AMCR – UPDATE SUMMER 2009

Resume (please see details of the Cross-channel Swim and Skinners’ Hall Dinner)
After completing the swim, which won for the six women great admiration for their fortitude and endurance, the dinner to celebrate their achievement was held in the Skinners’ Hall at the end of January’09. The two events raised £10,000 for the charity. We are extremely grateful to all those who gave donations towards the swim, or participated in the dinner, auction and raffle.

Together with the existing funds this will enable the charity to construct another Delivery Room in the village of Shaba in the Panjsher valley. There will not be sufficient funds to take on the construction of the small hospital in Sefid Chihr. However, the same team are aiming, for their next goal, to swim the length of Loch Ness in early September’09.

Progress

Delivery Rooms

The US PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) has installed solar powered equipment, consisting of water purifiers, lighting and thermosiphons (for heating water) in many of the Clinics in the Province, including three of the four Clinics where AMCR has built Delivery Rooms. For a thermosiphon to operate there has to be a 24 hour daily water supply.

Water Supply Problems

In the Health Centres at Darre and Shutol the water supply has been interrupted by storm damage and road building. Engineers are trying to resolve both problems. Installing a water filtration plant and drawing water from the river may be the solution to the Darre supply.

Bakeries

Two of the original five had to close due to problems breaking out within the villages concerned. Latterly, in late 2008, the other three discontinued as the price of flour had risen from 750 Afghanis per 50 kg to nearly 2000 Afs. However, there has been a good wheat harvest this year in Afghanistan and north of the Oxus and the price is coming down. Should it fall below 1000 Afs there is a good chance that the remaining three bakeries will start up again.

To alleviate this closing four sewing machines and material were given to the more needy women to enable them to make a little money while working from home.

Evening School

A French girl from Lorraine established an evening school in Astana village for 50 small boys and girls and recruited two girl teachers to teach them to read and write. Unfortunately she had to leave suddenly, but Rahilah who comes from the village and is the UN (Habitat) representative in the Panjsher has taken on the responsibility for the classes to continue and is paying the two teachers from her own pocket. Fortunately a generous lady from Oman has donated sufficient funds to keep the school going for a year.

Waheed Akbari, AMCR Field Manager, talking to Rahilah in the school








Next Visit

This will be in late autumn and after the Loch Ness swim which, it is hoped, will bring in more funds. If necessary it may be possible to kick-start some of the bakeries if they are to become operational again.

AMCR UPDATE 2008

FUTURE PLANS

DELIVERY ROOMS

The Independent Christmas Appeal and the DVD of AMCR's visit to Aghanistan in Nov'07 have raised £24,000 and £20,000 respectively which means that the Delivery Room at Shutol can be built, the water supply at Darre repaired and a 14 bed hospital and operating theatre, connected to the Delivery Room at Sefied Chihr be constructed.

Darre Clinic

Darre Clinic Delivery Room has been completed and it only remains for the water supply to be activated. The storm damage to the original spring and reservoir is causing problems as the land owner, on whose land the spring is situated, is unwilling to let the Clinic have use of the spring. It is hoped that the problem can be resolved as the spring water is potable at source so piping it to the Clinic means it is drinkable. However, the excellent US Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) are intending to construct a filtration plant and pump water from the nearby river. This would require a small generator to work the pump which would need fuel hence incurring additional expense; whereas the spring water would be gravity fed.

New delivery room to be constructed next to the Shutol Basic Health Centre (BHC)

The US PRT, who we had a very constructive meeting with during the trip in Nov 2007, undertook to build an access road to the BHC to enable AMCR to construct a Delivery Room on a cleared site next to the BHC. The PRT were as good as their word and in July 2008 the site was cleared. An agreement was signed with the contractor, Rehman, to begin work as soon as he had received the up-front funds, in early August. The BHC is supplied with water from a spring about 500 yards distant and this spring water is potable. A branch pipe will be connected to the main pipe to take water, by gravity feed, to the header tank in the Delivery Room. The Delivery Room will have doors at both ends which will enable access either to the BHC or to the ambulance hard-standing at the further end. The construction of this Delivery Room should be completed by spring 2009.

Construction of a 14 bed hospital in the grounds of the Sefied Chihr Comprehensive Health Centre

Funds for this project which is expected to cost about £50,000 should be available by spring 2009. The Ministry of Public Health have requested AMCR to undertake this work: the construction of a small hospital consisting of two 7 bed wards (male and female), an operating theatre and indoor lavatories. The building is to be connected to the existing Delivery Room by an enclosed corridor enabling women requiring surgery to be wheeled from Delivery Room to operating theatre under cover.

BAKERIES

Due to earlier problems two of the five bakeries closed down in 2007 and three remained functioning. In 2008 the price of wheat flour rose from 750 Afghanis per 50 kg to 2000. When the price reached 1250 the three remaining bakeries were forced to close. Should the bakeries open of their volition next spring, when it is hoped the price will have dropped below 1000, this will be a hopeful sign for the future.

FUTURE FUNDING

Following the success of the Independent on Sunday's Appeal a group of women from the Serpentine Swimming Club in Hyde Park, London are planning to do a sponsored Channel relay swim in September 2008. It is hoped that, added to existing funds, this sponsorship will bring in enough money for AMCR to construct the hospital at Sefied Chihr.

Donations can be made through the Just Giving website: www.justgiving.com/afghanmother/
On this page you can also create fundraising pages for AMCR.

Thanks to everyone who has helped make all this possible.

 


American PRT officers and AMCR staff discussing the new road and site for
Delivery Room at the Shutol Clinic

Panjsher gorge - entrance to the valley

Storm damage to the spring and reservoir at the Darre clinic


AMCR team handing over the Delivery Room at Sefid Shehr to officials from
the Ministry of Public Health (Nov'07).
Note. 'Just A Drop' donated funds for water installation.

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