Help Afghan School Children Organization (HASCO) is a

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

-based

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

, non-partisan organization dedicated to the promotion of education of

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity **Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pash ...

disadvantaged children. HASCO was founded in 2002 by an Afghan humanitarian

Hafizullah Khaled Hafizullah Khaled ( fa, حفیظ الله خالد) is an Afghan Austrian humanitarian, peace activist, writer and founder of the Help Afghan School Children Organization (HASCO) based in Vienna (Austria). HASCO is a not-for-profit, non-politica ...

. HASCO members work on a voluntary basis, HASCO

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s in different countries spending their time and expertise to help Afghan disadvantaged children. HASCO mostly focuses on the education of Afghan poor children and helping

Afghan refugees Afghan refugees are citizens of Afghanistan who were compelled to abandon their country as a result of major wars, persecution, torture or genocide. The 1978 Saur Revolution followed by the 1979 Soviet invasion marked the first wave of interna ...

families from refugee camps in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

to send their school-age children into school. During last six years, HASCO has supported thousands of needy Afghan schoolchildren by providing them with school supplies, school bags, monthly contributions and other school necessities such as thermos, school caps, school clothes, and so on. Hasco volunteers also conducted rehabilitation works in schools recently burned by the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

in the eastern Afghan province of Laghman. HASCO's big school supplies distribution programme has been launched under the name of Hope's Journey Caravan in June 2005 with the full co-operation of local education authorities and representatives of the Afghan Ministry of Education. During this operation, a large quantity of school supplies have been distributed to tens of schools in the

Shamali Plains The Shomali Plain, also called the Shomali Valley, is a plateau just north of Kabul, Afghanistan. It is approximately 30 km wide and 80 km long. Once, it was a fertile area, rich with water, where fruits and vegetables were cultivated, and ...

north of

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

HASCO Volunteer gets UN Award

HASCO is a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

consisting dedicated volunteers from different countries; during last four years a large number of online volunteers have been introduced to HASCO by

United Nations Volunteers The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and ...

Programme (UNV). These volunteers generously spent their time and expertise to make difference in the life of Afghan children. HASCO volunteers are from different countries such as Afghanistan,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

, UK, and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. On 5 December 2006 the

Programme (UNV) selected HASCO online volunteer Mrs. Allwatiah with other nine volunteers as online

UNV Volunteer of the Year The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and ...

2006. Mrs. Allwatiah is an Omani national, a mother of five children and head of the English department at a school in Oman. The

(UNV) Program, has highlighted in the February 2008 newsletter the experience of HASCO Online volunteers to promote the ideals of volunteerism around the world. The UNV newsletter explained how HASCO online volunteer Daniela is helping the organization to reach out to the German-speaking public and potential donors by translating project proposals, reports and press releases from English to German. One day, her instant reaction to an assignment within a 24-hour deadline resulted in the donation of 1,000 schoolbags by the Municipality of Vienna. In Afghanistan voluntary work plays an important role in the implementation of HASCO projects. HASCO volunteers, including female volunteers, actively participated in Hope's Journey Program to distribute school supplies to tens of boys and girls schools from

Bagram airport Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of above sea lev ...

city.

Programmes and Ppojects

During more than three decades war and destruction in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

, children were among the main victims of long year's war and bloodshed in their country. War not only killed and injured thousands of innocent Afghan children but at the same time thousands others were deprived from their basic right of education and schooling. Today one of the big challenges of Afghan poor families is how to provide their school age children with school supplies and school needs. The conditions of those Afghan families recently returned from

and

refugee camps are not better than those living in

on arrival at their village. They met only the ruins of their houses and farms. These families need assistance to send their children to school.

Hope's Journey Caravan

To provide a large amount of basic school materials to thousands of needy school children in different communities and to avoid long bureaucratic barrier in distribution process, HASCO organized Hope's Journey Caravan in north of

. During this one day humanitarian trip a large amount of school supplies have been distributed to tens of boys and girls schools in Qarabagh, Kalakan and Mir Bacha Kot districts in north of

. Additional to HASCO volunteers, local education authorities and representatives of the Ministry of Education also participated in school supplies distribution process. The school supplies have been collected during first part of Hope's Journey in

by Cary Ragsdale, director of Hope's Journey Organization, Beau Moore, his closest friend, and tens of school children and teachers in

for supporting

school children.

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 pursua ...

(

ISAF ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , command ...

) in Afghanistan contributed to this programme by shipment of school supplies to Bagram airbase in north of Kabul.

School rehabilitation programme

With deterioration of the security situation in

, tens of schools have burned by

extremists in south and eastern part of Afghanistan. With burning each school once again hundreds of innocent Afghan children have been deprived from their basic right of education. These schools were set alight at the time while education authorities still are not able to rebuild hundreds of destroyed schools during civil war in

and most of schools in

are without class, desks and chairs. Children are sitting on the floor during school time. Under HASCO School Rehabilitation programme five schools have been rehabilitated in eastern province of Laghman.

Backpacks for Afghan school children

Most of schools in

province and districts are far and children have a long daily walk ahead of them in order to reach their schools. In some areas, children cross several hinders such as rivers, bridges and mountainous terrain to reach their school. Providing Afghan children with schoolbag will help them to carry more easily their daily school materials. Furthermore, to encourage Afghan families keep their children in school, additional to backpack and school supplies, other needs of school children such as school caps, thermos and school clothes were distributed by HASCO in different part of

Orphan sponsorship programme

As a result of long year's

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

and bloodshed today there are a huge number of orphans and disabled children in

. Most of Afghan poverty stricken families are living without regular income. Their everyday life is a struggle for survival. The aim of HASCO orphans sponsorship programme is to assist Afghan orphans and poor families by providing a specific amount of monthly contribution to cover school supplies and other necessities of their school children.

External links

{{portal, Afghanistan
Help Afghan School Children Org (HASCO)
*

Education in Afghanistan Education in Afghanistan includes K–12 and higher education, which is under the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education. In 2021, there were nearly 10 million students and 220,000 teachers in Afghanistan. The nation still requi ...

Charities based in Austria Foreign charities operating in Afghanistan Education in Afghanistan