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KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, Feb 4, 2022 — Baitulmaal, a Dallas-based international humanitarian nonprofit, recently provided merchant carts to 75 internally displaced families in Afghanistan to promote economic opportunities in the poverty-stricken region.
Families in the Kunduz province were provided carts and merchandise to help generate income after struggling with employment due to instability in Afghanistan. The charity prioritized vulnerable families with disabled members, young girls and pregnant women in order to help alleviate their difficulties and enable children to go to school.
According to Elizabeth Sohail, program manager at Baitulmaal, the carts help improve the economic situation for more than 600 individuals.
“These mobile carts are enabling Afghans to rebuild their lives,” Sohail said. “We know of a few cases where the income earned through these carts have allowed families to open stores and improve economic activity in their neighborhoods.”
Economic empowerment projects are vital to stabilizing communities and improving security in the region, Sohail continued. They also enable children to remain in school rather than work to support their families.
Baitulmaal helped repatriate 350 families from Kabul to their hometowns after upheaval gripped Afghanistan in late August. More than 270,000 Afghans fled their homes since the beginning of the year, according to the UN. In total, over 4 million Afghans are displaced. A recent UN report estimates that 98 percent of the Afghan population will be living in poverty by the middle of 2022, up from a current poverty rate of 72 percent.
Baitulmaal has been working with the Afghan-American-founded Education and Occupation Committee (EOC) to address the immediate needs of Afghan families as well as implement long-term projects such as the merchant carts. If you would like to learn more about or contribute to Baitulmaal’s efforts in Afghanistan, please visit their website at baitulmaal.org.
Baitulmaal is an international humanitarian nonprofit that provides life-saving, life-sustaining and life-enriching aid to people in need around the world. With headquarters in Dallas, Texas, the charity has offices and representatives in: Los Angeles, California; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Nairobi, Kenya; Mogadishu, Somalia; Amman and Al Ramtha, Jordan; and Karachi, Pakistan.
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