Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
allocates second round of humanitarian aid for Afghan refugees and
displaced persons
Food packets will help feed more than
100,000 people
[12-10-01]
by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - 05-December-2001 - Presbyterian Disaster
Assistance (PDA) - having already poured a half million dollars into
humanitarian aid for Afghanistan - recently contributed an additional
$125,000 to help feed refugees and internally displaced persons in the
war-torn region.
Up to 7.5 million Afghans face hunger this winter,
their plight worsened by harsh weather conditions and continued U.S.
military action.
PDA's contribution, taken in part from pledges made by
Presbyterian donors specifically for Afghan refugee relief, came in
response to an ongoing $6.28 million appeal by Church World Service (CWS)
for food and shelter assistance to refugees inside Afghanistan and for
those fleeing to neighboring Pakistan.
"The food packages will include a six-month
supply of wheat, cooking oil, rice, beans, sugar and tea for 15,000
families," said Pamela Burdine, PDA's communications officer, in a
situation report last month announcing the move. She said the packages,
which cost $256 each, should help feed approximately 105,000 people.
The food aid is being distributed by the CWS
Afghanistan-Pakistan office to refugee camps outside the cities of
Peshawar and Quetta in northwestern Pakistan, along the Afghan border.
Aid has also reached settlements of internally displaced persons in
central and northern Afghanistan.
The itemized breakdown of food packages: $112 (600
kilograms) of wheat; $47 (44 liters) of cooking oil; $42 (80 kilograms)
of rice; $39 (8 kilograms) of tea; $10 (24 kilograms) of sugar; and $6
(24 kilograms) of beans.
"Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is already
making a difference for Afghan refugees who desperately need food and
shelter," said Ronda Hughes, director of program interpretation for
CWS, the relief and development agency of the National Council of
Churches. "The work that they're helping make possible is happening
right now."
In October, PDA channeled $500,000 to Afghan refugees
through CWS for shelter kits to help combat the deteriorating
humanitarian crises in Afghanistan. The kits - valued at about $90 each
- included one family tent, one ground sheet, one plastic sheet and four
blankets.
Over the past month, Presbyterians have raised $37,000
through PDA for Afghan refugees - $17,000 of which was used in the
food-related relief effort. An additional $108,000 was taken from PDA's
general relief fund.
Burdine said Presbyterian contributions also support
the Church World Service Blanket Fund, a program that has Afghan women
in Pakistan making quilts to help refugees stay warm during the winter.
Some 400 women are participating while earning a small income through
the project, which aims to make at least 60,000 quilts for distribution
to refugee families.
"This is a very worthwhile cause," Burdine
said. "The quilts will be used with some of the aid Presbyterians
have sent."
With U.S. military planes continuing to tag-team
between dropping aid packages and dropping bombs, about a third of
Afghanistan's population faces starvation or homelessness this winter,
the United Nations estimates. Even before the U.S. bombing campaign
began on Oct. 7, about six million Afghans were reportedly depended on
outside aid for food or shelter, according to the UN.
"In recent days there have been some chaotic
situations in various parts of Afghanistan, but our aid is getting
through," Hughes said.
About 55,000 tons of food is needed every month to
feed those facing starvation, officials say. The U.S. maintains that
it's committed to lead an aid campaign to assist Afghans already
suffering from drought and years of civil war.
Many aid agencies have criticized U.S. food drops,
however, dismissing them as propaganda and labeling them inadequate and
insufficient to address the mounting humanitarian crisis.
September 11th response
PDA officials are assuring those who donate money
through its ongoing aid appeal for victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks, that "100 percent" of the funds are going to those
impacted by the tragic events in New York and Washington, DC.
The announcement was made to head off potential
concern surrounding the PDA's 9-11 aid campaign, after some agencies,
most notably the American Red Cross, received heavy criticism last month
over how donations targeted for attack victims were being distributed.
"Presbyterian Disaster Assistance would like to
assure its donors that 100 percent of the gifts designated for the Sept.
11th response will be used to provide compassionate assistance to those
most affected by the terrorist attack," PDA said last month in an
e-mail statement. It also posted a similar statement on its World
Wide Web site, responding to the appeal contributed more than $1.2
million in the first month following the attacks. That figure has since
grown to $3.3 million, according to PDA.
Stan Hankins, the PDA's associate for U.S. disaster
response, said Presbyterians' "overwhelming generosity"
nationwide has enabled the relief arm of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
to mount a "sizeable response" to the crisis.
So far, PDA has provided $110,000 to the Presbytery of
New York City in response to the needs of direct and indirect disaster
survivors (those who lost jobs and/or wages). Another $15,000 is at work
through ALIVE! Inc., a Presbyterian-supported ecumenical organization
based in Alexandria, VA.
ALIVE! Inc. seeks to meet the needs of about 300
low-income people who have been impacted by the downturn in the tourism
and hospitality industries, as well as the temporary closure of Ronald
Reagan Washington National Airport, Hankins said. Funds also are being
used to train and support pastors and church leaders in ministering to
disaster survivors.
PDA recently sent $35,000 to the Presbytery of Olympia
in Washington state to support families of military personnel in the
Pacific Northwest deployed overseas as a result of Sept. 11.
"It shows the magnitude, the scope of this
thing," Hankins said. "When you're talking about New York City
and also Washington state, that really says something."
Other aspects of PDA's initial and continuing response
to the terrorist attacks include:
