September 26th, 2024
Dear friends,
I would like to start by giving the floor to Dominik Langrehr, who has put a lot of work into moving our homepage. The first SEP-newsletter was sent out without any problems via the newsletter delivery system connected to the new hoster. So here’s Dominik in a nutshell with a few points about the website and the newsletter:
Our new host for the ofarin.org website is Siteground – https://de.siteground.com/ . The website runs on the tried and tested WordPress system and the data is stored in Siteground’s Frankfurt data center. You will now also receive newsletters from this system, and as usual via e-mail. All newsletters can also be found on the homepage under “Newsletters | Newsletter: https://ofarin.org/category/rundbriefe_newsletter/”. There you can also write a comment on the newsletter directly below the newsletter.
Anyone from your circle of friends who would like to subscribe to the newsletter can now do so via the homepage. Soon there will also be an easy way to change your e-mail address for receiving the newsletter, should this become necessary. Some cosmetic changes are still being made to the website, and the English translation is also still in progress. You are welcome to send us suggestions for improvement and requests via the contact form (https://ofarin.org/kontakt/) or, of course, via our central e-mail address info@ofarin.org.
Now it’s me again, Peter Schwittek: The newsletter will continue to appear in the “Leineblick”. And we will continue to send the newsletter to people who live without the Internet and e-mail. If we don’t have them yet, we need your postal address.
In the newsletter that I wrote at the beginning of this month and sent out a little later, I was told about a seminar that had improved the lessons. In the meantime, I have visited OFARIN boys‘ classes in Bini Hissar, Reshkhor and Qalacha. The lessons are indeed much better than before. Attendance is very high everywhere. Out of often more than thirty pupils, at most two are absent. The pupils have mastered the material. They only make small mistakes at most.
The OFARIN eye program: Our school program is currently accompanied by an eye program organized by engineer Abdullah. Abdullah had already carried out such programs five years ago. Then we ran out of money. Now we have started again.
Children who are affected by visual defects can hardly recognize them themselves. They have always looked the way they do now. And their parents and teachers also don’t know that the pupil doesn’t recognize some things correctly. This definitely has an impact on the success of pupils‘ lessons. Some pupils struggle to learn to read because they can barely distinguish some letters. Eye tests can help to identify visual defects.
Engineer Abdullah tests both eyes of pupils, teachers, trainers and other staff. One eye is covered and with the other eye, the person being tested has to recognize E’s that are turned up, down, left and right. Smaller and smaller signs are shown. Then it is the other eye’s turn. If the examinee only recognizes the large shapes, he is placed on a list. A few days later, Abdullah takes all the examinees from one teaching area who are on the list to the Noor Eye Clinic. There, ophthalmologists decide on the treatment after further examinations. Many patients are treated with medication. Others are given glasses. The quality of these glasses is not bad, although they cost almost nothing compared to glasses from German opticians. Some patients also have to undergo surgery, sometimes even abroad.
OFARIN’s pre-school program: OFARIN had a very popular pre-school program a few years ago, which we also had to give up due to lack of funds. We have now restarted this program in some mosques. Pre-school education is becoming a necessity everywhere. Children who start school at around the age of six usually can’t name the colors. Some children hold a pencil with both hands. After preschool, which lasts a good six months, children can name the colors. They know the single-digit numbers and have an idea of the corresponding number of objects. They have drawn a lot with crayons. Children who have gone through pre-school lessons are much better prepared for general school lessons.
This is a problem for OFARIN. The pupils who start general classes have very different prerequisites, depending on whether they have been to pre-school or not. OFARIN has neither the means nor the organization to include all children in pre-school classes. Pupils who start general classes with us should actually be treated differently. That was too much for us. Without pre-school lessons, it would be easier for OFARIN. But children who attend these classes take so much from them that we will not give up preschool. In future, preschool lessons, or significant parts of them, must become an integral part of our general education program. Until we have found ways and means to do this, we will continue with the existing pre-school lessons.
Reforestation in Khost: Hewad is back in Khost, preparing to plant walnut trees this fall and winter. We carried out such a planting last fall and winter in Senaki in the district of Tani. The most precious trees there, such as oaks and cedars, had been cut down and sold for decades. The deforested areas were used as grazing land. The remaining topsoil was exposed to erosion.
To protect the seedlings, the entire project area was closed to livestock – sheep, goats and cows – for the next three years. Monitoring teams prevented the animals from entering the area. In the very first year after planting, cedars and oaks sprouted again throughout the project area. The old stands were still alive and began to recover. As a result, local tribes quarantined several grazing areas that were previously forested – i.e. they also closed these areas to livestock. The local authorities support the initiative.
This highly interesting experiment is not a sure-fire success. Pastureland is being lost. However, forests will probably emerge years later. What do you do with forests? You can cut them down again and sell them. Then you’re back to where you are now. The quarantine forests don’t offer people a regular harvest like our nut tree forests. But wait! You have to take a closer look.
Even a forest with precious woods can provide regular harvests. This requires strong forestry management, as we have in Germany, for example. Every year, experts must determine which trees are felled and which trees are replanted. In this way, the regular sale of valuable timber ensures a constant, high income.
In many developing countries, there was a traditional forestry industry like the one we still have in Germany today. Many of the locals were familiar with the trees. They were able to decide which trees needed to be felled this year and which in five years‘ time. In this way, the forest was preserved and generated profit for the people. The inhabitants followed the decisions of their tree experts. The tribes in Khost seem to me to be quite capable of rebuilding sustainable forestry.
But can the people protect their forests from outside encroachment? The officials in the distant Ministry of Agriculture in the capital have never realized that the backwoods people in the provinces have been left in charge of the forests. They at headquarters are actually entitled to make every decision about agriculture. If a foreign investor, then makes a lump-sum offer for all the timber in a certain area, it is a huge income for the state finances – and an opportunity for some senior officials to increase their private wealth. In such a situation, no one in the capital is committed to preserving the forest in the distant province. Nevertheless, the forests in Khost are not without protection. In Khost, the population lives in tribal groups who are used to defending their rights by force if necessary. All Afghans know that the men from Khost are very good shots.
The questions that arise in Khost arise almost everywhere in Afghanistan. The land above the irrigated fields has been left to nomadic cattle breeders. The boundaries between arable land and pastureland are usually contested between farmers and nomads. Political forces often intervened in favor of the nomads. But the local farmers also owned livestock themselves, which needed grazing land. Forest has no chance in this conflict between farmland and grazing land. However, it would be beneficial for the local economy and also for the local climate if forests were nearby to provide wood and keep the area cool and moist. All areas would benefit economically and ecologically if they were interspersed with woodland. The extent to which this is possible depends on rainfall and soil conditions. But a lot can be achieved by choosing suitable plants. The type of irrigation, e.g. drip irrigation, also creates opportunities. The cooperation of the population is crucial. In most parts of Afghanistan, there are no resilient tribal structures like in Khost. Instead, you have to deal with clan chiefs who lurk for personal gain. And corrupt authorities can prevent any progress.
At the moment, all of OFARIN’s agricultural resources are tied up in Khost. But next year we could imagine our first forays into agriculture in other provinces.
Kind regards,
Peter Schwittek.