We must not let the Afghan people down once again

STELP founder Serkan Eren provided food packages to orphans in Afghanistan. An earthquake hit the country hard recently.

Team Stelp
23. Jun 2022
Afghanistan, Stuttgart

STELP founder Serkan Eren provided food to orphans shortly before the devastating earthquake in Afghanistan. After the terrible natural disaster, the civilian population will have an even harder time.

In the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, a severe earthquake shook Afghanistan. According to international media, hundreds of people were injured and killed. STELP founder Serkan Eren was on his way back from his aid mission in Afghanistan at the time. At the airport in Dubai, the activist considered traveling back to the hard-hit country, but then decided against it with a heavy heart.

For Eren, it was clear: “If I have Impact, I’ll turn back immediately.” But since the Taliban took power, the situation for aid organizations in Afghanistan has deteriorated once again. “You can’t get anything done there now without cash,” Eren says. A reliable and well-functioning banking system does not exist under the Taliban. In addition, the Taliban monitor the work of NGOs. Since his relief mission was scheduled through Wednesday, he had no more money available.

Now the activist is even more concerned about Afghanistan’s civilian population. “I’ve also been to the remote villages and seen how difficult access was even before the earthquake. Often the villages in the rural areas can only be reached by motorcycles. Hospitals, if you can even call them that, are usually over 50 kilometers away.” Eren appeals to the German people to support NGOs on the ground now. “We can’t let the Afghan down one more time,” he says.

Population suffers from hunger

The condition of the Afghan population was already in a poor state before the earthquake. Long periods of drought have destroyed the harvests, and the economy has been in ruins since the Taliban took power.

More than 24 million people in Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance, including nearly 13 million children, according to UNICEF. The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates that one in two children under the age of five will be acutely malnourished before the end of this year. Hundreds of thousands of girls and boys could die if they don’t get help quickly.

Eren distributes food packages to orphans

Last Friday, Serkan Eren traveled to Afghanistan to provide emergency aid on the ground. His focus was particularly on orphans and half-orphans, whose situation is dramatic due to the lack of parents as providers. In the past few days, he has been traveling in the areas around Kabul distributing food packages. Each package contains flour, rice, oil, beans, sugar, soap, tea and salt. “With 90 euros, we can feed ten people for a month,” says Eren.

In Dashte Barchi, a settlement in western Kabul, he and the local aid organization Social Forum Hope fed starving children, women and men. The neighborhood is also called the Hazar neighborhood. The Hazars are the minority that has suffered the most from the Taliban’s seizure of power.

Currently, there are many trouble spots in our world that need our attention. A natural disaster such as this devastating earthquake in such a troubled country, is not only a great challenge for the local people, but also the global community must act now.