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Good News & Updates from Afghanistan September 2022 |
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Dear Friend,
When in 2002 the first kids participated in our workshops and shows in Kabul, we could never imagine that MMCC would grow into such an amazing organization. We spent all our resources in the last 20 years to bring fun, laughter, joy, and social circus, not only to the over 4 million direct audiences reached in 28 provinces of Afghanistan but also to the entire nation who has been in different ways enjoying and benefiting our work. We keep introducing new arts and skills, setting new standards, and inspiring other organizations to create a dynamic and peaceful culture for children in this war-battered country. This year MMCC is celebrating its 20 years anniversary. Thank you for being with us in all the ups and downs of this journey in the last 20 years.
In August we marked this in Denmark, where MMCC was born and has its administrational base, with a lovely event together with old and new friends and supporters of MMCC. This was a great opportunity and a special pleasure to see and reconnect with many of our Danish supporters, who have been with us since the very beginning in 2002. In November we will invite you and all our thousands of international friends across the globe to celebrate with us in an online event.
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Championship and Festival
Neither we nor probably anyone else would have imagined that it could be possible to gather 60 children and youth champions from across the country for a 6-day circus festival in this new era of Afghanistan. Despite the challenging conditions, this was a magnificent week for all of the children, youth, and staff to reunite and celebrate their National Festival and Championships again.
First, our 16 team leaders organized regional juggling and jump rope championships in 8 provinces during August, and then the winners came to Kabul for the National Championship and Festival. Due to the current political situation juggling competitions for the girls were instead held in our Herat center while in Kabul 2 days of the festival were dedicated to girls from the Kabul IDP camps. More than 200 girls thereby participated separately in both Juggling and Jump Rope competitions. To cope with the major lack of juggling clubs, the team leaders made “Made In Afghanistan” juggling equipment. We also tailored "Made In Afghanistan" parachutes for children's social games with the support of a good friend´s fundraising on Facebook.
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Blossoming Activities in Herat:
220 girls and 110 boys are now attending various classes including social circus, arts, languages, and school subjects in our center in Herat province. The program in Herat is organized in two shifts with girls in the afternoon and boys in the morning. Lunch is provided for the children from the most vulnerable families. Many of the students are becoming artists and have already performed and are looking forward to performing more and keeping the hope and joy with educational entertainment and enriching a peaceful happy culture for children.
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Youth Network:
Besides the very successful Herat center´s activities, we now facilitate, supervise, and support 20 super active youth team leaders in 9 provinces who are running weekly social circus activities for 900 children. The 9 provinces are Kabul, Nangarhar, Bamyan, Khost, Herat, Laghman, Balkh, Ghor, and Konar. The activities include various social circus and social games as well as different arts and social skills. The 20 team leaders independently work closely in and with their own local communities and are supervised and mentored by our higher management.
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Food distribution:
Afghanistan continues to face alarming levels of hunger. Month after month, some nine in ten households continue to face insufficient food consumption and 2 million children are malnourished.
Besides providing lunch for over 100 children in our Herat center, our young team leaders in July distributed meat to 1367 underprivileged families as part of celebrating Eid. By engaging the youth in distributing food to the most vulnerable in their own communities, the impact goes far beyond the actual support for the families as the youth become local heroes in their local communities, gain energy, and become proud and happy.
We continue our food distribution depending on our project finances and our fundraising progress.
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Campaign Launch:
As an NGO we are required to have enough members to get access to bigger governmental grants and funds for our humanitarian, educational and child protection works. The membership fee is equal to 10 EUR/USD. We are also required to have a minimum of 200 gift-givers from EU/EØS countries, who each contribute a minimum of 250 DKK/35 EURO, which covers both membership and the required contribution. We highly appreciate any donation that helps us to meet these requirements.
Additionally to all that, from today until Friday 16th of September, GlobalGiving will match online donations up to $50 at 50%, making your donation go even further! Donate today to support our work for children: www.globalgiving.org/projects/BackToLife
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Thanks for your support
Berit, David, & all our Afghan friends & colleagues
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