WAW is working hard to respond to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The women, children, and families we serve in Afghanistan and New York have been hit hard. They need our support to survive this crisis.
WAW’s COVID-19 RESPONSE IN AFGHANISTAN
In Afghanistan, WAW remains a sanctuary to thousands of women and children who have nowhere else to turn. They are survivors of violence without a safe home. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, WAW’s centers and programs remain open and we continue to take in new cases.
Thanks to the help of key funders and loyal supporters during this health crisis, WAW was able to keep our extensive network of programs across Afghanistan and all of our 32 women’s and children’s protection centers open and available to the thousands who rely on our services every day. And, WAW has been able to ensure everyone under our care or who comes to WAW for help, is safe, despite the pandemic.
As of July 2020, WAW was able to:
- Provide awareness sessions, trainings, and daily briefings for all staff and clients, including information about COVID-19, how to prevent infection, and the proper use of sanitizers, masks, and other protective gear.
- Quickly develop a protocol on COVID-19, following guidelines from local and international health officials, and implemented in all of our centers. Posters and flyers on how to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic are displayed and distributed in WAW’s 32 centers in Afghanistan.
- Provide hygiene/disinfection kits to all participants of WAW's human rights training programs (most of whom are underserved) to help them and their families better protect themselves against COVID-19.
- Disinfect and clean all of our centers constantly.
- Create special quarantine rooms in every center where all newly enrolled clients stay for two weeks to ensure the health of everyone in the centers.
- Non-touch thermometers are used at all our Family Guidance Centers, which are open to the public, to check clients, staff, and other visitors for symptoms of COVID-19.
- Increase production of homemade masks made by the women who live at our Women's Protection Centers to help slow down the COVID-19 outbreak. All proceeds from the sale of these masks go directly to the women who make them.
- Review and update all our meal menus at our centers to ensure increased portions of vegetables and other foods that can help strengthen immunity.
- Maintain close coordination with the Ministry of Public Health to ensure WAW remains updated and in compliance with all recommended preventive measures related to COVID-19.
- Maintain close coordination with the local police, local community leaders, and the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to make sure we respond to any new cases of domestic violence, gender-based violence, and any other emergency cases.
- Coordinate and maintain close working relationships with hospitals to follow-up on the progress of individuals who may have been infected by COVID-19 and who WAW refers to these clinics/hospitals.
Messages from our staff
Farima
Jamila
Vida
The challenges we faced during the COVID-19 pandemic were some of the hardest we have ever faced as an organization. In Afghanistan, many staff left their families and homes behind for two-week shifts at our centers to make sure our clients were safe and their health monitored. Under stay at home orders, cases of domestic violence spiked. Desperate, new clients kept coming to us for help, despite the threat of infection. Overnight, we became first responders in the country. But we did it! And, I am so proud of our staff–many of whom fell ill themselves from the virus. Sadly, we lost one beloved staff member but thankfully, the rest of our amazing team is back at work—working as hard as ever.
— WAW Executive Director, Najia Nasim
Photos from Afghanistan
WAW’S COVID-19 RESPONSE IN NEW YORK
When the COVID-19 outbreak worsened in New York City late in March 2020, WAW immediately modified all its services and programs in order to safeguard the health of its clients and staff members. WAW’s New York Community Center (NYCC) immediately set up a mobile hotline, and programs and outreach were conducted by phone, email, social media, and multiple virtual and phone applications in order to reach all our community members that have varying access and literacy of the internet.
WAW also increased individual and family outreach during the pandemic to ensure community members were safe, had access to basic needs, and were supported during this challenging health crisis.
Despite the challenges of operating and serving our clients during the pandemic, WAW’s NYCC was able to:
- Reach over 5,000 individuals during our COVID-19 outreach to the community.
- Directly serve 971 clients.
- Provide cash assistance to families in financial hardship due to the pandemic. WAW directly provided cash assistance to 187 individuals and assisted 90 individuals with their applications for larger cash assistance––benefiting a total of 277 individuals (or 78 families).
- Regularly check in with community members––especially seniors and survivors of domestic violence––to ensure their safety and wellbeing, especially as COVID-19 was spreading rapidly in Queens and in NYC, and as the pandemic led to increases in cases of domestic violence, unemployment, and financial hardship.
- Provide side-by-side case management assistance to community members who needed assistance with applications for SNAP (food stamps), unemployment benefits, cash assistance, and other benefits.
- Continue Census 2020 outreach by phone, email, and social media to ensure Afghan, South Asian, and Muslim immigrant New Yorkers are counted and receive their fair share of funding. WAW reached over 1,200 households or about 5,000 individuals.
- Provide grocery and medicine pick-up and delivery for community members at-risk of severe COVID-19 or who could not leave their homes;
- Ensure that survivors of domestic violence had safe shelter, and assisted survivors and clients that became at risk of losing safe shelter.
- Assist domestic violence survivors in accessing justice, including coordinating with law enforcement, providing interpretation for survivors who do not speak English, obtaining orders of protection, and connecting survivors to lawyers when they were ready to file criminal charges;
- Offer counseling and emergency support 24/7 through the WAW hotline.
- Transfer all WAW empowerment classes/programs to virtual platforms in order to continue critical skills-building among our community members and to lessen their isolation and stress during stay-at-home orders and this unprecedented health crisis.
- Successfully reach 25 young women and 20 young men through WAW’s Girls Leadership Program (GLP), Boys Leadership Program (BLP), and Afghan Youth Rising programs, under the guidance of two team leaders, who are also from the same immigrant community. All 45 participants, despite the challenges they faced, did well in school and managed their challenges healthily. They showed leadership in their daily home and school lives and continued to keep their spirits up!
WAW was there when I needed them during the COVID-19 health crisis. Being stuck at home with an abusive husband became utterly unbearable. When he kicked me out of the house, WAW was there to help me and my children get through this terrible time. They stayed with me 24/7 until my children and I were safe and my husband was placed under a restraining order. I don’t know what I would have done without WAW.
— NYCC Client
Photos from NYC
Donate to our efforts:
COVID-19
To help us continue our life-saving COVID-19 work, donate here.
Paypal
If you you prefer Paypal or would like to make a donation in other currencies other than USD, please contribute here.
If you prefer to make a check donation, please send to:
“Women for Afghan Women”
158-24 73rd Ave
Fresh Meadows, NY 11366
