This is one of those posts that probably doesn’t require any words. We see and hear about Afghanistan in the news on a daily basis, and wanted to provide you with a different perspective that doesn’t always make the headlines.
Sozo International remains committed to serving and loving the people of Afghanistan and we thought that these pictures tell a small part of that story.
To buy a shirt and support the work being done in Afghanistan, please click here.
It’s been a great year for Spendyourself, and without all of you, this would still be nothing more than a dream.
As our way to give you all a big THANK YOU for all of your support over the last year, we’ve decided to give two people free shirts for a year!
What exactly does this mean? For each new shirt project we create over the next year, Spendyourself will be shipping you your very own shirt, and it’s all free.
In conjunction with the Resc/You project, we’ve come up with several different ways for you to enter the contest and raise awareness for human trafficking at the same time. Do as many of the following as you like and you’ll get an entry for each one!
The contest ends November 30th… so start spreading the word!
Ways to enter:
1 . Leave a comment on our blog on human trafficking (facts, useful links, etc.)
2. Retweet the following message: Win free clothes for a year! http://tiny.cc/d8m6V @spendyourself
3. Send us a picture of you wearing any Spendyourself shirt: jessica@spendyourself.net
4. Buy any Spendyourself shirt (counts as two entries)
5. Put a link to spendyourself.net on your blog and email us to let us know
6. Visit us at the GMHC, 11/12 – 11/14
7.Tell someone the story behind your Spendyourself shirt and email us
8. Make this your profile picture for a day or more, and post it on the Spendyourself Facebook page
9. Perform any random act of kindness, just let us know!
Questions? lee@spendyourself.net
Proceeds from the sale of the Omed (hope) shirt will go directly to fund completion of the boys and girls school at the Barek Aub refugee camp in Afghanistan.
Barek Aub camp is an IDP (internal refugee camp) about 25 miles outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. The people of Barek Aub are not foreigners, but rather refugees within their own country. Having fled Afghanistan during the Taliban regime, they returned after the fall to find their homes, schools, and businesses bombed out and uninhabitable. Farmlands that were used for grazing were now littered with land mines.
Like most Afghans faced with this situation, they traveled to Kabul in search of a new beginning. As a result of this migration, it’s estimated that Kabul’s infrastructure has ten times the load on it that it is capable of supporting. In an attempt to ease the burden on the city, many people have been forced to relocate outside of Kabul. In the Spring of 2007, this group was relocated from a bombed out building in Kabul to what they now call Barek Aub. The camp’s name, Barek Aub, means ‘fragile water’ in the native language of Dari. In the beginning, they were armed with a plastic pup tent and a small parcel of land. Unfortunately, the remote location rendered it impossible to have an income source. Water was delivered to the site, but half of it was undrinkable, which created a multitude of health concerns. Overnight, these actions created a level of poverty that would compete with any situation across the world.
These conditions compelled Sozo International to partner with these refugees since the first time they crossed paths. Sozo’s approach has always been to partner with the people it intends to serve and build meaningful relationships. As a result, these relationships empower the people it hopes to serve rather than generating a sense of dependency. Over the last 2 years, what was once a dire situation on the cusp of survival is starting to see some hope. Deep water wells that provide clean water have been dug, food is being provided on a regular basis, and permanent shelter continues to be built. With that said, there is still much work to be done to move from a state of survival to a state of sustainable progress. The massive inflation that has rocked the Afghan economy reminds us of the stark reality that the average person still only gets one full meal every two days.
The people of Barek Aub are a resilient group, and when the question was posed to the elders of what they would like to see in Barek Aub, the answer was an easy one – ‘a school’. A school for both boys and girls is seen as a luxury to the generations before them that did not have the opportunity, and a key to the future stability of their nation. By equipping this generation with the tools that they need, we aim to restore hope and a sustainable future to the people of Barek Aub.
To see more pictures involving Sozo International and those they serve, please click here.
