AWM News

RAWA Appeal – Projects in Danger of Closing

January 17, 2005

Dear RAWA supporters,

RAWA enters 2005 with a financial crisis, which adversely affect tens of humanitarian projects which are currently being run in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Due to significant downfall in the level of donations over the past few months, RAWA may be forced to close down many of its projects while they are still greatly needed like before. That would be a painful decision for us and have bitter ends for thousands of suffering Afghan women and children. Therefore we appeal to all of our supporters and well-wishers of Afghan women to share their contribution in keeping the great humanitarian task goes on.

Our top priorities for 2005 are:

1. Malalai Hospital (Pakistan): With the help of the Afghan Women’s Mission and donations received from our supporters around the world, we re-opened Malalai Hospital in Rawalpindi (Pakistan) in 2001. With 25 employees, the hospital provides free medical care to over 250 Afghan refugee women and children everyday. But due to lack of funds, we had no other option but to scale down the hospital from January 2005.

Since the announcement of this plan, we have received tens of appeals and letters from the destitute Afghan refugee families for whom MH has been the only hope in medical sector over the past few years. They are afraid that if the hospital is not there, their ill children may die as they don’t have the available resources to go and pay for Pakistani doctors.

Please view the below links for further information:

http://www.rawa.org/malalai4.htm
http://afghanwomensmission.org

Please click here to make a donation.

2. Health Center in Farah: This is a clinic in Farah, a western province of Afghanistan, which was established in 2003. It has three medical specialists that visit over 150 patients in a day. The whole Farah province has only one small and ill-equipped state run hospital. Since it establishment, this clinic has turned into a reliable health center, where people are coming from remote villages and making long queue to get free treatment including medicine. Now it faces budget problem, which may force the administration to close it down if the required fund does not flow through in the near future.

The expenditures are listed in below table:

NO	Detail of Expenses	Monthly US$	Annual Cost
1	Staff Salary	$1,400	$16,800
2	Fuel For transportation and generator	$300	$3,600
3	Medicine	$4,800	$57,600
4	Maintenance of ambulances and generator	$100	$1,200
5	Miscellaneous	$1,458	$17,500
6	Stationary	$60	$720
7	Daily Food Expenses	$80	$960
Grand Total		$8,198	$98,380

Your contribution may be in any form; you can either ship medicine, which are the bulk of the expenses or send fund, which may not be necessarily cover the whole budget. You can donate any amount and that would add up to the entire budget. A very small donation makes a difference.

3. Literacy Courses for Women: Feeling the great importance of education for women, RAWA launched a massive educational campaign by establishing over 540 literacy courses across Afghanistan. This was in response to increasingly promises made by thousands of people across the world. But alas that didn’t last for a reasonable time, soon after Iraq issue was come into focus, Afghanistan remained again forgotten. Hence, we were forced to shut down many of them. This trend is still intact, and we will further be forced to cancel many of them if don’t receive fund for them.

Each literacy course teaches between 15 to 20 women and you girls. The expenditures of one literacy course which is currently running in Afghanistan are:

Detail	Monthly Costs	Annual Costs
Teacher Salary	$40	$480
Rent	$25	$300
Stationary	$10	$120
Miscellaneous	$9	$108
Total	$84	$1,008

You can sponsor one or more literacy courses and can send your donation monthly (US$84) or annually (US$1008). Your $84 can give education to 15-20 women and girls each month.

4. Orphanages: Over 350 children are currently given parental care and being provided shelter and education in 9 different RAWA orphanages in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some of these children are not sponsored and their future are hugging in mid air. They need your financial support to stay at orphanages and continue their education.

We have two levels of sponsorship: Full Sponsorship and Partial-Sponsorship

Full Sponsorship: Your sponsorship of just $46 a month will help to provide a child with:

– Food and nourishment
– Clothes
– Health Care
– Life Skills
– An opportunity to live in a safe environment full of tolerance, love and respect
– Education
– School Supplies

Partial Sponsorship: Your Sponsorship of just $33 a month will help to provide a child with:

– Food and nourishment
– Clothes
– Health Care
– Life Skills
– An opportunity to live in a safe environment full of tolerance, love and respect

5. Schools: Likewise the above projects, RAWA schools in Pakistan are in dire needs of financial support. Hundreds of boys and girls are currently enrolled in our schools in different cities of Pakistan. These students can’t attend Pakistani school for many reasons, chiefly because of financial problems and language problem. They need to continue their education and that is possible if the schools run by RAWA remain open.

RAWA’s schools admit students from class one to class 12 and the expenditure of each school is listed below:

No	Detail	Monthly Costs	Annual Costs
1	Personnel Salary	$560	6,720
2	Houserent	$420	$5,042
3	Electricity bill	$44	$524
4	Gasbill	$54	$645
5	Phonebill	$50	$605
6	Miscellaneous	$34	$403
Total		$1,162	$13,940

For further information, you may contact Shaima Saeed, RAWA Projects Coordinator at shaima@pz.rawa.org and CC your email to rawa@rawa.org.

Funds (which are tax deductible to the extent of the law.) should be made online at Afghan Women’s Mission.

We would like to thank you from the bottom of our sorrowful heart for your support and sympathies with your Afghan sisters.

Kindest wishes,

Saima Saeed

Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA)
Mailing Address: RAWA, P.O.Box 374, Quetta, Pakistan
Mobile: 0092-300-5541258
Fax: 001-760-2819855
E-mail: rawa@rawa.org
Home Page: http://www.rawa.org
Mirror site: http://www.rawa.us