“The one thing I ask you not to do, please don’t do it. Is to forget Afghanistan. Do not forget us.”; a summary of Street Child’s Afghanistan webinar

Earlier this month, Street Child hosted a moving live webinar where supporters were given the opportunity to hear from those still on the ground in the country and understand the escalating humanitarian crisis. Our CEO and founder, Tom Dannatt chaired the session while our Global Head of Education and Asia Programmes, Ramya Madhavan led the discussion. She was joined by our Country Representative, Hamidullah Abawi, alongside guest speaker; activist, journalist and one of the TIME 2021 100 most influential people, Mahbouba Seraj. The webinar focused on three main topics; The changing landscape of Afghanistan, protecting the progress made for children and responding to emerging needs.

A changing landscape

Madame Seraj gave an emotional first-hand description of what it was like to be in Afghanistan during the takeover and transition to the Taliban and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. She described how even days after the transition in government on the 15th August, she saw the number of children on the streets increase dramatically and spoke of her concerns for women and young girls.

She said:

“In my life, it will be one of the saddest days that I will always remember.”

In this context, Hamidullah Abawi spoke on how the Taliban takeover has exacerbated already existing challenges. He described the intensifying food and water scarcity, with 22.8 million people now in food crisis. Alongside the worst drought in 27 years and a sudden economic collapse, Street Child are now focusing on mitigating any further devastating consequences with the focus on serving the people of Afghanistan.