Update: OPAWC thanks its supporters. Go to updates to read OPAWC's message.

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Hi, and thank you for coming to my aid project. I am a supporter of SAWA-Australia, the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan, who works with women's aid organizations in Afghanistan to bring education and health to illiterate and poor women. I have been in Kabul several times and visited a literacy centre run by OPAWC, the Organization for Promoting Afghan Women's Capabilities , and supported by SAWA. Latifa, the director of OPAWC, told me about Hamoon Clinic, a health centre OPAWC operates in Farah, one of the poorest provinces of the country, and said how worried she is about the future of the clinic. So today I am asking you to come to the aid of Hamoon Health Centre with a very special request.

Hamoon Clinic is a small health centre with two main doctors: one gynaeco­logist and one medical and child specialist. The two doctors treat around 150 patients per day. The Centre has earned a reputation of being the only reliable medical centre. As the entire population was dependent on the ill-equipped state-run hospital, establish­ment of this clinic was a blessing for the people. Unlike the state-run hospital (which is financed by a foreign NGO) Hamoon Clinic, in addition to free treatment, does not charge for medicine.

In Afghanistan, particularly in remote areas like Farah, health care is one of the greatest concerns for the poor people of the region, who cannot pay the exorbitant doctor's fees and medicine. As a result Hamoon Clinic has gained a high reputation in the province. Wherever one goes into any corner of the province people know about the Hamoon Health Centre. People journey for hours from remote villages and wait hours and sometimes days for their turn to be treated.

In 2011 OPAWC asked the Ministry of Public Health to formally register Hamoon Clinic. The Ministry could not believe that a women's organization can run a health centre and refused the registration. After 6 months of argument it eventually undertook a survey in the province and was surprised to hear how much praise the people had for the clinic, so it relented and gave the clinic its official registration.

In Afghanistan being registered with the government is not an absolute blessing. The Afghan government has no money, so the Health Ministry places demands on the clinic to safeguard its standards but does not offer financial support. OPAWC managed to meet the first demand, the installation of a blood testing laboratory, so Hamoon Clinic has now the only laboratory in the province that can guarantee proper storage of blood samples in a province where electricity comes on only 2 or 3 hours per day. Now the clinic needs to replace its ambulance. The old ambulance was a second hand vehicle donated from Germany that, after 12 years of use and frequent repairs, finally has ended its life. Patients are now transported in an old car that finds it difficult to negotiate Farah's tracks and has breakdowns, sometimes even with patients on the road. A new ambulance is urgently needed.

Latifa says that a second hand ambulance, fully equipped with a life support system, can be bought in Kabul for around $12,000. Can you help me to raise that amount, so that SAWA-Australia can buy Hamoon Clinic a new ambulance? The people of Afghanistan and I will be forever grateful for your help. On behalf of the women of Farah province, thank you!

We need a few dollars to cover the expenses of the crowd funding drive, so the total amount I am asking is $12,500.

Any project for Afghanistan is exposed to risks. SAWA-Australia has supported projects in Afghanistan since 2004 and always completed them successfully. The main reason for this success is that all projects are implemented by women's organizations in Afghanistan who know the conditions on the ground and can take precautions in difficult situations. OPAWC, the Organization to Promote Afghan Women's Capabilities who runs Hamoon Clinic, has years of experience with operations in remote areas of Afghanistan.