Afghan Refugee Sock Drive

As the holidays are upon us, giving is certainly on the mind. In a place such as Afghanistan the need feel enormous.

My colleagues and I here in Afghanistan are working on the second annual sock drive for internally displaced Afghan refugees. Last year they gave out 3,000 socks to both children and adults at local refugee camps.

To give a bit of context for those who are interested in more of the background, Afghanistan has been plagued by war for the last thirty years. This has caused a huge number of refugees to flee Afghanistan and live out years of their lives in refugee camps along the Pakistan boarder. In recent years these refugee were sent back to Afghanistan but still don’t have homes to return to; due to current violence and political instability.

The conditions for most Afghans are poor, but it is particularly bad at the refugee camps. Despite international aid efforts to alleviate their poor living conditions, the reality is that they live throughout the cold winter and hot summers in large group tents. Many of these are also in disrepair with leaks and so forth.

Socks are a basic item that many in Afghanistan go without. Driving around in the streets of Kabul you will plainly see that many are walking around without socks. As many of our mothers used to say, “I get cold just looking at you!” In the cold and dreary weather these days I can only image how that must feel as I write this with my cozy slippers on.

I know there are many charitable causes out there, but if you are interested in donating socks for refugees we can help to ensure that every last sock goes to a needy pair of feet. The socks were found last year by our local staff about about 30 cents a pair. Thus even five bucks would keep a family of feet warm.

If you are interested, just send me an email and I’ll hook you up with the paypal info. I promise that all of the funds will be used wisely and transparently and that I’ll post photos here for folks to enjoy.

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be psyched to know that I’ve kept three hundred feet warm this winter as well as facilitating in getting more through possible donations.

Happy Holidays,

Miel

Man praying to Allah in Thanks