21 August 2008

Afghan wins Olympic medal in Beijing

REUTERS -- Rohullah Nikpai thrilled Afghans with his bronze medal in the men's 58kg taekwondo during competition in Beijing this week. One Afghan welfare agency promised $10,000 for a bronze medal. And President Hamid Karzai personally telephoned the winner of Afghanistan's first Olympic medal, according to a palace official. He was to be given a house as a reward for his Olympic victory.

Karzai says Afghanistan must solve its own problems

TIME-- Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke with TIME Magazine this week on the issues of Pakistan, poppy growing in Helmand Province, the upsurge in terrorism and foreign help. He said the removal of the former governor from Helmand was a mistake prompted by the involvement of the West.

"You have to let Afghanistan determine its own ways," Karzai said. "The methods and ways that are developed in offices in the West don't work here. That is the problem. Somebody sits there behind a desk, gets a few reports from English-speaking Afghans and they say, 'Well, this is what we want to do in Afghanistan.' And then things go down the drain. "

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Strengthening communities through transformational development

Summer Supplies

Medical Coverage

Generous donations help Sozo provide food for more than 600 families in need in Afghanistan

Thanks to the generous donations from the Southeast community of Kentucky and others, the immediate food needs for the more than 600 families living in Barek Aub, Afghanistan have been met this month.

Children at Barek Aub wait with their Sozo food: flour,

cookingoil, rice, beans, sugar, salt and tea.

Sozo can only continue to meet needs, and to ultimately help the people of Barek Aub find a sustainable way of life with your help.

"Thank you all again for all your help to the Afghan people."

-- Abdul Wakil Mihrabi Zada
Sozo International National Director

Give now.

Gifts of just $94 are now feeding Afghan families for a month.

Sozo staff distributes roughly 120,000 pounds of food in August.

Workers completed the medical clinic roof this month in Barek Aub

BAREK AUB, Afghanistan—Construction workers finished the roof on the medical clinic for the village of Barek Aub this month. The building is nearing completion, according to Sozo International staff, who say they expect to open the building for medical care sometime late this fall.

“The excitement in the village of Barek Aub is palpable,” said one Sozo staff member.

During a recent visit from a Polish team, Sozo staff said the village mullah was giving tours and village elders gathered around to call attention to every corner, hall and doorway, and to point out where the boundary wall will eventually be built on the perimeter of the territory.

“To say the community is excited about the clinic is understatement in the extreme,” said a Sozo staff member.

Since late last year Sozo has provided a makeshift medical clinic in the home of a village elder at Barek Aub. While staffed by a doctor and vaccinator, there is no lab, no equipment, and very little space in the two-room mud house.

Village leaders in Barek Aub gather atop the school roof to

discuss progress in the second of two facilities now under contruction.

The villagers are waiting with great expectation for the grand opening of the new clinic building.

The nearest medical facility to this remote place is 20 km away in the village of Qara Bagh. With no available public transportation, and few villagers who can afford to pay taxi fare or for the cost of a private driver, going to the clinic now means more than a two-hour walk.

Thank you to our partners who make it possible to bring medical care to the village of Barek Aub.

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Sozo is now collecting funds to furnish and supply the clinic once completed.

Click here to donate now.