Provide Care for Afghanistan's Abandoned Children

We are happy to announce the relaunching of our most famous project in Afghanistan: the Baharak Children’s Garden or "BCG“.

From 2011 until we were forced to shut it down in 2019, the BCG helped hundreds of orphaned children find a home because the children arrived with food grown at the BCG.

In a time of war, the BCG served not only as a food security program, but also as a place where family-less children could socialize and feel a sense of belonging.

We are grateful to all of the GlobalGiving donors who have funded our work in Afghanistan over the years.

Recently, the Northern Taliban granted us provisional authority to relaunch the BCG!

The children we accept in our program live on the outside of Afghanistan's clan-based society. Many children are stragglers who have been taken in by distant relatives who don't have enough for to feed their own children. 

There are millions of children who can't go to public schools when and if they reopen, simply because they live with families who don't have the funds to buy clothing and books for them.

Now that the snows have mostly melted in and around Baharak, we have started to plow the earth on newly leased land and „reassemble“ our team of gardeners, educators and social workers.

Our new food security program is called Baharak Small Scale Farm (BSSF) and it will serve widows and children who were forsaken by years of war.

Main goals of the BSSF:

1. Reduce poverty
2. Reduce hunger
3. Create opportunities for jobless people
4. Reduce domestic violence
5. Reduce forced and early marriages
6. Prevent dangerous work for destitute children, especially street peddling for girls.

How it works:

The BSSF empowers orphaned children and poor families through the creation of a multi-faceted community vegetable garden, chicken egg farm and education center.

Besides food, the BSSF creates educational, social and work opportunities for the people of Baharak, especially young women. A vast array of agro-economic activities and educational programs provide all participants with key tools that help them to build a better life for themselves and their families. Poor and orphaned children receive daily meals, lessons and a safe place to socialize with new friends.

This program fills a dangerous void in post-war Baharak society. Orphaned children and widows desperately need the nutrition and educational support that the BSSF brings them.

Below, photos 1 and 2 show the BCG in its hey day. Photos 3 shows the land we have leased and have started to work, photo 4 shows the location of our new farm and school,

We have achieved the following milestones this month (March, 2022)

• We coordinated with the Department of Economy in Badakhshan and with the Ministry of Economy and Ministry of Social and Labor Affairs in Kabul.
• We received the first installment of $2,550 from Global Roots in the USA
• We selected and rented a 0.5 hectare of arable land for one year for 40,000 af ($500) for the project. We will use a basin irrigation system, so no need for water pump or generator.
• We rented a building for our office and for holding an agricultural school for children. The children will visit their garden one day per week and they will be trained (and socialize) at the school the rest oft he week. The distance between the garden and school is 5.75 km. We will use a bus for student movement.
• One project manager, one project admin and one lead gardener were recruited before starting the project activities at the beginning of March. The rest of the team will be staffed in April.
• Land break up and plowing has been accomplished and vegetable seeds have been purchased in Kabul. 

The BSSF is one of two projects that Global Roots has reinitiated in Baharak in recent months. Our vocational school for orphaned girls, launched in 2020, has reopened in both Faizabad and Baharak serviing a total of 50 girls. We will update you on the progress of our vocational schools in our next report. 

GlobalGiving Donors, we thank you for your support!

We would like to dedicate the BSSF project to our lead officer on the ground in Afghanistan "Wahaj"

Wahaj, without your leadership, hard work and negotiation skills with the Taliban, this project would not be happening.

We love you Wahaj!!