Five programmes, one purpose

Masjid Support

Whoever helps and builds the house of Allah (swt), Allah (swt) will build a house in Paradise.

Mosques are the centre of any community, where people can congregate for their five daily prayers and Friday congregation sermons. A mosque serves as a place where Muslims can come together not only for prayers, but for information, education and meetings. Faith is vital to shaping the attitudes, beliefs and practices that lay the foundation for everyday life. Faith unites people as a community, gives them strength, breeds hope, and inspires social justice as well as the perseverance to improve themselves and their lives. Within the Islamic context, where the concept of Zakat obligates the fair distribution of wealth, faith is integral to development.

At AWSCF we build community mosques in remote villages to aid development. Mosques are where people gather to worship. It’s where children learn religious manners and to read the Holy Qur’an. In mosques villagers are united as a community to practice and better understand their faith, which is vital to development. In Afghanistan there are many areas without a masjid, and the absence of water for ablution is a further major problem.

Education Support

An estimated 4 million children are out of school in Afghanistan – 90% of them are girls.

Afghanistan has been passing through the worst situations for decades due to the continued war inside the country. Especially, the educational background in Afghanistan has been destroyed. School buildings were bombarded. School assets were burnt and staff were killed. Students were either martyred or forced to migrate to the neighbouring countries. The new government in Afghanistan has accelerated its efforts to establish a standard educational curriculum. A number of improvements to the past syllabus have been made. New school buildings have been built. Despite all these efforts, deficiencies still exist in the modern educational system in Afghanistan. For instance, several provinces and districts lack buildings, books and chairs. The government has failed to provide such facilities for students, and AWSC Foundation focuses on this issue.

Education is the first priority for AWSC Foundation. The foundation provides assistance to those students who are willing to study but cannot afford their educational expenses. During the past 3 years, the foundation has provided a number of free scholarships to students who were interested in education. For this reason, AWSC Foundation signed agreements with multiple institutes, universities and schools. According to these agreements, students get free education. During the year 2021, AWSC Foundation signed an agreement with the Trust on Education to provide free education to 1000 poor students; AWSC Foundation took responsibility for their education, books, stationery and uniform. In the last three years, based on agreements with private universities, the foundation was able to introduce about 500 young people in different fields to private educational institutions for free, and employed 400 young people who were suffering from unemployment in different organizations.

Employment Support

In one year, AWSC Foundation trained 240 widows in tailoring and handed each a sewing machine and the tools to work from home.

A country’s import and export average reveals its strong position in the world after its defence system. After a country’s security position, import and export is what counts. Those countries which have a high value of exports are among the prosperous nations of the world. Unfortunately, in Afghanistan, after decades of war, security and business have been eradicated. People have lost whatever they had. Business activities are unorganized. Illiteracy and poverty have mostly increased. The number of technical personnel has been reduced. The government failed to provide employment to its people, which brought a chaotic situation and panic to the country.

AWSC Foundation continues to set up private businesses for those who cannot afford their daily expenditure as they have families to support. The foundation has set up private businesses for a number of poor families to earn a halal income. In one year, AWSC Foundation provided technical training in tailoring to 240 widowed sisters. After the training was over, the foundation handed over a sewing machine and the necessary tools to each of them; they work at home and earn comfortably for their families. The foundation also provided 60 widows with the opportunity to prepare chutney and achaar so that they could sell their products in the market, and provided clothing stores for 50 women so that they could be engaged in sales.

Widows Support

According to the United Nations, there are an estimated 3 million widows in Afghanistan.

Widowed Afghan women are often called “besarparast”, meaning “without a head of household”. Regardless of whether they work or not, or can support their families or not, widowed women are not considered the heads of their own families after their husbands pass. From national television shows to governmental figures to local people, everyone uses the word “besarparast” to describe widowed women without considering how condescending it is. This term assumes that women always need a male head of household and cannot be considered the owners and decision-makers of their own lives. This word, and the thinking behind it, is what leads family members and relatives to interject in the lives of widows and make decisions about who they should marry, where they should reside, and so on.

Afghan women who have been left to deal with physical and psychological hardship as sole heads of household constitute one of the most vulnerable social groups in the country. These widows do not have someone in their home who can support them, financially or otherwise, while they also have to take care of their children. AWSCF is doing its best to provide basic facilities to these widows so they can live their lives.

Water Well Support

Only 42 percent of Afghans have access to safe drinking water, and only 27 percent of the rural population have access to sanitation facilities, resulting in diarrhoeal disease that claims the lives of an estimated 85,000 Afghan children.

Water is a free gift of Allah to His creatures. It is a compulsory element for all living things: humans, plants and animals. Water occupies 71 percent of the world, whereas 29 percent is dry land. There are countries in the world which do not have water for either agriculture or clean drinking. Afghanistan is a mountainous agricultural country which lacks water facilities. A number of areas exist in Afghanistan where residents have difficulty finding clean drinking water, and people use dirty water for drinking.

AWSC Foundation has completed two water well projects to provide clean drinking water for poor people. Besides this, the foundation has also completed water well projects for masjids and madrasas, where people use the water for ablution and drinking.