This last year has felt as though we’ve all been careering down a slippery chute, out of control, gathering speed. The idea of a golden age when we were governed by responsible politicians, read serious newspapers and watched the same TV news is surely a chimera, but the rate of change has become uncomfortably fast of late. It’s not just us getting older and slower.
The Foundation has experienced rapid change as well. Since the Taliban takeover we have taken in significantly more donations, expanding our programmes to suit. This requires additional administration, so we have increased both the number of trustees and paid staff time.
Overheads have increased but our trustees have raised their contributions so we can continue to say, “Every penny donated gets to Afghanistan.”
If it’s very difficult to see how our lives will change, it’s doubly so for Afghan women and children whose situations continue to deteriorate.
Overheads have increased but our trustees have raised their contributions so we can continue to say that every penny donated gets to Afghanistan.
Secondary schools for girls remain closed and now higher education has been ‘suspended’ for women. With a factional Taliban, it’s just not possible to foresee when or if this will change.
Electricity supply, never very reliable, is now turned on for a couple of hours a day in Kabul.
It’s reported that the Taliban are exporting the country’s coal to earn foreign currency and most Afghans will sit out this freezing winter without significant heating.
Many have lost jobs, with budgets further tightened by rampant inflation and access to savings held in dysfunctional banks restricted. Millions now rely on emergency food aid to prevent them from starving.
A small organisation, we can react quickly to change and adapt our programmes to suit the changing circumstances. So far, it seems to be working.
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