Bread Distribution Project 2022
We are excited to announce that HRF has teamed up with The Children of War (TCOW) on a project to operate a bakery, owned by Iman Foundation, which will provide free bread (naan) daily to the most vulnerable families in Barikab, Afghanistan, a small rural community near Bagram. We have also opened two bakeries in Jalalabad, partnering with TCOW. The already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is worsening and has had a massively disruptive effect on the availability of food, leaving most of the population on the brink of starvation and in desperate need of food assistance. These bakeries aim to help some families who lack the basic means to survive and will hopefully ensure that at the very least they don’t go to sleep hungry in the cold winter and beyond.
Project Start Date: The first bread distribution was on Saturday, January 22, 2022 in Barikab.
Location#1: Barikab, Afghanistan
Location#2 and #3: Jalalabad, Afghanistan (Nangarhar Province)
Purpose: To provide free bread (naan) to vulnerable families facing starvation during the harsh winter and into spring.
Recipients: 235 families will receive 2400 naan daily, free of charge (average per family is 7-12 naan). Recipients include vulnerable children, men, women- mostly widows who have no source of income. All families have been surveyed. (Note: Numbers will vary as bakeries are added.)
Duration of Project: 12 months
Project cost: $8350 per month for 3 bakeries. This includes employee wages, supplies/ingredients. (Note: Due to the severe economic crisis in Afghanistan, prices and the exchange rate will fluctuate.)
Process: Employees will be provided supplies to make fresh naan. Each bakery is equipped with a tandoor (oven). Individuals will receive vouchers to get their naan; Vouchers will be marked/hole punched each day for tracking.
Evaluation February 2022- The first month was a pilot program, with the team on the ground aiming to assess the basic needs of the weekly operations, measuring the general satisfaction and overall well-being of the beneficiary families and learning how to maximize impact. Originally, the estimate was 900 naan for 100 families at a rate of approx. $140 per day/$4200 per month. However, after the assessment 1200 fresh naan are being made daily for 130 households.
Evaluation June 2022- After the first five months of operations, the bakery in Barikab continues to serve 1200 naan to 130 households. Up to this point, the bakery was financed entirely by HRF and managed by TCOW. Starting in June, it will be funded jointly by HRF and TCOW.
In response to growing needs, we have expanded the project by opening two more bakeries in Jalalabad (Nangarhar province) – one in March and one in April – which provide 1200 fresh naan to 105 additional households. We currently operate 3 bakeries, jointly run and funded with TCOW, serving 2400 naan daily, free of charge, to a total of 235 households.
Evaluation August 2022- Aiming to reach even more vulnerable people with emergency food assistance during this unprecedented hunger crisis in Afghanistan, we have expanded our bread project to include a total of 6 bakery locations: two in Kunar, two in Nangarhar, Laghman and Barikab.
We began this project, which provides free bread (naan) daily to the most needy, at the Iman Foundation bakery in Barikab in January 2022. Soon after, we expanded to two other locations in Nangarhar (Jalalabad). Currently, a total of 1958 fresh bread are made daily and distributed to 203 families in the six locations. As of August 2022, the total monthly expenses are $7,600 which is equally divided by HRF @hrfcares and TCOW @thechildrenofwar.
Afghans are suffering from the effects of worsening poverty and malnutrition – over one million children are severely malnourished and face death without immediate intervention. We hope to mitigate the effects of this ongoing calamity for some people, targeting the most at-risk communities.
Evaluation December 2022– The HRF Bread Distribution project, a successful partnership with The Children of War (TCOW), will be ending in December 2022 after almost a year of serving free bread daily to vulnerable households in Afghanistan facing starvation.
We started the project in January as the winter intensified and people were facing a severe shortage of food, putting more than one million children, according to the UN, at risk of dying from acute malnutrition. We helped to revive the Iman Foundation bakery in Barikab and expanded to five more locations (two in Kunar, two in Nangarhar, and another in Laghman), delivering nearly 2000 fresh naan (bread) to over 200 families across various provinces.
Thanks to your support, which kept our bakeries afloat for far longer than we originally envisioned, this emergency food assistance brought a ray of hope to many in what is arguably the most urgent ongoing humanitarian crisis in the world. We are grateful to TCOW for their assistance and our team on the ground for their tireless efforts that helped to alleviate the unimaginable suffering of people in rural communities impacted by unprecedented food insecurity and economic hardship.
**As of June 2022 this project was funded by HRF & TCOW; The bakery in Barikab is owned by Iman Foundation.
Homaira Rahman School- Kabul, Afghanistan
Note: The Homaira Rahman School is temporarily closed and will be relocating. Please stay tuned for any new developments.
To help empower the most vulnerable children in Afghanistan, its orphans, and integrate them into society, HRF has established its first orphans’ school, the Homaira Rahman School, in Kabul’s Parwan 3 district. The school officially opened in September 2013. A generous contributor donated land for this ambitious effort and built the school at his own expense. HRF is grateful to have this opportunity to educate and provide guidance to some of the neediest children in Afghanistan.
We began with 50 orphaned children – boys and girls – in grades 1-4, and steadily increased enrollment each year, adding two more grade levels, bringing the total student population to just over 100 in 2015. The Homaira Rahman school is now a fully functioning primary school serving the orphans of Kabul in grades 1-6. HRF will collaborate closely with the Orphans and Widows Association (OWA)/Dareecha-e-Noor, our US-based nonprofit partner, to jointly operate and fund the school; each organization will be responsible for 50% of the operating expenses. As you can imagine, this challenging project will have significant costs. To ensure the project’s long-term success, HRF launched the first of our annual fundraisers for the school in 2012. We were humbled by the outpouring of generosity from our supporters and hope to build on that effort every year. Our ultimate goal has always been to create a brighter future for the children of Afghanistan and enhance their lives through education. The Homaira Rahman school brings us a step closer to realizing that vision.
HRF believes an orphan’s struggles are emblematic of those of the broader society. After years of violent conflict and instability, survival outweighed the need for education. As the Afghan population continues to grow and civil strife unfortunately remains a reality, the need for such a school could never be more critical. Education is a fundamental human right. It can create choices and opportunities for people and give them a stronger voice. By offering neglected children a stable, warm, loving, nurturing environment we hope to capture their innate potential and enable them to one day contribute to rebuilding their country.
Homaira Rahman School Opens- September 2013
HRF Students with Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education Spokesman, HRF and OWA Staff
Students at the Homaira Rahman School’s Opening Day
HRF Learning Center
In 2010, HRF created this multipurpose facility at the Orphans and Widows Association (OWA) school in Kabul. It houses a library and an on-site computer lab which gives the children skills that will ultimately allow them to generate income and become self-sufficient.
In a rapidly changing world, Afghan orphans are especially at risk. They will need to master an array of skills in order to compete and succeed and contribute to their families and communities in the near future. To meet these diverse needs, HRF hired an instructor in late 2010, who teaches computer skills and English at the Learning Center for up to 150 children in a warm and safe environment.
After temporarily closing in 2020 due to the pandemic and contending with intermittent school closures and interruptions in 2021 and 2022, The HRF Learning Center has once again opened its doors to 60 young and vulnerable Afghan children in May 2023.
A well-rounded education is critically important to a child’s overall well-being. Thanks to the kindness of our supporters, the HRF Learning Center will continue to flourish and offer precious opportunities for children to think and dream of a life beyond the narrow confines of the school/orphanage.
HRF Emergency Relief Assistance
Since its inception, HRF has also mounted several winter relief efforts to provide basic necessities (food, clothing, blankets) to distressed children at the Sana Orphanage in Kandahar and at the OWA and JAHAN organization in Kabul; and helped survivors of natural disasters in remote areas across the country.
