Speeches Shim
Every day, all over the world, USAID brings peace to those who endure violence, health to those who struggle with sickness, and prosperity to those who live in poverty. It is these individuals — these uncounted thousands of lives — that are the true measure of USAID’s successes and the true face of USAID's programs.
In the past 14 years, the field of Information and Communications Technology has reconnected Afghanistan to the world. In 2001, there were no phone lines, let alone internet providers. Today, over a million people are using the internet and over 18 million people own cell phones according to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. 44 local internet providers and four local GSM phone operators supply ready information to a youthful population with a thirst for knowledge and a private sector anxious to build relationships with the international business community.
In many rural areas of Kandahar Province, farmers grow fruits and vegetables which have to be sold in the market immediately after harvesting. An oversupply during the harvest season equals lower profits for the farmers. Drying fruit and vegetables is one common solution.
Ms. Frozan Haidari, like many other female university graduates, struggled to nail down a job after graduation. “I learned a great deal during my time at university but employers are looking for tangible experience,” Haidari asserted in a recent interview.
People walk all over Mohammad Reza’s business, and he couldn’t be happier about it. His company, based in Kabul, was recently awarded a large contract to produce more than 300,000 square feet of mosaic tile to pave nearly 4.5 miles of sidewalk in the city.
Twenty-year old Shakila has never enjoyed the casual warmth and style of a cashmere sweater. “Keeping goats and sheep for more than a decade I honestly didn’t recognize its value,” she told an interviewer visiting northern Jowzjan province recently.
Roya, a 40-year-old mother of nine, is the sole provider for her children. She works throughout the day to bake the distinctive Afghan flatbread known as naan in a windowless room. Her face is swaddled in a covering both white with flour and dark with soot.
Most Afghans enjoy candy with their tea every day. The market for candy is strong.
Abdul Hadi has been farming for almost 10 years in his Southern Kandahar village. Tending his crops, however, was always a struggle because of the decrepit irrigation infrastructure available to the area. “Less than half of the farmers could afford to irrigate their farmland by water-pumps and the rest of the lands were left barren. Even some of the farmers were obligated to leave their villages”, Hadi asserted during a rare break from surveying his crops. The winter is particularly difficult for Hadi because like most area farmers, he cannot grow and is forced to purchase imported vegetables from Pakistan.
Raised in Tanzania’s Kilombero district, Goa had only one source of income—the 25 cents she received weekly from family and friends. That changed in 2014, when Goa joined a savings and internal lending community, or SILC group. The group is supported by USAID under the U.S. Government’s Feed the Future initiative.
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