Human Rights < Feature

Bay Area Delegation Helps Deliver Relief to Afghan Refugees

Afghan-Americans Tamin Ansary, left, Emal Numan, and Shala Arsala hold a press conference April 10 on their trip to Afghan refugee camps.

"Sixty percent of the people in the refugee camps are children."

Afghanistan's 23-year drama of war and hardship has produced one of the world's most severe refugee crises. More than 3 million Afghans are living in often desperate conditions in refugee camps in neighboring countries, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Another 1.2 million are displaced within Afghanistan. Sixty percent of the people in these camps are children.

In March, the San Francisco office of the American Friends Service Committee, a BAIDO member, joined forces with the Bay Area's large Afghan-American immigrant community to address the situation. Together, they delivered a large shipment of blankets and clothing to refugee camps in Iran, Pakistan, and Tadjikistan - over 12,000 of the 75,000 blankets collected nationwide.

"It was the largest material relief response in the U.S. since World War II," said Stephen McNeil, the Emergency and Material Assistance Program Coordinator at AFSC in San Francisco.

Three of the five Afghan-Americans who accompanied the shipment recently spoke about their experiences.

"One thing that made me happy was that children in the refugee camps were very hungry for education," said Shala Arsala, who is working with the Afghan Women's Association International to open a shelter and support center in Jalalabad, Pakistan for Afghan widows and their children.

"It's bad, but hope is there," she said.

Tamim Ansary, author of "West of Kabul, East of New York" and a San Francisco Chronicle contributor, reported being "overcome with emotion" when he first set foot in Kabul as part of the relief trip.

Emal Numan, an aviation manager who has raised funds for AFSC's partner in Pakistan (LIFE for Relief and Development), said the trip taught him the importance of Afghan-Americans getting involved.

According to McNeil, 60% of the nation's Afghan-Americans live in California, with 40,000 in the Bay Area. "They have an incredible emotional attachment to helping," McNeil said. "That's one reason why the Service Committee, in most of its disaster relief work, tries to involve immigrant communities in the United States."

Slowly, progress is being made in returning Afghan refugees home. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported on April 22 that some 300,000 refugees had returned to Afghanistan from neighboring Iran and Pakistan in the previous seven weeks alone. The agency hopes 800,000 will return this year.

The AFSC is raising money to send a second relief trip, "hopefully sometime this summer," said McNeil. To make a donation or get involved, contact Afghan Volunteers, AFSC, 65 Ninth Street, San Francisco, CA 94103; or the Afghan Women's Association International (AWAI) c/o Afghan Coalition, 39155 Liberty Street, D-420, Fremont, CA 94538.

To contact AFSC call Stephen McNeil at (415) 565-0201 or email SMcneil@afsc.org.