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Other MEPO Activities -Dedicated
to the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King
As the world knows, Afghanistan is a place of great need in every
single aspect of the life of its people. Sometimes the problems
seem overwhelming, and the best way to make a difference is on a
small scale, addressing people’s individual and personal needs.
Thus MEPO has often carried out small activities that serve to help
people on a short-term basis. This may mean giving new clothes to
ragged children on the street; or seeing a boy with one hand, the
victim of a land mine accident, begging on the street, and providing
him with a cart and vegetables to sell, to try to recover making a
dignified living; or giving out fresh meat to the poorest of the
poor on the street.
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Charity
/ Service Activities
Food Aid
*The prices of food, especially meat, have skyrocketed in
past months, so that families trying to live on $35 a month
salary (if they’re lucky) cannot afford meat at $1.50/pound
- $3/Kg. MEPO's staff distributes
meat to poor men on the streets to take home to their families.
Their sweat-streaked faces look up in surprise as they stop
pulling their carts loaded with hundreds of pounds of cargo
to accept the plastic bag of fresh meat from a MEPO staff
or volunteer.
MEPO has committed to giving out meat monthly on the streets
of Kabul.
Blankets
*During the winter, when children of refugee families who
had returned but had nowhere to live were dying of cold, MEPO
distributed lightweight plastic space blankets to help the
children live through the nights.
Seed Money
MEPO has also tried to identify extremely destitute families,
offering them a simple means of making a living, often through
purchasing a cart and vegetables or fruits to sell. While
it is easy to give a handout of money, the help will be short-lived,
whereas by offering means of making a living, a family can
make its future.
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Philanthropy
is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to
overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make
philanthropy necessary.
-Dr. Martin Luther King
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Wells
and Water Supply
The neighborhood surrounding MEPO’s clinic in Kabul
is highly populated yet dramatically short of water sources.
People were having to walk over half an hour in the early
morning hours to find water and carry it back to their homes.
This situation caused many health and hygiene problems, since
families of often 7,8, or 9 children had to ration their water
for drinking and washing and cooking.
In response to this need, MEPO arranged for the construction
of 3 pump wells to serve the neighborhoods. Just in time for
the hottest weather of summer, people now have ready access
to vital water.
Medical Aid
MEPO also helps chronically ill patients, such as Nadia, a
23 year-old woman who has been sick for 18 years of her life.
MEPO is arranging for her to travel to Iran to receive free
treatment from specialists who have become MEPO supporters
and offer their support and services to MEPO and its clinics
and patients.
There is always so much to do, and the needs arise
spontaneously. MEPO does its best to respond to those needs
as they arise, even on the smallest scale.
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