Afghanistan Relief Organization

Description

Afghanistan Relief Organization is a non-political, non-religious, nonprofit 501(c)(3), non-governmental humanitarian organization, registered in both the United States and in Afghanistan, founded in the United States in 1998. It is based in Cypress, Orange County, California, USA, and works in Afghanistan.{{cite web

ARO was officially formed in 1998 by Abdul Satar, a communications project manager and businessman, and a fellow Afghan, Aboul Fazil Khalili, the grandson of the former Afghan poet laureate, Khalilullah Khalili.{{cite web |url-status=dead |url-status=dead

The organization delivers relief aid in the form of food, medicine, school supplies and winter relief supplies directly to those in need and offers general education programs designed to encourage self-sufficiency. ARO provides free education to 1100 girls and boys, as well as providing adult education programs to both women and men at the Technology Education Center (TEC) in Kabul, where it employs Afghan staff.{{cite web |url-status=dead

ARO operates with an all-volunteer team and no paid office or warehouse space and with minimal overhead in the United States. The organization spends less than 7 percent on administration and fundraising in the United States and Afghanistan, and attempts to put the maximum percentage of donor contributions to work in Afghanistan.{{cite web |url-status = dead

Afghanistan Relief Organization is not to be confused with the original UK charity Afghan Relief, set up by the writer and Sufi teacher Idries Shah in 1984 and removed from the registry in 2002, having ceased operations.

Activities

Aid supplies

In February 2002, for the first time in almost 30 years, a commercial 747 aircraft landed at Kabul International Airport, carrying desperately needed humanitarian supplies for Afghanistan Relief.{{cite web | url-status = dead |url-status=dead

At a meeting hosted by University of California, Los Angeles's International Institute on 7 February 2002, Noor Delawari, an advisory board member of the Afghanistan Foundation and chair of the ARO, spoke of the urgent need for aid in Afghanistan: |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030522043936/http://international.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=1161 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2003-05-22

Education

Afghanistan Relief Organization has also raised funds for the training of teachers and the construction of rural libraries in Afghanistan.{{cite web | url-status = dead |url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130201064406/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS214098+03-Dec-2007+PRN20071203 | url-status = dead | archive-date = 1 February 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250829152024/https://www.ocregister.com/2006/02/28/fundraiser-offers-aid-to-afghans/ | archive-date=2025-08-29 | access-date=2025-08-29

Afghan Ambassador Said Tayeb Jawad visited Los Angeles, California on 23 February 2007 to deliver the keynote address at the ARO's annual fundraiser, Peace Through Education.

According to a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Education Fact Sheet (plus Q and A) for Afghanistan, 2007: |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20080314103529/http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWFiles2008.nsf/FilesByRWDocUnidFilename/EGUA-7C6MM6-full_report.pdf/$File/full_report.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2008-03-14

Film producers Participant Productions and Paramount Vantage have designated ARO as one of the non-governmental organization (NGO) partners in a social action campaign to accompany the award-winning film, The Kite Runner, based on Khaled Hosseini's international best-seller, through an introduction by the author.{{cite web | archive-date = 23 December 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081223160945/http://www.afghanrelief.org/aro-projects/the-kite-runner | url-status = dead

In 2007, Paramount Classics and DreamWorks Pictures studios donated 500 laptop computers to schoolchildren in Kabul. The ARO distributed the computers, provided by the One Laptop per Child initiative which is aimed at children in developing countries.{{cite web | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130201063819/http://www.reuters.com/article/sphereNews/idUS146828+12-Dec-2007+PRN20071212?sp=true&view=sphere | url-status = dead | archive-date = 1 February 2013

Midwifery training

With deaths in pregnancy or in childbirth so high in Afghanistan, and few trained women there to assist with childbirth, the training of midwives is another major project for the Afghanistan Relief Organization.{{cite web

References

References

1. Afghan Relief was registered with the UK Charity Commission (no. 289910). It was founded 25 July 1984 and ceased to exist and was removed from the registry on 3 October 2002. See [https://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/RemovedCharityMain.aspx?RegisteredCharityNumber=289910&SubsidiaryNumber=0 Charity Commission record]. It used the same Post Office box number in London as the Society for Sufi Studies for its address.
2. The ''United Press International'' article is reproduced in full on the AfghanRelief site [http://www.afghanrelief.org/about-aro/aro-relief-trips/february-2002 here] {{webarchive. link. (24 July 2011)
3. "Home {{!}} Tikkun Olam International".