More than half the population of Afghanistan lives below the poverty line, while around one third of the population do not receive enough nutritious food.

The Situation:

In Afghanistan, more than half of the population lives below the poverty line. Ninety-seven of every one thousand live born children will die before they turn five . A major cause of this child mortality is due to lack of adequate nutrition, with 24.6% of Afghani children under five underweight .
Now consider the case of the widow in Afghanistan. In a country where female labour force participation is at 19.1%, rampant discrimination and cultural barriers restricting female income generation mean families are heavily reliant on males to provide necessities . Widows, who have lost the primary income provider for their family and are restricted from employment themselves, struggle to raise the money necessary to provide their families with the nutritious food they require.

Our Plan:

Our founder, Mahboba Rawi, has personally identified five-hundred widows who are in need. We aim to, with your help, provide each of these widows with at least one 20kg bag of rice.

In Asia rice provides over 50% of caloric intake to the poor and very poor as an important source of protein, iron, and zinc among other nutrients[1]. By presenting a gift of one 20kg bag of rice to each widow this Ramadan, we will enable them to help their family satisfy their nutritional needs and directly combat poverty in the nation.

[1] Ricepedia 2009, The global staple. [online] Global Rice Science Partnership. Available at: < http://ricepedia.org/rice-as-food/the-global-staple-rice-consumers> [Accessed 6 Jun. 2017].