When tragedy strikes it is all too easy to focus on the horror, to let the shock and sadness overshadow the good that still exists. Recent events in Boston, Syria, and elsewhere have left our hearts broken and our souls aching. We send our deepest and most sincere condolences to those affected by the atrocities of terrorism and war. We know that the people impacted will rebuild their lives with time and slowly the ache we feel will lessen, but until that time, we hope that these stories from our grantees of perseverance and progress will brighten your day and help you remember that good outweighs evil. It will persevere, flourish, and eventually snuff out the ugliness that encroaches unexpectedly.

Stories from our Grantees:

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Through our shelter program with the UNHCR, a UN Refugee Agency and your support we were able to fund 55 shelters providing homes for 330 people in 2012. We hope you enjoy the photos below depicting the construction of shelters and the beneficiaries of your support.

© UNHCR, Figure 1: Shelter construction. Each shelter has a minimum of 32.5 square meters of floor area	© UNHCR, Figure 2: A near-complete shelter. The typical shelter design consists of two rooms, a corridor, and an external latrine
© UNHCR, Figure 3: The distribution of shelter materials.	© UNHCR, Figure 4: Through the UNHCR Shelter Assistance Program, returnees are given a shelter package with essential construction materials including tools, roofing beams, doors and windows, and the supervision to achieve minimum standard of quality

Beneficiaries of the 2012 shelter program:

Trust In Education (TIE)

We are proud to introduce the latest child we are sponsoring through TIE. Meet Sabera! She is 15 years old and incredibly industrious. Her day would seem daunting to most, yet she perseveres while fostering a love for soccer and dream of what she will become one day. She attends school and then after her regular school day ends, she takes supplemental English classes supported by another TIE sponsor. In the evening she sews baby clothes to sell and at night she studies.

She is the eldest child of the family, with five younger brothers who all go to school. Her father is a daily worker and sells vegetables. His work is not steady and sometimes he can find no paying job for the day.

Sabera and her family live in a one room rental on top of a mountain. There is no running water and she has a very difficult life. When TIE started working with Sabera, she had no rug or floor covering in her house. TIE bought her a rug (see the pictures below).

She loves playing soccer and is quite good. She has said she would like to be a famous soccer player, and also a teacher and a doctor.*

* Information courtesy of TIE.

© TIE, Sabera is the second from the left	© TIE
© TIE, Sabera and her family enjoying the new rug!	© TIE, Sabera receiving the rug delivery from TIE

GoodWeave (GW)

Meet Noria (age 6), who attends the early education center sponsored by TKHF and run by GW in the Balk Province of Afghanistan.

Noria and her family were refugees, and are now among the group of internally displaced people residing in Shahrak-e-Qalinbafan. Noria’s mother weaves to support their family. Noria was at severe risk for being pulled into work in order to help her mother; however, when her family learned about the new Child Development Center, they immediately expressed interest in enrolling her.

Noria was very shy at first, but once she started working with the teachers and was given colored pencils and a notebook, she emerged as a very eager student. She enjoys eating the food prepared at the Center, which she would otherwise not have a chance to taste. And she now knows how to read and write the alphabet, count, and sing the national anthem. She also learned other life skills, such as how to wash her hands before eating to prevent sickness, how to keep her clothes clean and tidy, and how to greet her elders.

Her parents are very impressed by the wonderful change they have witnessed in their child. The way she dresses, the way she eats, the way she interacts with others is quite different than in the past. Attendance at the Center has turned Noria into a confident, polite, and intelligent child.

Her parents say: “Honestly speaking, sometimes we learn new things from our six-year-old child. Even the rest of our kids have been positively influenced by Noria, and even our relatives have become interested in sending their children to schools or Centres like this in their own communities after seeing the changes in Noria.”

* Story courtesy of GW.

© Goodweave, © Romano 2012

American Medical Overseas Relief (AMOR)

We are incredibly proud to be able to help sponsor the residency program for Mursal H.*, a neonatal nurse at Afshar hospital in Afghanistan. Mursal graduated nursing school in 2004 and has worked as an ICU (intensive care unit) nurse and more recently spent several years as a NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) nurse. Her job is not easy, she faces unimaginable obstacles, yet her spirit and desire to help the most vulnerable guides her each day to work diligently to help babies survive and thrive. Mursal said, “I prayed for my God for establish of neonatal care in Afshar Hospital, because I like my job very much and also I love little babies a lot.” Needless to say, she is thrilled with the opening of the neonatal center in Afshar hospital and we are equally as thrilled to be able to contribute to her residency program.

* We have chosen to omit her last name for her safety.

© AMOR – Mursal with one of her small and most vulnerable patients

© AMOR – Mursal with her daughter who is taken care of at the daycare AMOR created at the hospital, allowing women to work and keep their children safely nearby