This year, Afghanistan has faced its worst drought in decades, crippling the country and forcing families to watch as their land turns to dust, their crops wither and die, and their livestock wastes away. The shortage of food, alongside a lack of clean water, has had devastating effects for families like Sakina’s (pictured) and, with the harsh winter setting in, these remote rural families are the most in danger.

When emergencies arise in Afghanistan, Afghanaid’s staff immediately set to work, providing life-saving assistance in the most remote communities. Over the past few months, we have been coordinating with the World Food Programme to provide emergency food to thousands of vulnerable families like Sakina’s to get them through the icy winter months.

Please make a donation today and give an urgently needed lifeline to vulnerable families

"Before Afghanaid got here, I was very worried about the coming winter because we had no food and no fuel for the heater. I worried that my family would not make it through the colder months.

Afghanaid worked with our village council to distribute emergency food packages to families like ours who needed help. 

Now, we have enough food to get us through the winter. And not only that, it is good quality too, so my family will be healthy and my children will be strong. 

We rely on our crops and livestock to feed our family, but over the last two years our area has suffered from many droughts. This has led to much lower yields of crops, and from May this year we have had no clean water and very little food for ourselves or our livestock.

My husband, Gholan Ali, is disabled so he could not find work as a labourer to cover the cost of buying food in the local market and, since we could no longer grow our own food, I have struggled to put food on my children's plates.

For two months we only ate small amounts of bread and tea. We had nothing left. I was particularly concerned about our youngest child Latifah, who has just turned two, because she wasn't getting the food she needed.

If we had not received this help from Afghanaid, life would have continued getting worse for my family and I worried that my children would have become very weak and fallen ill.

We hope that this food will be the start of a peaceful and happy time for us.

Once we are back on track, I would like to start cultivating our land again so that we can make sure we do not fall into a crisis like this in the future."

 

This assistance has been life-saving for families like Sakina’s. However, much more is still needed in order to ensure that this hard work is not undone. Climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of natural disasters, making your support more important than ever. 

Drought-affected families like Sakina’s desperately need our support to make it through the winter and rebuild their lives come spring. Please give a gift this winter and give an urgently needed lifeline to more vulnerable families in Afghanistan.

How you can help: