^^^6:30 AM ET^^^ AFGHANISTAN AID - Americans helping refugees where aid agencies fail

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10/29/2001 - Updated 04:18 AM ET On barren plain, Americans give hope to refugees

By Tim Friend, USA TODAY

DASHT-E QALE, Afghanistan — A group of Americans, frustrated by official channels, met privately here Sunday with Afghan refugees to arrange an emergency delivery of food and blankets later this week to more than 1,000 people whose homes in Qonduz province were burned by the Taliban. The refugees, who have been coming to this camp over the past 5 months with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, have not been included in humanitarian efforts by relief agencies helping others here.

10/29/2001 - Updated 04:18 AM ET On barren plain, Americans give hope to refugees

By Tim Friend, USA TODAY

DASHT-E QALE, Afghanistan — A group of Americans, frustrated by official channels, met privately here Sunday with Afghan refugees to arrange an emergency delivery of food and blankets later this week to more than 1,000 people whose homes in Qonduz province were burned by the Taliban. The refugees, who have been coming to this camp over the past 5 months with nothing more than the clothes on their backs, have not been included in humanitarian efforts by relief agencies helping others here. The camp is on a barren plain near a Northern Alliance army post about 6 miles from the military headquarters at Khoja Bahauddin. Khahk Abdul Hay, 75, said 300 families have been subsisting on leftovers of rice and bread given to them by soldiers at the post and from the yellow plastic U.S. relief packages brought to them periodically over the past 2 weeks by villagers at Khoja Bahauddin. "We eat the garbage the soldiers give us and some American food," Hay said. "There is no food here. We have lost five children. We have no medicine, no doctor. The Taliban burned our homes and everything from our lives, so we had to come here."

Dozens of the plastic and straw tents constructed by the refugees were destroyed Friday night by a dust storm with winds estimated at 100 mph. The refugees had to huddle on the ground covered in blankets. They couldn't see more than 2 feet in front of them during the 6-hour storm. Temperatures hovered around 40 degrees.

Three children died Saturday from exposure to the cold that has set in, foreshadowing a long and deadly winter. Two other children died last week from disease and starvation, Hay said. The dust storm also devastated other refugee camps in the region.

Edward Artis of West Hills, Calif., is spearheading the relief effort here. Artis' team, which includes James Laws of Dayton, Ohio, and Walter Ratterman of rural Pennsylvania, plans to deliver 45 tons of wheat, 5 tons of sugar, 5 tons of cooking oil and 1,000 blankets. They belong to Knightsbridge International and are members of the Knights of Malta, formed 1,000 years ago during the Crusades. Their mission is funded from their own pockets and donations from a Buddhist relief foundation.

"My ultimate goal here is to change the image of the Afghan child holding an AK-47 to the smiling but desperate faces of the children that we see standing around us here," Artis said.

The American team members disguised themselves as journalists to obtain entry into Afghanistan from neighboring Tajikistan. Artis said the mission is the group's fourth to Afghanistan since 1990.

Ratterman said the team did not have a specific refugee group in mind before arriving, but their fourth team member, Abul Khalili, an Afghan-American, asked villagers who had the greatest need in the area.

As their jeep arrived at the camp Sunday, they were surrounded by the refugees, who smiled and shook hands eagerly with each American. Most of the refugees were barefoot despite the cold.

They were pleading for the Americans to distribute the aid themselves. "Please deliver this by your hand, otherwise we will not be getting it," Hay said. The refugees said they were concerned the aid would be stolen or go to another camp.

A refugee who gave his name as Saifuddin, 35, gathered three of six children to him as he spoke to the visitors. "We have been praying for you to come. I wish for the world to hear our voice."

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001


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