was telling me that there are times that people have lost their family members due to the cold weather, but those numbers are not usually reported. The only numbers that make it to the news are the numbers of people who are dying in the camps like this article in Al-Jazeera. The government is not competent enough to take care of its refugees let alone the people who are not in the refugee camps like the nomads and the impoverished in my community. iii. In a NY Times article posted in 2012, there was a strong emphasis given to the lack of aid for the poor in the refugee camps, which leaves alone the poor communities that are not part of these camps.

1. Last year [2011], more than 100 children died of the cold refugee camps around Kabul, with 26 dying in the Charahi Qambar camp alone 2. There is no statistics out as far as the people dying outside of the camps due to the cold winters. During another skype conversation with Khalida Ahmadzai, she told me about how they have been people who has gotten frostbites and little infants that had died in Koshal Khan, but there is no recognition or people who such things happen to them. Yet there is no recognition in national level unless there is a bulk of people affected all in one place together at the same time. Lack of attention to these situations makes it not look like an issue to the people that can bring a change to these peoples lives. c. There are many CAUSES that are usually hidden regarding why not much has been done regarding the issue of taking caring the poor, and helping the poor communities in the winter, and help kids from getting frost bites and even death in severe cases. i. Corruption is the main issues when it comes to the level of poverty and how the wealth is distributed among only a few on the top. There is hundreds of millions that were spent towards Refugee Aid in Afghanistan since 2002 yet the few corrupt on top is the blockade to solve the issues. 1. According to the Congressional Research Service that was written about U.S. Foreign Assistance to Afghanistan, it gave the specifics to the amount of money that was spent under the name of Refugee Accounts. From 160 million in 2002 to around 50 million in 2010. Yet there is not that much of differences seen in the poverty level all around Afghanistan. a. According to the research, Corruption is really intertwined within the governmental officials, which relates to the way the aid for the impoverished is never actually run with thorough. The poor does not receive that aid, or receive a very tiny fraction of the aid. i. In an article in the Independent published in 2010, there is mentioning of the people even high up in the government, like the presidents brother that are among those who are accused of controlling private

security firms benefiting from security contracts by paying off the Taliban. b. The corruption leads to poverty. Afghanistan relies on aid for around 90 percent of its spending. My issue is only dealing with the poor in my community during the cold winter season. While in the bigger picture, there is going to be more poverty in my community when the United States pulls out of Afghanistan, and the aid to Afghanistan drops down. i. According to a NY Times article, there was emphasis that with the departure of the United States and the NATO from Afghanistan, International fund to the poor is going to drop just like any other aid in Afghanistan. Which will leave about millions more out of their jobs. ii. The NGOs are more focused with the refugee status related to Egypt and Syria lately. Even the Non-profit organizations that were specifically helping Afghanistan have turned more on helping out the Syrian refugees rather than thinking of the cold winters that is coming up in Kabul. ii. Getting involved in a community in Kabul, knowing the culture norms and expectations of the people is crucial in order to have a successful project where they see you as a credible source. During my Skype conversation with Khalida Ahmadzai, she told me the following about the code that is very relevant in going with research. 1. The Pastunwali Code of conduct is one of the causes to why the issue is so relevant. The code is culturally intertwined with many social issues. The main essence of the code is to do whatever you can to keep the dignity of everyone in ones family and standing up against it no matter what the consequences. 2. Not knowing the code can lead to not being credible and knowing less about the culture that can get the community to not trust you.

3. The differences between asking how to help, than telling them what they need help in are another important feature to keep in mind when working with Koshal Khan community. 4. Not questioning the reasoning towards not accepting help in the community. II. The plan is to address the issue of lack of clothing for the poor at winters in Afghanistan and try to get people in my community at Gustavus to donate any sort of clothing they can afford to give away and I will ship it to Afghanistan and give it to my sources in field like Khalida Ahmadzai to distribute it to the people in the community who are the most in need of it. a. STARFISH PROJECT: I will get in contact about StarFish project that Shaketta Reliford 2is a member of which they do a coat drive where they send to some specific countries in Africa. I have already contacted Ms. Reliford about a meeting so I can learn more about the project and how they are going about sending the coats, and who is paying for the shipment cost which is one of the huge barriers that I will be facing if I do not find a Non-profit organization to take the clothing. With getting good information regarding the StarFish, I would be in good terms as far as what I can do to go further with my project. I would be getting in contact with the NGOs and Shipping agencies to see what they can offer as far as sending the clothing that I will fundraise. b. I will advertise for the issue using social media and take advantage of technology in hand and also using my current job a Residential Advisor to inform many of the Gusties here in campus. i. I will make a video of the sort of places these nomads and poor families live in Koshak Khan featuring with the people that are worried about the upcoming winter. I would come up with questions that I will communicate with the community though Khalida Ahmadzai. She would ask the community those questions that I came up with which I would be able to show with subtitles to encourage people to donate and that would be something I would be able to share with these non-profit organizations as well.

ii. I will put posters around the campus. That would be another thing that will be developed on top of the video to get people to donate their coats that they might not even use but yet that one coat could

Shaketta Reilford, personal interview, October 24, 2013, Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, MN.
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save one childs life in a cold winter in Koshal Khan, Kabul. iii. I will speak with my peers and family in the United States and tell them about the project that I have in hand and ask them to spread the word around. c. In regarding with money for the project, I am to get the money from a non-profit organization that is equally passionate about the issue as I am. Since StarFish is mainly working with the African countries, I do not know how likely they are to help my project in Asia. ShelterForLife is a non-profit organization that centers around Afghanistan, contacting them about the issue would be a good organization to start with. d. In order for the project to go as implemented, I will have to be on board with everyone at the same time. Because without participation and cooperation of one of the contacts, the project would not go as successful. III. Workability of the plan: There are parts within the plan that I cannot predict just because there are steps in contacting different NGOs and finding a good NGO that will be willing to agree on sending the clothing without any charge. a. The plan does not address all of the causes to the issue. Because the issue is really huge and it involves other factors, corruption being the biggest. i. Corruption is a huge issue to tackle down. That is why I am not trying to go through government to help my community. I am involve the people that I trust the most in the community, the sort of people that will deliver the coats to the people who are really in need of winter clothing at the winter season. ii. Lack of funding to the poor that are not in the refugee camps is one of the other causes that my issue cannot fix. My issue is only focused on helping those in my community, and it would not involve the government. The hope is that other communities see this as a good example and get these sorts of programs running. b. The plan will limit the poor in Koshal Khan suffering from cold winters by providing the families with clothing to keep them warm. i. The plan will obviously not be able to serve every family in Koshal Khan district, but I see this as a start that the other communities could look at it as a model and the project can get better as it continues in yearly basis. ii. Khalida Ahmadzai mentioned during the interview that she knows of some people who had send money to their family members to

buy the poor coats in the community. These sorts of things happen, but it would not be feasible for my project to fundraise in a college setting and I would not be able to after talking with Professor Hoffmann unless it comes from an NGO. iii. The plan will be feasible in Koshal Khan because now its a neighborhood full of diversified ethnicities with the overflow of people coming from different provinces for economic purposes. These residents do not have a way of knowing how cold the winters are going to be because of lack of access to basic technological benefits. IV. One of the biggest disadvantages that I have to work around with my project is the fact that it takes a lot to be doing a project that is a continent away. a. Time zone differences is a huge matter that comes to be an issue in communicating with the residents of Koshal Khan that I will get to help with. b. Not being able to fundraise in Gustavus is another disadvantage. Buying the coats in Afghanistan would be much easier to handle than sending them through a shipping agency that will end up costing more than the coats themselves. Even if it is a non-profit NGO, they still have to pay for the delivery. c. I am willing to try it because at the end of the day even if five families in my community are helped with these coats and they get to stay warm at winter, then I would feel that the project was successful and continue working on it to make it more sufficient. Regardless of all the disadvantages and challenges that I would face with this project, the fact of the matter is that if I end up going around the obstacles, I will be able to set an example of how it can be possible to help with so little money if you talk with the right people involved. This will encourage my other Afghan communities that live in huge Afghan populated states like Fairfax VA, and Orange County California to do similar projects for their communities that they or their parents were born. These Afghans come from different communities that would mean they would work with their own communities and the help will reach different parts of Afghanistan. All we are doing is sharing the beauty of being privileged with staying warm at winters here with the unfortunate communities like Koshal Khan.

Bibliography Sources are cited in American Political Science Association style Al-Jazeera 2012. Afghanistan battles against cold and snow. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012221102246504375 .html (September 11, 2013) Jean-Francois, Trani. Mario, Biggeri. Vincenzo, Mauro. 2013. The Multidimensionality of Child Poverty: Evidence from Afghanistan. Social Indicators Research 112 (July): 391-461 Owen, Jonathan. 2010. Army launches investigation: Corrupt Afghans stealing millions from aid funds. March. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/army-launchesinvestigation-corrupt-afghans-stealing-millions-from-aid-funds1917436.html (October 23, 2013) Peoples and ethnic groups Pashtunwali: The Code. http://uwf.edu/atcdev/afghanistan/people/Lesson6Pastunwali.html (September 11, 2013) Quinn, Patrick. 2012. Afghanistan Winter Risks 2 million, U.N. Says. December. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/afghanistanwinter_n_2285655.html (October 14, 2013) Ronald, Rod. 2012. Afghan Camps Receive Winter Aid, but Officials Say It Isnt Enough. December. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/world/asia/cold-afghan-campsreceive-some-aid-but-shortages-loom.html (September 11, 2013) Tarnoff, Curt. 2012 Afghanistan: U.S. Foreign Assistance. In Congressional Research Service (August): 15 2013. United States could leave Afghanistan early as tension between Obama, Karzai mounts. NY Daily News, July 9. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/u-s-pull-troopsafghanistan-year-report-article-1.1393607 (September 29, 2013)