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A Mercy Corps staff member unloads kitchen sets donated by UNHCR into a Mercy Corps warehouse outside Kandahar. Photo: Scott Heidler/ Mercy Corps
KANDAHAR CITY, Afghanistan, December 27 - Today Mercy Corps announces the arrival of the first shipment of relief kits to Kandahar City since early October and the first distribution of wheat grain in southern Kandahar province. This Kandahar City delivery contains the first shipment of essential relief kits that Mercy Corps will bring into the war-torn city over the next few weeks.
The essential relief kits include tents, blankets, plastic containers (jerry cans), cooking sets, soap and stoves. Recognizing the dire need to get assistance to the people of Kandahar City and the neighboring province of Helmand before the worst of winter hits, the NGO will receive 2,000 of the relief kits in Kandahar City by December 31. Mercy Corps will distribute a total of 16,300 of the kits by the end of January. The relief kit material was donated by UNHCR, OFDA and World Vision International.
Mercy Corps has also begun distributing 260 metric tons of World Food Program wheat grain to Reg and Shorowak, two southern districts of Kandahar province. The wheat will provide a food supplement for nearly 10,000 people in the highly vulnerable remote areas.
"Our successful meetings with officials in Kandahar, the quick work of setting up the Mercy Corps office and the efforts of our national and expat staff have paid off," said Alex Jones, Mercy Corps Director of Operations - Afghanistan. "I am delighted that we are going to be able to get these kits and wheat out quickly, but this is just the beginning of what is truly needed in Kandahar and rest of southern Afghanistan."
Mercy Corps was the first international NGO to establish an expat presence in Kandahar City following the crisis. During the past two weeks Mercy Corps has been working with Interim Government officials to bring international aid back into the city and region. Mercy Corps has been working in Kandahar for over ten years.
Mercy Corps is also dispatching a team of engineers from its Kandahar City office to Tirin Kot, Uruzgan to begin a pilot cash-for-work program. The program is designed to kick-start the economy and provide the population with employment while rehabilitating much needed infrastructure.
On top of being cut off from any international aid for almost three months, southern Afghanistan has suffered from a severe three-year drought. In addition to the emergency relief programs now underway, Mercy Corps has been implementing drought relief and rehabilitation projects in four districts situated in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces since the drought began.
Mercy Corps has been operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1986 with the mission to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.
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