I want to thank you so much for helping the Handicapped Children of Afghanistan. Your donations went to the needy innocent children that suffere the consequences of turmoil and fighting.
I cant thank you enough. I truly appreciate your help and could not have done this with out you. I hope we will have peace in Afghanistan so that the future of the children will be bright. Thank you for your kind contributions. The receipts which itemize and allocate all donations are posted on the donations page. We raised roughly $ 39,000 this year!
Thanks you all very much for changing the lives of so many children.
The 2010 trip is complete. Your generosity is amazing, and this year we raised $37,811.00. I am very blessed to have a wonderful group of friends, coworkers and family who have shared in my cause of helping the Handicapped Children of Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, as you can see many innocent children are still in the middle of the crossfire between the Taliban and US airforce strikes.
I hope we will have peace in Afghanistan so that the future of the children will be bright. Thank you for your kind contributions. The receipts which itemize and allocate all donations are posted on the donations page.
Thanks you all very much for changing the lives of so many children.
2010 receipts:
HASSINA OMAR
CHARITABLE TRIP TO AFGHANISTAN
September 19th, 2010 FINANCIAL STATEMENT
1.Emergency IT Hospital -Medical Supplies -$15,250.00
2. Najibullah Azizi Rice Store -Rice -936 bags @ $23=$21,528.00
3. Najibullah Azizi Rice Store -Rice -50 bags@ $10=$500.00
4. Driver for Truck-Driving, loading& unloading rice to 3 schools -$200.00
5. Driver& Guide to get to3 schools-$300.00
6. Cost of temp cell phone-$50.00
TOTAL DONATION-$37,299.00+ $543 =$37,842.00
Wire transfer $ -31.00
$37,811.00
TOTAL SPENT -$37,828.00
SCHOOL OF THE BLIND RECEIVED-260 rice bags
SCHOOL OF THE DEAF RECEIVED-336 + 5= 341 rice bags
SCHOOL OF DEAF & MUTE RECEIVED-340 rice bags
AFGHANS 4T RECEIVED-45 rice bags
MEDICAL SUPPLIES TO EMERGENCY IT HOSPITAL:
30 WHEEL CHAIRS -$83.00ea = $2,500.00
250 PAIR OF CRUTCHES-$20.00ea= $5,000.00
4000 POP COTTON-$.55ea = $2,200.00
400 POP -$13.25ea = $5,300.00
400 STUMP BANDAGES-$.06ea = $250.00
Distribution recap for 2009 Trip to Kabul, Afghanistan
September 16, 2009
EMERGENCY IT HOSPITAL
50 pair of elbow crutches purchased at Mohsin Pharmacy @ $18 pair $900
101 pair of auxiliary crutches purchased at Mohsin Pharmacy @ $20 pair $2020
27 regular wheelchairs purchased at Mohsin Pharmacy @ $100 each $2700
5 walkers purchased at Mohsin Pharmacy @ $35 each $175
3 child wheelchairs purchased at Mohsin Pharmacy @ $130 each $390
Discount -$1185
TOTAL $5000
September 17, 2009
AFGHANS 4 TOMORROW
66 Bags of rice delivered to the disabled children – purchased from Najbullah Azizi Store at @ $23 bag $1518
Briquette Project for the disabled children – donation for the continuation of the program. @ $600
Total $2118
ANAD SCHOOL of the DEAF
289 Bags of rice delivered to the disabled children – purchased from Najbullah Azizi Store @ $23 bag $6647
FAMILY WELFARE FOCUS SCHOOL OR DEAF/MUTE
312 Bags of rice delivered to the disabled children – purchased from Najbullah Azizi Store @ $23 bag $7176
SCHOOL OF BLIND
233 Bags of rice delivered to the disabled children – purchased from Najbulla Azizi Store @ $23 bag $5359
DRIVER/GUIDE/RICE DISTRIBUTION/TRUCK RENTAL $500
TOTAL DONATIONS AND CONTRIBUTION $26,800
Cheryl Preheim speaks with Hassina for a story examining the escalation of violence in Afghanistan.
9News story here.
DENVER – A woman in Colorado is helping the youngest victims of the war in Afghanistan. Hassina Omar just returned from Kabul and says the need is greater than ever.
She says the Taliban used to target embassies and government buildings, but is now more often targeting civilian buildings like airports and schools.
There is no single official figure for the number of civilians killed in Afghanistan since the war started in 2001. The United Nations Assistance Mission puts the number between 12,000 and 32,000.
It says the number of injured is significantly greater.
Omar has hundreds of pictures from her recent trip. When she sees the faces of the children she sees that the story of their lives could have been the story of hers.
“I was 12 years old when the Russians invaded and my family fled,” she said.
That was about 30 years ago, but Omar has never forgotten her native country and the children who don’t have a way out.
“That is the whole point of going back every year. You see all they are suffering and just want to help,” she said. “When the kids are just outside, just trying to get through the day and they are stepping on a land mine and they don’t have any limbs. What is the future of that child and what did that child do to deserve that?”
Coloradans are helping. Nearly $27,000 in donations helped Omar deliver needed supplies to Afghanistan.
She is carrying on the work of her late mother through an organization called Handicapped Children of Afghanistan.
In September, she took crutches, wheelchairs and walkers to children recovering at hospitals in Kabul. She also went to schools and handed out 900 bags of rice.
One bag of rice can feed a family of five for two months.
This trip Omar says she noticed a difference. When a bomb exploded at the Kabul Airport on Sept. 17, she felt the walls of a school shake.
She says Kabul isn’t as safe as it used to be and says it’s hard to see the country in its current state.
“It’s become this hub of terror this little country that didn’t have much,” she said.
It is the only life these children have ever known.
“If you look at their little faces they are smiling and happy and you think, ‘In a war zone how can that be?’ They are just trying to make the best out of every day,” Omar said.
This October, Denverite Hassina Omar honored her late parents by carrying on their dream: helping children wounded from three decades of war in Afghanistan. Once there, she realized there was more to do. And she made it her dream too.
She is confident and tall in her heels. Her hair is so black and shiny it’s almost blue. Her green eyes light up, and it’s impossible not to return her smile.
Hassina Omar looks like a princess from far away who’s been plopped into an unlikely place: Radio Station KOA’s newsroom. Laughing, she says, “Look at this button. The cover’s coming off.†She smooths down her blazer with long, cool fingers.
Fashion talk is the Western way, but just three months ago the makeup was gone, and she covered her sweat pants with a black robe so as not to draw attention to herself. Omar was visiting a hospital in Kabul, delivering boxes of tiny crutches and wheelchairs. Waiting for them were children injured by land mines left from 30 years of war.
She is carrying on her mother’s life’s work. Handicapped Children of Afghanistan was started by Khadija Omar to care for kids whose disabilities are often ignored by their government. “The children are the ones who are most innocent,†says Hassina. “Many of these kids are released from the hospital with nowhere to go, their parents blown up by some crazy fanatic. These are the most graceful children I have ever met.”
Handicap International reports 800,000 people in Afghanistan have been injured by scattered mines and explosives, which are forgotten until they’re stepped on. Half of these casualties are individuals under 19 years of age.
This is not the Afghanistan Hassina Omar was born into. Forty-one years ago, it was a neutral country run by a king. Omar was the baby of five children, outspoken and fiery. Her parents were educated in France and sent her to international schools, where she learned English. When she was 12 years old, the Russians invaded, and the world as she knew it was over. Her father, Abdullah Omar, was the minister of public health, a respected physician known for building family-planning clinics in the most rural areas of Afghanistan.
Emergency Hospital $3,300
Food supplies for School of the Blind $6,552
Food supplies for Ministry of the Disabled $5,700
Food supplies for School of the Mute $8,000
Food supplies for School of the Dead $8,988
Afghans 4tomorrow Briquette Project $9,260
9NEWS reporter Cheryl Preheim speaks with Hassina Omar about her 2008 Afghanistan trip. 9News story.
DENVER – A dollar doesn’t go as far as it used to, but one American dollar can still help change a life in other parts of the world. It’s all a matter of perspective.
Hassina Omar lives in Denver. A trip to her native country of Afghanistan has changed the way she views her community, herself and the challenges we all face.
“I was 12 years old when the Russians invaded and my family fled. We only had the clothes on our backs. I have been grateful every day since for another chance,” said Omar.
Her father, Abdullah Omar, was the Minister of Health in Afghanistan before the invasion. He was later assassinated.
Hassina’s mother Khadija raised Hassina and her siblings in Colorado. Khadija never forgot all the other children in Afghanistan who have faced do much hardship since.
Khadija started the group Handicapped Children of Afghanistan to help raise money for those children.
Since her mother’s death, Hassina has continued her legacy.
“It is sad. Ninety percent of Afghanistan’s people are starving and 10 percent are making it,” said Omar. “Every day I just count my blessings. It just makes you want to go back and help.”
In October, she made her first trip back to Afghanistan in nearly 30 years to deliver donations from Coloradans. She bought and distributed 1,040 bags of rice. Even rice, at $40 a bag, is a luxury to many in a country where the average yearly income for a family is $300.
“The families are just fighting to survive,” said Omar.
Omar came back to Colorado with a new perspective of the current challenges we all face.
“We are in an economic crisis here today and it is difficult, but if you realize how much more we have here you see it differently,” she said. “We have electricity, we have running water and a roof over our heads. We are in a tough place right now but we are still lucky because we have food on our plates and we are not in a war zone.”
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Omar is now collecting donations for her next trip to Afghanistan next year.
You can make a donation at:
UMB Bank
c/o Handicapped Children of Afghanistan
707 Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80206
October 8th, 2008… We visited with children staying at this hospital.
Some of these photos are not pleasant to view but it is the reality of war and innocent children are injured by land mines and they have suffered from decades of war. It will be my mission to continue and aid the innocent Handicapped Children of Afghanistan.
Below are some photos of the school. While the students face many more challenges than the average Afghan youth, the instructors provide an excellent environment for learning given the resources they have.
Hassina Omar and “Handicapped Children of Afghanistan” are featured in the February issue of Denver Woman Magazine.
These were sent from Dr. Predja, at the Emergency IT War Zone Hospital.
On October 7th we delivered 234 bags of rice.
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