What can we do to benefit Afghanistan?
There are vast amount of work we can do to benefit the people of Afghanistan even when we are 3504 miles (precisely!) away .One such example is doing charity work. There are registered charities such as Afghana Foundation and Supporting Children Globally (SCG) which are involved in helping those in need in Afghanistan. SCG especially focuses on Children and their education whilst Afghana Foundation does general charity work, responding to National Crisis etc. What can you do? You can of course donate, but that’s not the only action you can take. You can volunteer for these charities, raise money by bucket collection, selling products, doing challenges or even dressing up in a costume to raise money.
Other than charity work, you can get involved in politics (we know you like it!). You can use your power of voting to lobby your MP in order to support policies in the Parliament which are in interest of Afghanistan. We have regions with large population of Afghans. We will only get their (MPs) attention if we show them we care to vote and our votes will matter, especially in constituencies with large number of Afghans. Other than voting, we can protest against injustices, such as previous protests held against the Pakistani Government in front of their Embassy in late 2014.
What can we do to benefit Afghans in UK?
Most of Afghans in UK are freshly settled in and are need of information to direct them towards a goal, be it financial or educational.
Majority of Afghans in UK do not hold a higher education qualification or even basic education; hence they are unable to acquire the information they need. One example is that they cannot direct their children towards a successful education. We need professional Afghans to come forward and help these people. We need doctors to help those aspiring doctors to help them go through the challenging application process. Similarly we need Afghan professionals from different fields to help and mentor students to get into the careers they want.
Our people in UK are also in need of information and advice about their Legal Rights. This may be Immigration issues, Civil Dispute or Criminal Law advice. Quite often they are made to pay large sums of money to get basic legal information from their Lawyers. We need volunteers who are willing to donate a small amount of their time to help their community get this information without having to pay.
What can we do to help ourselves? Especially students
Get involved. Get involved in your Schools, Colleges and Universities doing extracurricular activities. It is the skills, such as interpersonal skills, confidence and organisational skills you acquire from these roles and activities that will enable you to compete in the World outside your educational institution. Your grades are important, but they are not enough. You can get involved in the leadership programme at your institutions, such as being the Prefect at your school or holding a leadership position in your Student Union. Other activities would be running a sports club, reading club or a social club. Contributing to the outside community is also important. You can volunteer at a hospital helping the Nurses, at your Local Hospice/Care home, for a charity or even become a Police constable to enforce laws for a safer neighbourhood. In short, you should be an ‘all rounded’ person- don’t focus on one aspect of your education. This is really attractive to application tutors at universities and of course to the employers.
As you can infer, the three headings are interconnected. As a young person, you can develop yourself whilst helping people around you. When you help and develop yourself, you are a benefit to the people around you, hence you are an asset to Afghanistan and the entire Globe. We, at UAPM, are in the process of building a network which will hopefully enable more people to get access to information and help. Hence, brighter future for the Afghan Youth in UK and abroad.
Finally, we would like to say Ramadan Mubarak to each and everyone of you and we hope that you use this month to benefit yourself and others around you.
Rahmanullah Hayat
Afghan Youth Movement UK (AYMUK) 