March 8, International Women’s Day, is an opportunity to reflect on the role, contributions, and challenges women have faced across the world. Women have always formed half of society, yet in many times and places they have faced limitations in accessing fundamental rights such as education, work, freedom of expression, and participation in social decision-making.

Even today, in many communities—especially where circumstances are difficult, women continue to experience various restrictions and inequalities. despite these challenges, women continue to show courage, hope, and determination in preserving human dignity, seeking knowledge, nurturing their families, and contributing to their communities. their voices live on in everyday efforts: in every mother who strives for the education of her children, in every girl who dreams of learning, and in every woman who works quietly for a better future.

HAWCA , as a social organization, believes that the progress and stability of any society depend on the constructive participation of all its members, especially women. Supporting awareness, education, and opportunities for women can contribute to a more balanced, peaceful, and hopeful society.

A healthy and progressive society grows when women and men live side by side with mutual respect and fair opportunities. recognizing the role and value of women is not only a social responsibility but also an important step toward building stronger and more united communities.

March 8 reminds us of hope, resilience, and the important role women play in society.

It is since a year that our project titled ‘’ Providing Health & Legal Support to Refugees in Takhar Province, Afghanistan’’ is working in Takhar province for well-being of the refugees lives, with an especial on children in this area. The project is funded and implemented with special cooperation of FONS MALLORQUI, and it was part of the project aim to provide support to refugee children under serious risk of malnutrition and need for health support. As per the UN statistics, 24.4 million of Afghans will be plunged into poverty by mid of 2022 includes 12.9 million children. And we are very concerned that situation can be worse than imagined and number of people needs food and health support jumped to millions in just a matter of few months, a course of time which have been exposed to extreme political transformations in the country.

Millions of people are internally displaced within Afghanistan, without access to food or drinking water and shelter, the main cause of these displacements were the internal wars and urge of poverty in the countryside while each day the water level drops quickly down and the coming years are expected to be more difficult for today’s government to respond to the needs of millions of people which as per UN statistics, by mid of 2022 almost 97% of the country’s population are going to live under poverty line. The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated significantly with the recent political and socioeconomic developments. Essential services are on the brink of collapse, exacerbating the needs of an already vulnerable population is yet to be discussed.

Under this project, our team observed the situation of the people in Takhar province and witnessed the sad fact of significant increase in level of poverty day by day in this province. HAWCA team has been stationed in Takhar province and provided urgent support to the vulnerable people in this province. We have distributed food packages for hundreds of children who were under serious risk of malnutrition and we believe this will effect children the most negative way and hunger is not bearable. Lack of nutrition is now widely effecting each Afghan child and this is a crucial fact unfortunately that the number of children needs basic nutrition increases each day as the country’s whole economic system is at merge of falling down. No investment in the country and growing immigration rate of people who are leaving this country as they lost their hope for this country with closure of businesses, one after another has caused millions of people to lose their jobs or are jobless.

Many children we visited for support having just one-time meal which is mostly boiled corn, these children lost their weight to a concerning level, and we found that almost 96% of these children were suffering acute hunger. Many of these children complained about their health issues and some needed serious medical attention. Children explained that they are only having one-time meal barely in a day!

Children are considered the most vulnerable part of society and the recent political transformation, economic failure of the country, shockingly increase rate of domestic violence, especially while the under-age marriage threats millions of young girls remained in homes with closed doors effected children widely as well. HAWCA feels most responsible and very concerned for the situation of children and women in the country, and aims to provide assistance with the provision of education, food, health and legal support of the children in the most difficult times of Afghanistan yet.

With the school doors being closed to young Afghan girls, girls' hope for a better tomorrow is not lost but strengthened, a hope that will be the reality for the future and tomorrow. It is very sad that it has been a year since the doors of schools across the country have been closed to Afghan girls, they have shed tears hoping today and tomorrow the doors of schools will be reopened. In these difficult political situations, psychological and mental attention and support for Afghan girls can keep their hope alive for a better future. Education is a human right that no one can give or take away, we stand together and hold all Afghan girl’s hands in these hardships.

During a program that was held in HAWCA's office, the girls of the training and literacy courses gathered together to celebrate Teacher's Day, and on this day, they had conversations with their teachers and thanked them for their hard work and efforts.

I wanted to reach out and inform everyone of a very destructive and devastating floods that have crushed several provinces of Afghanistan and left countless people homeless, injured and in need of urgent help.

According to the Bakhtar News Agency (BNA), ‘’flash flooding struck in the northern Parwan Province on 13 August 2022 following heavy rainfall. Affected districts include Ghorband (also known as Syagird) and Shinwari. BNA said that 31 people died in the floods and 17 were injured only in Parwan province. Around 100 people are feared missing and the death toll is likely to rise.’’

Flooding has also impacted areas of Logar Province in the last few days. Afghan Red Crescent reported at least 1 fatality, 3 injured and over 80 houses damaged or destroyed, along with wide areas of agricultural land. The floods in Parwan and Logar provinces come after a series of severe flash floods across the country in early July and again in late July left a combined total of over 75 people dead, according to figures from the UN. The floodwater also struck Nangarhar province, according to UN report and statistics, damage to infrastructure was also reported, including the destruction of roads, river protection walls and irrigation systems as well as destruction of crops and agriculture land. Nineteen people were killed across Kunar (15) and Nangarhar (4) provinces.

A further 131 were injured across Kunar (90), Laghman (40) and Nangarhar (1). in addition, 325 people who had been cut off in Kund and Dehgal areas of Chapadara district in Kunar province, while reportedly over 11,400 livestock were killed as a result of this floods. There is a high probability and fear that the fatality results of this floodwater is till vague and not covered in detail by media.

HAWCA wants to take urgent measures in this field to support the victims of these floodwater by going to site visit to distribute emergency aid packages, provide food and medical treatment assistance to the victims of this incident. Therefore, as always, we are asking our international partners to help these victims, including children and women. Since most of the victims of these natural accidents in today’s Afghanistan do not have any access to health or relief centers, and this is exactly making these people including women and children more vulnerable. Your help can be a source of inspiration, hope and life for the victims of these floods. We are grateful now and always for your standing with the people of Afghanistan who are certainly under the burden of extreme political and economic problems.

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It is an undeniable fact that war causes extreme insecurity, poverty, and scarcity, and is the main regulator of boosting domestic violence against women and young girls in a country. In Afghanistan, with a long history of civil wars, a huge number of people are affected directly, these effects are deep and devastating that led to mass displacement of people in the country. Internally displaced people survive the harshest and most extreme conditions and especially children who are at serious risk of malnutrition and various types of diseases. They do not have shelter and live in wide open spaces and this has caused many of those children to face illness and risk of death. As these IDPs are deprived of all the basic necessities of life, without pure drinking water food, and, access to health clinics. And putting aside that these children also remained out of school and education adds to their horrific living conditions. Poverty and hostile living conditions directly increased the domestic violence against women as well, mostly women and young girls are subjected to unbearable violence in such families in the country. Non-stop pregnancy, and the existence of no health care support for women's health, made the conditions even worse for the women who are mainly more affected than men in the country.

One of HAWCA’s goals is to provide urgent food and health aid to such communities, especially women and children. HAWCA, with the financial support of the FONS MALLORQUI organization, distributed food and health packages that included flour, sugar, oil, soybeans, beans, macaroni, shampoo, soap, and washing powder to needy families.

One of these families is the Khujesta family. She is 30 years old, but the problems in her life have crushed her so much that she cannot walk properly and suffers from back pain. She cannot afford her medical operation and medical needs. She says, "She has spent her whole life not having a good day, and having something to eat makes my greatest day in her life. My children always sleep hungry; I don't have the ability to work. But despite all the problems and severe back pain, I wash clothes in people's houses. Today I feel like it’s Eid, I learned the true meaning of Eid today when you have bread in your house and eat it together with your children.

It is a crucial fact that women and children are the most vulnerable part of the society, they are being affected massively through each and every political context, economic and natural disasters. As such, women and children are most effected by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the South-eastern region of Afghanistan; Spera district in Khost and Barmal and Giyan districts in Paktika on 22 June 2022.

The majority of women and children beside being mostly affected by the earthquake, they were not able to visit a medical treatment doctor for years, the core reason behind it from one side was the poverty and from other side, they were also being effected by patriarchal society. They were suffering from various types of diseases; such as gynecology and childbirth problems, cancer, tuberculosis, stomach illness and psychological disorders. The tragic incident of earthquake, added more to their suffering and worsen their living condition.

HAWCA’s health team, build up from expert doctors, immediately visited the Giyan district of Paktika and with financial support from Donor Direct Action, we were able to reach hundreds of women and children in this rural area, many of these women and children received medical treatment support and assistance. Among the women who visited us for medical treatment assistance, there were many who lost their family members and were in great trauma. Most of them were not even able to express their great panic and pain that they are going through. One of the women, a 50-year-old lady told us that she lost four of her family members, but our doctors supported her physiologically for mental rehabilitation. When we talked to her, she was only able to wave her hand and said that four members of her family were victims of this incident. Like her, many other women were suffering from a serious mental condition and trauma that they were not in a position to speak about it. People's houses were either fully destroyed or they were so leaky that they were not live in them, the majority lived in tents and in wide open areas without access to nutrition and medical support to gain their health back.

The suffering women and children in these rural areas effected massively through earthquake, needs financial and medical support for physical and mental rehabilitation. We are glad and proud that we have been able to provide medical support by HAWCA’s visit in this district, maybe we can hold their hands and bring the smiles to their innocent faces once again to be revived from this tragic natural disaster. On behalf of all those people, all those families; children and women, we are thankful to Donor Direct Action for their immediate genuine support.