Mission East Hygiene Save Children’S Number 1 / May 2006 / Lives in Tajikistan
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4 Afghanistan: village children get their first school 9 Clean water and better Mission East hygiene save children’s Number 1 / May 2006 / lives in Tajikistan FOCUS Spotlight on 2005 ÃÃÊ >ÃÌ ÊÛ>ÕiÃÊÊ>VÌ 2 Contents 7 Tsunami – disasters 12 Armenia – disabled demand immediate children get equal rights response In 2005, Mission East contributed The tsunami killed more than to the introduction of a new law 200,000 people and destroyed which ensures that all children with millions of people’s lives. Through disabilities have the right to equality our international partners in the of educational opportunities and Integral Alliance, Mission East was which promotes inclusive education. able to respond to the catastrophe Read about seven-year-old Zara who immediately. discovered the joy of attending school 4 and about her mother, who has re- Afghanistan – still in 8 Tajikistan gained pride in her daughter. desperate need of help – moving forward Poverty is still desperate in Afghanistan Many villages in Tajikistan are kept in 14 Local partners – one of the six poorest countries a vicious cycle of continuing disease Read about Mission East’s local in the world. 2005, however, was a combined with the lack of sufficient partners in Bulgaria, Nepal and milestone for Mission East’s work in and nutritious food. Mission East Romania Afghanistan. The high child mortality helped 41 villages to break the poverty rate dropped in a large number of cycle and take development into their 15 Support Mission East villages, where Mission East provided own hands. clean water, better sanitation and improved hygiene awareness. Also, 10 Iraq – creating better thousands of children now have their living conditions in a hot first ever schools and a road was spot built, which connects thousands of Despite violence and insecurity there is people to the surrounding world. a sensation that things are progressing in northern Iraq, where Mission East has re-housed displaced households. Front page photo: Mission East Head Office in Hellerup, Denmark Board is a Danish international aid organisation. Managing Director, Dr. Kim Hartzner Thomas Ploug We exist to deliver relief and development Vice Managing Director Peter Samuelsen Kenneth Whitelaw-Jones The children of Samandab will assistance to vulnerable communities with a Communications Director Ida Thyregod Robert Kelley now have a real school. Up until primary focus on Eastern Europe and Asia. Journalist Morten Østervang Turi Nørholm now they have been taught in Based on Christian values, Mission East Personal Assistant to Managing Peter Bernhard cold tents. Many girls did not aims to support the most vulnerable, Director Henrik Gunnertoft attend school at all. With making no racial, political or religious Bookkeeper and Office Assistant Tina Bartels Editorial staff the new buildings most distinction between those in need. Kim Hartzner girls and boys will receive Mission East currently operates in Mission East Office in Brussels, Belgium Morten Østervang primary education and thus Afghanistan, Armenia, Iraq and Tajikistan, Operations Director Mags Bird and we co-operate with local partners Finance Director Peter Drummond Smith Graphic design break the cycle of illiteracy. in Bulgaria, Romania and Nepal. Project Support: Richard Peppiette www.munchogmunch.dk 71 percent of Afghanistan’s The assistance offered by Mission East is Desk Officers: John Karren population cannot read. supported by a range of private and public Alex Ramos-Peña ISSN 0908-2042 donors such as the Danish Ministry of Saskia De Smet Foreign Affairs, EU and the United Nations. Mission Øst · Postboks 149 · Skt. Lukas Vej 13 · 2900 Hellerup · Tlf. +45 39 61 20 48 · Fax +45 39 61 20 94 · Giro 773 1566 · CVR 1472 3692 · [email protected] · www.miseast.org EDIT O RIAL 3 Counting on your support In 2005 Mission East helped 250,000 have strengthened our cooperation In this magazine we look back. needy people. This was only with 10 organizations around the However, a lot of new things will possible thanks to your support. world. This enables us to react fast happen in 2006. We will strengthen when catastrophes hit. our work in Armenia to give the You are now holding the first often stigmatised disabled children edition of this year’s Mission East It is still the longterm work of a better start in life. We will magazine. Like last year, we have helping people out of poverty improve living conditions in even chosen to look back at what we that dominates Mission East’s more villages in Afghanistan and achieved with your support in work. We operate in some of the help villages in Tajikistan fight the 2005. Many faces have made an most vulnerable and forgotten natural disasters that keep them By Dr. Kim Hartzner, unforgettable impression: the girl countries of the world like in poverty. None of this is possible Managing Director Mission East in Afghanistan, who will now Nepal, Afghanistan, Armenia without your support. In 2005, attend school for the first time, and Tajikistan. Who ever hears Mission East saw an increase of 20 the boy in Indonesia who is the about Tajikistan in the media? percent in its number of supporters only survivor of a family, but who Who knows that 80 percent of for which we are grateful. We hope thanks to assistance from our the population lives under the we can count on your continued international partners after all has country’s poverty line? Mission support – and that together we can a chance to build a future. East is currently helping 41 assist even more needy people in villages in Tajikistan to break the 2006. Last year, one disaster over cycle of poverty. shadowed all the others. As you can read in this magazine, 2005 was a milestone for our work Thank you. Mission East was able to respond in Afghanistan. In the magazine immediately when the tsunami you can read about the impact hit. Thanks to our international of Mission East’s work on infant alliance Integral, Mission East was sickness and mortality in villages, able to respond alongside other and about Samandab village, Kim Hartzner, relief organisations. In 2005, we which now has its first school. Managing Director 4 Af GHANI S TAN Afghanistan – still in desperate need of help It has been five years since the war Fewer children die in Afghanistan ended. But the need One of the problems being for help is still desperate. In 2005 addressed is the high child Mission East’s efforts have improved mortality rate. According to the living conditions for thousands of WHO one out of four children people in north-eastern Afghanistan. in Afghanistan dies before the age of 5 because of unsanitary It is now five years since decades conditions, lack of access to clean of war in Afghanistan finally water and because the population ended. During these five years has never received information many Afghans have experienced about hygiene. In the villages, substantial progress. 2005 saw the where Mission East is operating, establishment of the country’s first only very few children now die democratically elected parliament. from preventable waterborne Women were eligible for election diseases. and, in the province of Herat, a woman received the highest In 2005, six new schools were built number of personal votes. A in Takhar province. Previously remarkable event in a country the children were taught in tents, where only five years ago women which were useless in winter. were not allowed to work or go to Many girls were kept at home. The school. new schools mean education for thousands of children, including Unfortunately, the country’s girls. desperate poverty still dominates society. Afghanistan continues to Roads provide a better future be the 6th poorest country in the Mission East’s assistance to villages world. Security is fragile, child in Chaal district was possible mortality high and income low. In the remote villages where Mission “According to WHO one of out East is operating many struggle to four children in Afghanistan make ends meet. dies before the age of 5 because of unsanitary conditions, lack In 2005 Mission East has worked of access to clean water and towards improving the rural because the population has population’s wellbeing by creating never received information access to clean drinking water, about hygiene. In the villages, Every fourth child in Afghanistan dies promoting hygiene, building where Mission East is operating, before the age of five. Some of the major sanitary facilities, and improving the only very few children causes are polluted drinking water and bad hygiene. Mission East’s wells and health livelihoods of villagers through now die from preventable education saves children’s lives every day. income generating activities and waterborne diseases.” food production. 5 The north-eastern part of Afghanistan is mountainous and hard to access. Mission East’s new road has connected 45,000 people to the surrounding world. through the completion of a 43 sometimes fragile. Our office in ahead in 2006, which will kilometre road through this poor Baharak was attacked in May by a contribute to lifting the Afghans and previously isolated district. mob of people protesting against out of poverty for good. As a result, more than 45,000 the alleged desecration of the people are now connected to the Quran at the Guantanamo base. surrounding world. They can Luckily, our employees escaped, sell their goods in the nearby frightened but unharmed. Achievements in 2005 town, they can reach the hospital, • 1,300 latrines, 500 in Badakshan the children can access schools Caution is a part of our daily • More than 6,500 people and aid organisations can reach routine. We are in close dialogue trained in hygiene them. Two years ago we started with authorities and the population • 6 schools built constructing the first 20 kilometres, to ensure support for our projects.