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“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” —John 1:5

Rarely is there a day when Afghanistan is not in the news. This is especially true of the past weeks, as ongoing conflict, child fatalities, a sluggish peace process, and foreign troop withdrawals worsen — all of which are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. You may have seen breaking news reports that Herat, where World Vision has our national office, has fallen under control of the Taliban.

But behind the headlines is another story. One of a resilient people seeking life in all its fullness, and a World Vision team striving daily to be a light on the nightstand (Matthew 5:15) for them.

We are watching, monitoring, and responding to the situation as it changes every day, often throughout the day. We have a small number of international staff in Afghanistan and more than 300 national staff doing their best to work from their home base as access to a number of our programmes is limited. We are very concerned about our national staff, particularly their families as they are fearful that sons will be pulled into the fighting and daughters denied education and rights. To have someone to talk with about their concerns and share their burdens, we have introduced psychosocial peer support for staff.

Every year, nearly half a million children and adults in Afghanistan benefit from our work. We will continue to remain faithful to our commitment to help the most vulnerable children from all backgrounds, even in the most dangerous places, to overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. History has clearly shown us how Afghan communities have survived all these challenges and are able to bounce back. The resilience and fortitude of the Afghan people is extraordinary. Their ability to overcome, dream, innovate, celebrate, push against social norms, and demonstrate goodwill remains a constant motivation.

Children are the single greatest asset to any sustainable, durable solution to the multiple crises. They and we need an immediate ceasefire and for all sides to put the humanitarian needs of their people first. As you support this work, please pray for a ceasefire and for the protection of children.

Pray for: ·       

  • Peace and safety for our staff to be able to resume operations
  • Emergency assistance to reach the millions of children, women and men in need quickly
  • Hope for families hurting in a season of unrest and uncertainty   

Tenth has been supporting World Vision Afghanistan through Pastor Ken's Book Donation Fund and donations from the Tenth community. 

If you would like to make a larger donation to World Vision Afghanistan, feel free to reach out to Patrick, Tenth's Pastor of International Missions at patrick@tenth.ca or Don Bennett, our World Vision Church Engagement Advisor at Don_Bennett@worldvision.ca