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Community Support

TravelAfghanistan was started to help the Afghans help themselves. The country’s amazing natural beauty is – in economists’ jargon - one of the few comparative advantages that the country possesses, meaning that Afghans can earn money through tourism without a great deal of investment. Most of the money paid by our tourists is spent in Afghanistan and, although modest, really does help shepherds, chai khana owners, guides and drivers keep their families. But we go further and also support charities and community development projects.

In 2004 we concentrated our efforts on the school in the Ajar Valley.
Here is a picture of our chief guide, Haji Safit Mir, and me distributing
pens and notebooks to children at the school

We have also bought enough textbooks for the entire school - $750 worth. They had none. Support of this school is a project that will continue year after year. The school has also been greatly helped by the New Zealand Army, whose soldiers have built desks so that children no longer have to sit on the floor.

By such projects I hope that Afghans will come to see tourism as a positive thing from which they all benefit and – equally importantly – means that tourists are not freeloading on Afghan’s traditional hospitality. Afghans really will give a guest their last bit of food.

We are also very proud to support what must be one of the best charities in Afghanistan – Sandy Gall’s Afghanistan Appeal. Sandy Gall was one of the most distinguished foreign correspondents to cover the jihad and in 1981 he set up a charity to provide artificial limbs for Afghans injured by mines. Since then, they have treated 50,000 people on an annual budget which must be a great deal less than the UN in Kabul spend on Landcruisers. The organisation is still run by Sandy, his wife and their two daughters, Micaela and Fiona. Fiona and her family live in Afghanistan, and with almost unbelievable dedication, remained there throughout the nightmare of Taliban rule. I am very pleased that a number of our tourists from 2004 are now raising money for SGAA back at home.

More information about this organisation can be
found at www.sandygallsafghanistanappeal.org