Afghanistan - was it all in vain?

Clank. 

I was startled when I heard the clink. 

The ship on which I live and work was rocked by a boat travelling too fast. 

A picture frame in the bathroom had fallen down and the glass had shattered. 

The picture shows a latrine in front of a hilly landscape. "Your toilet has a partner toilet in the village Maghzar in Aghanistan. Latitude 37.20100600 Longitude: 70.26327500″

When I built the toilet on my ship, I donated for another toilet for a village in Afghanistan because I wanted to share my gratitude and I know that toilets massively reduce diseases and child mortality. 

I have never been to Maghzar, about 50 kilometres south of Mazar-e-Sharif. 

But Afghanistan has been close to my heart since I travelled to the country in 2003 to support the projects of the aid organisation Shelter Now on site. 

The images from back then wander through my head. 

As a woman, I could move freely on the streets and remember cobblers, street traders and vendors. 

I think of the old village headman who gracefully gave all the children one of the sweets we had brought with us. 

From the women, who were often a little shy at first, then more and more cordial. 

I smile when I think of the children, they are like children everywhere in the world - sometimes a bit shy like the schoolgirls in the picture, but mostly playing happily. 

I smile when I think of the man who built his house out of clay layer by layer and had already planted the first rose next to it - the Afghans love flowers. 

The toilet was just one of many projects that I supported with your help.

• We helped to set up a women's co-operative in Afghanistan. 
• We helped farmers to switch from opium cultivation to the more profitable saffron cultivation. 
• We built two fountains
• We planted hundreds of fruit trees that now provide food for families 

Afghanistan in the hands of the Taliban

And now - to cry.

The picture of my partner's toilet broke on the day Kabul was taken by the Taliban. 

What will become of the country now?

Back then I saw the containers into which the Taliban locked people to starve to death. Sometimes they even threw a bomb into the containers.

The landscape was lined with thousands of chopped down fruit trees that they had destroyed to deprive people of their livelihood. 

I was in the stadium where executions took place every week under Taliban rule. During half-time of the football matches.

I flew home safely from the airport, where people are now desperately trying to flee, and chatted with the wife of an Afghan government adviser while being cared for. 

Now - the Taliban again?

I have tears in my eyes when I think about Afghanistan. I don't want it to be true. 

And then came the question: 

Was what we did worth it?  

The women's project will certainly not survive - but what will remain is the knowledge that the women have acquired - how to grow and preserve fruit better. Perhaps that will help them.  

The trees, wells and toilets will hopefully remain and provide people with water, food and hygiene. Better than nothing at all.

Is it worth investing if everything might be ruined again? 

Love is always worthwhile. 

Even if some things break afterwards, it is worth loving and supporting people with what you can. 

Crying becomes healing

I think to myself: Now more than ever.

I don't want to cry, I want to heal.

Over the last 15 years, we have sold around 1000 charity calendars every year and have been able to donate 1000 euros to Shelter for projects. 

Not much, but the money was enough for a well or hundreds of trees or for the start of the women's project.

Now I want more. And I've come up with something.

Because we have lower costs per item when we make larger print runs, we donate 2 euros for every 1000 calendars sold and 3 euros for every 2000 calendars sold. 

My goal is to support projects for people from Afghanistan with 10,000 euros in 2021. Now more than ever! 

You can get the charity calendar here - would love to order more - it's beautifully designed and makes a lovely gift for friends, family or clients.  

Whether we will be running projects again this year IN Afghanistan is more than doubtful right now. 

But I promise you that we will donate the money to projects that help people. from Afghanistan. If even that is not possible, we will support projects for Yazidi refugees living in northern Iraq.

I have decided not to replace the broken glass in the picture frame for the time being - to remind myself to pray and act for the people in Afghanistan. 

If you work with SupportsI'm very happy if you have other topics and projects on your mind - that's good too. 

And last but not least: If you want to work directly on Shelter donate to an organisation that has the German seal of approval and has been providing disaster relief and setting up sustainable projects in the region for years, you can do so at here The money can then be used most easily where it is needed most urgently.