Salam alekum from Kabul fellow Kossacks!
For previous diaries: Dispatch #1, Dispatch #2 Diary-#3".
Still lots of war damage here. (This is likely left from the civil war from around 1992 -1993.
I was thinking today about donors, and what they donate. This started as I spent time going through boxes of donated fabric that we planned to donate to a fairly large and growing refugee camp here in Kabul. I assumed before I opened the boxes that I would find bolts or at least large pieces of fabric suitable for Afghans to use to make clothing, or at least use to train in tailoring.
What I found made me angry and perplexed.
Now I understand that many people think the poor, especially those in developing nations appreciate whatever they can get. But in this case, I know they would be angry to be given what I found in these boxes.
For the most part it was fabric samples, many only 5" x 5" or so. And the samples were cloth used in furniture, not clothing. Now what the heck is anyone going to do with this stuff?
The thing is, these items were boxed and labeled 'fabric' by the donor. Then volunteers had to inventory the number of boxes, weigh them, print out labels, go through a detailed process in order to get them here through customs using the Denton program (fill a container full of boxes and the US govt. will ship to Kabul for free, but it is not an easy process), all that took a lot of time and hard work by many people.
And we ended up with maybe 30 boxes of useless samples, many that had rings in the middle of them in order to display on some sort of stand I suppose. Many of the samples were stained, had writing on them in ink, and frankly due to the type of fabric were not even useful for rags!
What the heck possesses people to think that anyone would benefit from their store's old sofa fabric samples?
Then I found boxes of woman's or girls blouses. All the same styles, sheer fabric with short sleeves. Now anyone that would do the least bit of research would learn that no women here would wear such a thing. Again the blouses were made of fabric that could not even be used for rags, and many were stained or torn.
I do not want to look gift horse in the mouth as they say, but the amount of money and time and fuel spent to send all this crap here is obscene considering....
I have even seen people trying to donate old underwear and bikinis to Afghanistan. Is this what they think of the Afghans? Are they that ignorant? Do they think that poor people want to wear torn rags that are ink stained or full of mildew? I'd really like to know why the people sent this stuff here. But I do not know exactly who donated these things. If I did, you can be sure I would call them and ask!
Tips for Donating Internationally
First of all, usually it is not economical to donate items internationally due to the high cost of getting the items there, and also the potential that you may end up hurting the local economy that needs to sell locally made items in order to rebuild their economies.
But if there is an appropriate time to do this, do your homework. Don't send sweaters to the tropics, shorts and tank tops to Muslim nations, etc. I would think this would be common sense, but I suppose it is not.
Alternatively to sending your old and possibly useless clothing, send shoes. This is something that those in the developing world need. Again, THINK. Do you really think poor African refuges want your old silver lame' pumps? Does anyone really want shoes that are already worn through?
Imagine how you might feel if you had nothing and received the kind of useless items I described above with a big USA label? Do you think that will make them feel good about us? Of course not.
In the end, the most valuable thing you can do to help the very poor around the world is either to donate money to reputable organizations (check to see how much they spend on administration vs projects). Or if you can, travel to the nation and bring some items you research and learn they cannot easily buy there themselves and need.
You do not have to donate tons of money, especially in this time it is tight. But I can tell you that an Afghan who's average salary is $70 bucks a month, even $25 can make a difference. Especially when the items needed are purchased in the country thus helping their nation develop it's own economy.
So, I am glad to report that the country here has not erupted in protests or riots against the US. Now, I was not all over the city today, but from what I heard it was calm here in Kabul. I am glad as we had two people arrive today, a volunteer to teach English and a representative from one of our donors.
In other news, the only pig in the capital is being quarantined. Yes, the swine flu scare has gotten to Kabul. And the government has scared the people about it to the point that they are worried about catching it from the one pig, in the zoo, who is now likely not a very happy pig being locked up even more than he was.
I will have a nice diary about women tomorrow, I will be spending the afternoon in the 'woman's garden' with a couple of friends, a place where they can take off the burqua or head scarf, and is off limits to men. Our organization donated and planted a lot of roses and trees there a few years ago, I hope they are all grown a lot since then. I am looking forward a day off. Though I will be among women who are likely going to make me look like a slob. Let me tell you, these women are snappy dressers! And they dress for other women, no matter what the men think. I may ask the gals to take me shopping for one outfit first. I think they will let me try it on and wear it out, as long as I pay....