Saving Afghanistan's children -- one orphanage at a time

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'd like to start 2012 off by highlighting the important work of one Afghani man -- Sayyid Abdullah Hashemi -- in improving the lives of Afghanistan's 1.6 million orphans. (2011 UNICEF estimate.) Mr. Hashemi is the director of the National Directorate of Orphanages within Afghanistan's Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and the Disabled.

An article in today's New York Times profiles the challenges Mr. Hashemi has faced over the seven months since he took over this position. In a country steeped in official and unofficial corruption at all levels of society, the very fact that Mr. Hashemi is unafraid to travel throughout the war-torn country visiting orphanages and demanding that changes be made is remarkable in and of itself. But what makes him all the more inspiring is that he is dogged in his determination. Mr. Hashemi was once an orphan himself so he knows first-hand the plight of Afghani children and the terrible conditions in which most of them live. According to the article, his father was killed fighting for the mujahideen against the Soviets when he was a young boy. As a result, Mr. Hashemi's mission has been to make sure that orphans grow up in an environment that not only feeds and shelters them, but gives them the tools and skills they need to help make them productive citizens.

The article mentions two government-run orphanages in particular, both in Kabul. Before Mr. Hashemi assumed his directorate position, these orphanages were notorious for their truly inhumane living conditions. In fact, the Tahya-e-Maskan orphanage gained notoriety for the poisoning of several of its children who almost died as a result of drinking bad milk. Today, however, under Mr. Hashemi's tutelage, this same orphanage is now run as a school where classes such as computer science and English are taught and students are going on to pass university entrance exams.

Mr. Hashemi continues to come up against bureaucratic challenges and governmental ineptitude on a daily basis. Government money that is allotted to the orphanages for basic necessities is distributed through the local provincial governments who more often than not keep this money for themselves with barely a trickle of the amount actually going to the orphanages. Mr. Hashemi complains of visiting orphanages where children are left long hours without adult supervision, where food is scarce, and abuse rampant. He's fired staff only to have his actions challenged by local government officials -- not to mention the fired employees -- who claim he has no authority to make improvements because these decisions are supposed to be made at the local, not national, level.

What strikes me most about Mr. Hashemi is his tenacity. He is utterly realistic about the uphill battle he faces and yet because he cares so much about these orphaned children he continues to push for reform and improvement. All too often we turn on the news or read the papers and see nothing but negatives coming from this part of the world--the Taliban still control vast swaths of the country, the government of Hamid Karzai is corrupt and funded by the cultivation of the opium trade, etc etc etc. On this first day of the new year, I was heartened to learn of the genuine good that is being done and not only by foreign NGOs or occupying troops, but by an Afghani national concerned with the well-being and future of his country's youngest generation.

Even if Mr. Hashemi can help effect positive change in the life of only one orphaned Afghani child, that is one more than might have been helped otherwise. No small task indeed.

Happy New Year to you, Sayyid Hashemi.

Ciao.