Provide Care for Afghanistan's Abandoned Children

We are pleased to report that all is going well with our Children's Garden and Foster Program for orphaned children in Northern Afghanistan.

Recently, we requested accomodation at Kabul International Air Base from the US Air Force and our request was granted by the commanding general Stephen Shepro.

GR founder Rick Montgomery and senior program manager Travis Gearhart were greeted upon arrival at Kabul International Airport on April 13 by Lt. Colonel Howard Gentry and a security team. General Shepro invited the GR representatives to dine with him and his executive team on Saturday night. This dinner provided an opportunity to discuss a wide array of topics including a shared belief that more small humanitarian projects must be initiated in the earliest stages of future low-intensity conflicts.

On Sunday Montgomery and Gearhart connected with General Assaduhla of the Afghan Air Force for an impromptu inspection of a K-12 school that the General's wife had raised funds to build. During his time with General Assaduhla Montgomery explained all of the due diligence, transparency and oversight that would be required for GR to oversee the rebuilding of the general's childhood school. Montgomery had planted the seed for the project during his first mission to Afghanistan in 2010.

On Monday, Montgomery and Gearhart met with a village elder of Baharak and two of the 50 children supported by GR's Baharak Children's Garden and foster program. Important agreements were made which will result with increased care for more orphaned children.

Review of achievements:

• GR reps Rick Montgomery and Travis Gearhart met with a village elder of Baharak and the project's local manager Janagha Jaheed in Kabul. All oversight objectives were achieved.
• GR connected with the COO of Roshan, the telecommunications company and largest single tax payer in Afghanistan. Roshan agreed to help GR resolve project-related connectivity issues.
• GR made progress in expanding its foster care network from Baharak to Faizabad.
• GR also made important on-the-ground contacts that will make possible a post-2014 delivery network for its Badakhshan projects.

We are very proud that we were able to travel back to Afghanistan this year to make sure our projects are moving forward smoothly and without corruption.

Our meeting with the village leader from Baharak was so successful that we are now looking to create a new children's garden and expand our foster program network to Faizabad.