SOLIDARITE PROVENCE AFGHANISTAN

SOLIDARITE PROVENCE AFGHANISTAN

(A Few words about the association)

Created in March 2005, this association aims to bring assistance to Afghan people (especially in what concerns health and scholarship), and to organize cultural and informative meetings about Afghanistan.

The association is not linked to any political strength, nor French or Afghan. Neither does it have religious views. In fact, its action is more headed towards Human Rights defense, and it believes in a society that would not be based on ethnical criteria.
The association "Solidarité Provence Afghanistan" is a regional one which goal is not to interfere in the big work necessary to the country reconstruction. Indeed, our association wants to specialize into bringing help to the population by giving them necessary things that are missing in many villages but can be found easily in bigger cities : school furnitures, tissue, soap, box ot matches, sugar, rice...

"Solidarité Provence Afghanistan" offers to work in partnership with other associations that pursue the same objectives, at a national or regional scale.

According to the guiding principles of sustainable development, we give priority to local techniques. In 2005, 2006 and 2007, we particularly helped a little village near Ghazni by giving people who were in need vital aids. In this village and around, 1700 scholar kits were handed out in 2006 and 1000 in 2007. Our aim is to reduce the number of go-between by giving directly, in the form of useful products bought on the spot, the money collected in France during public meetings and thanks to the members of the association.

Each year, two members of the association travel to Kaboul, the journey paid for by their own means. Before they go, an administration council decides on how much money they should be given, and what they should do with it. The association works with permanent contacts in Aghanistan so that the help would not depend to much on the travels, which can be postponed for security reasons.

The association put its knowledge at the disposal of other organizations that intervene to help Afghan people. Indeed, it offers its services in what concerns translation and training programs, especially.

The association also acts in France, in order to make the Afghan culture better known : parties are organized around Afghan musicians or poets. The association can intervene on demand in schools and cultural centers in order to tell people about the nowadays situation in Afghanistan, but also about this country history or its women situation. The cultural intervention in PACA is absolutely necessary to the action on the spot, in Afghanistan, since it is during these meetings that we ask people for gifts and memberships.

The more occidental countries and their people will care about Afghanistan, the less fundamentalist influences would be observed.