MD 9 KAM AIRLINES OF AFGHANISTAN. KAM AIRLINES HAULS VMW AND IT's EQUIPMENT INTO AFGHANISTAN FREE OF CHARGE PER AN AGREEMENT SIGNED TWO YEARS AGO. VMW PROVIDES FIRST AID KITS FOR KAM AIR's CREWS and IT'S FLEET OF AIRCRAFT.

 

 

 

 

VOLUNTEER MEDICS WORLDWIDE TEAMS WORK IN VARIOUS PROVINCES AROUND THE COUNTRY.

 

In Afghanistan women are considered less of a citizen than men. They are force to remain fully covered , wall several steps behind their husband. They may not speak to any man who is not their family unless it is matter of grave importance. Children have been for the most part used and abused by the Taliban in the past. Though current changes have meant marked progress for women and children , there is much yet to be done to move toward common world standard. Volunteer Medics Worldwide may not always be able to speak openly about all of the projects and missions that we are involved with in Afghanistan. Safety and security is of maxium importance and often hinders profitable outcome of the things we attempt to do. We do however , with the help of God and honest and caring partners, make a difference in the lives of those we can reach and work with.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BELOW: Volunteers sort and pack thousands of item headed for needy children in Afghanistan.

A large part of our mission in Afghanistan is working to help train locals to do for themselves after we are long gone. Prevention of disease and injury are high on the list in a war torn nation as this. Eye care and prevention of blindness programs are so important to the future of these children!

 

 

                                                        In the photo below (left) a boy has been stabbed by another boy in the camp during argument over food. In many places IDP or Internationaly Displaced Persons dwell in poorest of conditions. Fresh water, proper food and medical care just is not available to the vast majority. Our teams pack in and arrive in country with as much as we can carry in an effort to provide to as many as possible. Children died every single day for lack of medicine that may only cost 50 afghanis or 1 US Dollar. If the parent or guardian can not pay for the medicine and treatment then they are turned away from MOST places of care! The push for an outreach program is currently being workes on by organizations such as our own along with the Afghan Ministry of Health. The is never a shortage of injured or sick in the camps that we visit on a frequent basis.

  

 

 

Blast injuries are a common sight in Kabul and many other areas in Afghanistan. The main hospital for children in Kabul sees over 1,000 children a day for care yet it's monthly budget is 1200 US Dollars. Children and their parents wait for hours and days in the courtyard and on the steps of Ghandi Hospital for a chance to see someone who can help them. Many do not have the resources needed to purchase what is needed from nearby pharmacies so that they can be cured. There does not appear at this time to be a shortage of medicine or medical supplies in Kabul or Kandahar but the funds to purchase even the most basic of items is hard to come by for those in need. Unemployment at 80% at times equals LOW or NO chance for a child to be cured of the most common illness and injury. We know that we can not save and cure everyone but we also know that we make a profound difference in the lives of those we attempt to care for. Many receive training in basic examination and treatment of medical problems and injuries.

Afghanistan is rich in culture , vast and open with much to learn around every corner. Just when one thinks he has figured them all out and seen it all,,,the surprises fall out of the sky! Another large part of our program here is to give children at chance at education.

 

Most children here do not have more than one garment to wear, one pair of shoes and there is little chance for books or educational material that is not provided by political sources. Just to learn to read and write is a major accomplishment in the majority of places outside large urban areas of Kabul and Kandahar. In the photo a boy has been checked for eye disease, his injuries have been treated and he has been given a large amount of school supplies with the help of Volunteer Medics, The French and American

humanitarian units. This boy will have a chance that many here will not have. He was worth the risks that we all took that day to go into such a remote area with the chance of being ambushed , shot or beheaded by Taliban insurgents who want NO education , NO school books and NO outside influence of any nature. On this day nearby a young American Officer , LT Roslyn Schulte USAF was blown apart by an IED in the very road that we had crossed earlier. She too paid the price for this young man's future and for his entire village.

 

 

 

 

Volunteer Medics Worldwide makes every effort to train leaders of other humanitarian projects in the examination and detection of eye disease. In the doing this there are more trained people in each community and camp that have the ability to recognise sight threatening disease and get treatment treatment for the person or child before it is too late. These training has proven to be easily remembered and often enjoyed by those who learn. They may not become experts overnight but the have the basic knowledge to save sight in thousands of children who pass before them each week. One look around Afghanistan and it is painfully apparent to us how much blindness could have been prevented of found and treated in a timely fashion.

With God's help we were able to set up an entire eye examination room in the Polyclinic attached to Ghandi Childrens Hospital in Kabul in early 2009. Dr Yousufzai allowed us to provide instruments, medications and materials to an Afghan trained female Ophthalmologist, Dr Miriam. She was given two two Ophthalmoscopes , her room was set up with a complete vision chart and medicine cabinet. She has been working hard treating eye disease and providing eye glasses since the spring of 2009.   

 

Below: Christopher R. Hamel Arrives with a VMW TEAM at KABUL , INT'L AIRPORT.

Kabul is one of the most dangerous places on earth at the moment. Kandahar ,the major city in the Southern Province of Helman is possible worse during the current military operations by NATO Forces pushing for stability in the region. To work just one single day here and bringing relief supplies, medicine, eye glasses or school books will mean the volunteer has risked their life several times over. To give up, throw ones hands into the means that these children and people will be caught in a cycle of never changing oppression ,ignorance and violence.