“I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord”
[Aug.15.2022]The lives of children in Afghanistan were turned upside down, one year since the Taliban took control. A report has been published on the situation of Afghan children who are at risk of survival today, a year after the Taliban regained power.
Save the children, an international child rights NGO, on August 10, released a report, titled Breaking Point: Life for children one year since the Taliban takeover.
Save the children surveyed with children and their caregivers; in-depth consultations, with children; and qualitative and quantitative mapping of health, education, and protection services for children. In total, Save the Children spoke to 1,690 children aged 7-17 and 1,450 caregivers across seven provinces, (Balkh, Faryab, Sar-e-Pul, Jawzjan, Kabul, Nagarhar, and Kandahar) in May and June last year.
The report shows that 97% of families are struggling to provide enough food for their children. Almost 80% of children said they had gone to bed hungry in the past 30 days. The crisis also takes a dangerous toll on children’s mental and psychosocial well-being. 26% of girls are showing signs of depression compared with 16% of boys, and 27% of girls are showing signs of anxiety compared with 18% of boys.
Continuing economic hardships, including shortages of food and necessities, children are kept out of school in many communities. More than 46% of girls said they are not attending school compared with 20% of boys.
What’s even worse is the fact that children are encouraged to marry. This is a more serious problem for girls. Over the past year, 88% of the children who were forced to marry to solve family economic difficulties were girls.
Chris Nyamandi, Save the Children Country Director in Afghanistan, said, “Life is dire for children in Afghanistan, one year since the Taliban took control. This is a humanitarian crisis, but also a child rights catastrophe.”
“The solution lies in the offices of our global political leaders. They should provide immediate humanitarian funding and find a way to revive the banking system and support the spiraling economy.”
Save the Children has worked in Afghanistan since 1976, promoting humanitarian aid projects to save the lives of children and their families. It has helped in a total of 2,552,763 people, including 1,451,402 children in the last year since the Taliban takeover.
In response to the crisis in Afghanistan, Save the Children is going to continue emergency relief activities to save lives, including health education, child protection, food security and livelihood support, shelter, and drinking water sanitation. You can participate in emergency relief support in Afghanistan through the emergency relief page on the Save the Children official website. (Source: Daily Good News).
“‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood, I said to you, “Live!” Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. (Ezekiel 16:6,60,62)
Dear God, pray for Your grace to the children in Afghanistan, who have suffered in the vicious situation for the year under the Taliban rule. Please rebuke the Taliban government for plundering the lives of children for its own greed, stop its evil deeds, and let the international community pay attention to it and protect the next generation. We pray that the church would pray for this bloody land so that the weak in Afghanistan will meet the Heavenly father who leads them to the eternal covenant and find comfort in the love of God.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
