The Cerebral Mum

Quite a while ago now I mentioned that I was working on setting up a new charity. We’ve just got the domain name sorted out and hopefully it won’t be long before I’ve got the site up and running. In the meantime, I’m going to tell you a little bit about it and ask anyone who is interested to start knitting.

As you know, my mother was working in Afghanistan recently as a teacher. Things are hard there with the war/occupation/whatever you want to call it. Things are harder in winter. While Afghanistan is an arid country where summer temperatures of 45-50c are not uncommon, in winter it is a very cold. In Kabul the snow can lie for 2 or 3 months and in some places it lasts beyond the vernal equinox. Temperatures of around -24c are the norm. The people there need warm clothes and too many do not have them.

The following letter was written by one of my mother’s students from Kabul.

Now, one can see only the sparkling white mattress laid everywhere. This joyful sight is not long lasting and is suddenly shattered when one thinks of the hundreds of thousands of families who can’t afford to buy fuel for heating.

One starts to abhor snow when one sees child peddlers or beggars running after cars, attempting to persuade those inside to buy their goods or give them some money. It is painful to see women in wet burkhas following cars and begging. One hears stories about families who sleep to cope with starvation, and yet cannot sleep because of the cold.

Children are stood in traffic, hands pulled into their sleeves as an alternative fashion to gloves, their sleeves white with snow. They run, many of them, after cars. Their faces appear at half misty windows, shuddering and begging, Khyrat Bedeh, their breath frozen on their lips. Their eyes tell the tale; they have not had breakfast; their skinny faces show clearly that they have had no food for an unknown period. Their torn jackets complain; they cannot protect them from the snow and cruel cold. Snow falls constantly and covers their hair, then slowly dissolves, changes to drops and slides down, freezing again before they hit the ground.

Some people think of snow as an elixir that helps them triumph over the fear of drought, but snow, for all its beauty, makes some people cry. Cry for a father whose children cry for food and a little warmth. Cry for a mother who begs out in the cold to bring food to her children, while her children cry at home for their mother to be with them. Cry for a mother who squeezes her tiny baby under her jacket to keep him warm, but can’t do anything to feed him. She, herself has not eaten enough, how can she feed her baby?

I can’t cry anymore. Help me cry for a family who live not in a protective shelter, but a tent with many holes in it, camped on a wet piece of ground, crying for enough food and dreaming of a little warmth.

Yes, these parents dream too. They are ordinary people and dream as we do. However, we have much more and dream of a better tomorrow. They dream for today. They dream of bread for their children. They dream of a time when their children are not hungry, and are warm. They dream of a time when they can look at each other knowing their children are satisfied.

It is some time since I first read this letter but reading it again today, it still makes me weep. The charity we are setting up does not require anyone to contribute money, but for those who have the time and would like to help, we are asking you to knit. Socks, beanies, scarves, jumpers, anything… Everything is needed.

At this stage, the items will need to be posted to an address here in Melbourne but we are in the process of organising a collection point in London as well, and hope to set up more collection points in the future. We have arranged for all the garments to be distributed in Afghanistan by Save The Children.

When the site is running, there will be more details available but if you are willing and able to help, please start knitting now. This winter has already descended. We are really hoping to be able to make the next one different for a lot of people.

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