Hospitals & Wells!

We have now raised over $100,000 for the building of a hospital and two wells and a water tower. The work on these is underway and we hope that they will be completed by May 2009. Dan Browne (ASET Director) recently visited the site of the hospital and one well, a journey that took 4 hours each way over very bumpy road, covering just 83 miles in 8 hours of driving!

The water tower will be built in Dawlatabad where ASET built a hospital last year. This will enable water to be distributed to both the hospital and the local school of over 1000 pupils.

Quilts

A new project has begun which will train 100 vulnerable women to make 6,000 quilts to provide them an income and their own bedding. The remaining quilts will be given to other needy people during the winter.

Dawlatabad Office

The house, office and training centre in Dawlatabad are completed.

For 6 months 200 teachers are receiving Teacher Training two days of the week in the District centre of Dawlatabad.

There are also English classes running in the nearby village of Qaragujula with 220 students taking part.

Women’s Literacy Project

Eight courses have now been set up, providing basic literacy to Afghan women within their own neighbourhoods. One of the students who lives in a refugee camp on the outside of Mazar had been severely traumatized by war before her family fled to the area and greatly lacked confidence. When she first came to the course she was always afraid and her hands shook too much to even hold a pencil. Now, one year later she is becoming literate, has gained much confidence and is happily engaged to be married.

In November, Amy Nelson ran a three day training course for the literacy teachers. Teachers created their own training materials including paper clocks for telling time and Dari alphabet posters. They were also encouraged to become familiar with reading common signs in the cities and made pretend signs, in this way they can teach their students to practice reading the words that they will encounter on the streets, such as signs for the hospital, pharmacy, hamam [bath house].

Seminars were also run to encourage the teachers to try and solve their own classroom problems. These included students who think they are too old to learn, students who arrive late, or do not do their homework. The teachers discussed these issues and prepared and performed dramas to help address them.

Kindergarten

The ASET Kindergarten continues to be a great success. It takes 120 children off the streets, giving them a purpose as well as a chance to develop and learn. Rather than learning simply by repetition, the children are encouraged to be creative & are able to play within a safe & educational environment.

Dalan Clinic Project

Steven & Natalia Palubinski have recently joined the ASET team to supervise the Dalan Clinic Project and local community development work. They are old friends of the ASET team having managed the ASET team house in Kabul while attending language training. For the last 18 months they have been working for another agency 100 km west of Mazar-e Sharif managing a WATSAN project which included the construction of tube wells and large underground water storage tanks.

From the Trustees

The trustees are delighted at the way that those out in the field have endeavoured to meet the aims and objectives of the charity. A special mention must be made of the work of Thomas Glatthaar, The Regional Director, who has done such sterling work on the administration, accounts, building the hospital and so many other things. Many of our supporters have been most generous and our income has again risen.

Many projects are continuing, or have been started, during the period. The kindergarten continues to flourish with 45 children having graduated during the year, & a programme for training teachers has been introduced. The hospital building has been undertaken and a brand new hospital completed in Dawlatabad to serve 100,000 people. Dr Keng is to be congratulated on her fantastic work. An HIV and Aids awareness programme, to prevent an impending epidemic, has been completed, with 192 Civilian Health Workers (CHW) trained. The Women’s Literacy Programme enrolled 128 women and is having pleasing results. One woman was able to save a sick baby because she was able to read a book about mother and infant health. The Threads of Hope Project allows widows and other vulnerable women to make products to sell to foreigners. The exciting development is that it has become self financing, as we not only train women to make the products, but also to set up their own businesses to produce and market them. Several new businesses have been launched making slacks, skirts, dress shirts, for school children, and suits for men. Alongside this, 80 women have been trained in business development. Teacher training has continued with 260 teachers having graduated. A further programme has now started in Dawalatabad district.

At Ghazni, down in the south, the Community Health Care Projects have saved women’s lives, especially from maternal mortality, through health care & education. We also trained 10 Civilian Health Workers (CHWs). Our team of Doctors has seen 10,000 eye patients & performed 1,000 eye surgery procedures. 2000 women have benefited from their EFL programme. A wind turbine project has also been started. Poor people have received funds to get through the Winter.

ASET continues to be run and administered by volunteers and the trustees wish to publicly recognise their work and thank them.

For the future another hospital is planned and a women’s literacy programme is to be set up in Dawalatabad, where English and computer courses have been run and 200 teachers trained.