Relief agencies focus on need in Afghanistan

Relief for Afghanistan’s victims of the war against terrorism is occupying the attention of Northwest-based Christian relief organizations.

As the American military last month began bombing terrorist sites in Afghanistan, Portland-based Northwest Medical Teams (www.nwmti.org) announced plans to provide emergency relief. The focus is on hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees along the borders of adjacent Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Meanwhile, Portland-based Mercy Corps (www.mercycorps.org), which has operated in Afghanistan and Pakistan for 15 years, reported Oct. 24 the opening of a new camp to provide shelter and immediate assistance to Afghan refugees who are crossing into Pakistan. The United Nations established the camp near the Chaman border crossing, in collaboration with the Pakistan government and aid agencies. Mercy Corps will assume overall responsibility for managing the facility.

Mercy Corps and colleague agency Medecins sans Frontieres were the first aid agencies to arrive at the new camp. “This camp is clearly meeting an urgent need,” reported Mercy Corps President Dan O’Neill from Pakistan.

Mercy Corps pulled its handful of non-Afghan workers out of Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 terror attacks because of the threat to their safety. The Taliban soon ordered the agency’s office closed in the Afghan cityof Kandahar and evicted its staff of eight Afghans.

Bas Vanderzalm, Northwest Medical Teams president, expressed grave concern for the welfare of the Afghan refugees: “The reports we have indicate that tens of thousands are already malnourished. The stress of their rapid flight will leave them exhausted and more vulnerable to disease outbreaks ... Our volunteers can save lives in these situations."

In addition to emergency medical workers, Northwest Medical Teams plans to provide humanitarian aid and supplies. Bill Essig, an agency vice president who is also on the faculty of George Fox University, went into Af-ghanistan in late October for a first-hand assessment of medical needs among displaced people.

Two Seattle-based relief agencies are also focusing attention on the area.

World Vision (www.worldvision.org) currently has emergency relief assessment teams in Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and plans to work with two other agencies in setting up large refugee camps. World Concern (www.worldconcern.org) is supplying thousands of families in northern Afghanistan and Tajikistan with food, blankets and clothing.