Tahir Benevolent Fund
Our beloved friend and faithful chowkidor Tahir is on the rocks again. As most of you know he lost his last job after the NGO compound where he was working got blown up. He has been out of work for over a year.
Always one to plan ahead and live within his means (or perhaps because of all that time off) Tahir's wife has just given birth to their fifth child, a son called Mansour. Mansour is just two weeks older than my new son, Ziggy.
Despite his rapidly expanding brood, Tahir's living costs are meagre. Rent is 10,000 Afs (about $120 a month). Food is about 12-15,000 Afs ($180). And then there's his hash.
Even in these straitened times it is in our gift to make a massive difference to his life without bankrupting ourselves. Please give as generously and regularly as you can. (GoFund me takes 2.9% plus £0.25 per donation. That is probably less than the international transfer fees our jetset group of friends would incur in multiple bank transfers, but if anyone thinks of a slicker way to do this please let me know).
Everything donated here will go to Tahir and his family, via my trusted friend and former colleague Shoib Najafizada. We will try and disburse it monthly (at around $250-$300 a month) and, realistically, indefinintely unless and until Tahir is swept up in the great economic revival that comes with the imminent peace dividend.
Ideally we will find Tahir a job. Failing that, we might be able to use this fund to subsidise a job on a compound with friends or acquiantances who still have a presence in Kabul.
All your help and ideas are very welcome.
Bisyar ziot tashakor!