CCF Helping Children of Afghanistan

Media release December 2001

CCF Helping Children of Afghanistan

CCF has sent a relief team to Afghanistan to assist orphaned and displaced children affected by the recent war and violence.

“Children in war-torn Afghanistan and the surrounding areas need assistance if they are going to survive the bitter and harsh struggle to stay alive this winter,” says Mr Laidlaw, new Chief Executive of CCF NZ.

Leaders in the field of psychosocial intervention for children affected by terrorism and violence, CCF is implementing its award-winning Trauma Programme in Feyzabad to help emotionally scared Afghani children come to terms with the devastation of the war.

The CCF trauma programme has been developed to address children's needs in the acute phase of an emergency, protecting and assisting them during a time where communities are pressed to meet their basic needs.

In addition to the harsh winter, food distribution to Feyzabad is decreasing, so as part of the Trauma Programme, CCF has established a ‘Child Centred Space’ to provide children with food, blankets and basic health care. The CCF team is focusing on assisting children who have lost their fathers and whose mothers have no source of income, and children who have become orphaned as result of the war.

“Until CCF’s intervention, many of these children were on their own, living as street kids,” says Mr Laidlaw.

“Experience has shown us that that these types of interventions are critical to the success of the long-term social reconstruction and rehabilitation.”

The CCF team will address the physical, social, emotional and educational needs of these children, and work with parents to help re-establish their lives and restore communities.

In addition to addressing the children’s basic needs, the Centre will address the educational needs of children, many of whom have never been to school. This is especially the case for young Afghani girls who were forbidden to attend school.

Other cultural and recreational activities including structured play interventions are designed to help children heal from the emotional upheaval they have experienced.

CCF has implemented similar programmes in areas of emergency such as East Timor, Honduras, Angola, Kosovo, Colombia, Sierra Leone, India and Ethiopia. The organisation also extended its service to New York to work with youths in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks, and now to the children Afghanistan.

CCF’s efforts will be funded through donations made to its Child Alert Emergency Fund. Please call CCF toll-free on 0800 223 100 or visit www.ccf.org.nz to make your donation today.

ENDS

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