Australian charity in Kabul Mahboba’s Promise won’t leave the women and children behind

An Afghan mother, who runs the only Aussie charity still working in Kabul, has pleaded for more help to save women and children. HEAR THE AUDIO

Mahboba Rawi has been crying for hours.

And when you hear her, you will also tear up.

This is the voice of an Afghan mother, a refugee now living in Australia and head of the only Australian charity still working on the ground in Kabul.

While she has seen so much in her lifetime she apologises for the tears but nothing could prepare her for the horror on the streets of the Afghan capital and the calls she receives all day and night from people begging her for help.

“I am so sorry for being like this … I try and calm myself down and encourage others to carry on with this huge sorrow, this huge hurt, our heart is aching we feel we have been in the fire, we are burning, but there is not much we can do,” she said.

The Sydney-based not-for profit charity Mahboba’s Promise had been helping 900 families but 400 recently “disappeared” since the escalation of conflict and the fall of Kabul.

Some Afghans hurry to escape Taliban rule. Picture: Supplied

Now those that are left are destitute and begging for food which her charity team provide, mostly just staples like bread and milk and she fears particualry for the women and girls.

Mother Mahboba, as she is widely known, has headed the charity for 26 years but nothing could prepare her for events now unfolding.

“In the past 26 years I have worked so hard, I grew up in war and I grow old in war and I give my life for these people and I am willing to stand by them so they can survive in this difficult time,” she said yesterday.

“I have to be honest, Afghan people are the strongest people you can meet, as strong as a mountain, I don’t think any human being can cope with this much suffering and I don’t understand how they are coping but their faith is keeping them alive as they suffer for so many years and God knows how many more years they will suffer.”

Mother Mahboda, who received an Order of Australia for her work, carries the weight of so many on her shoulders and conceded she is not sure how to cope herself with so much crisis as she struggles to get just the basics to women and the children now destitute on the street.

She dispatched cars in Kabul with some of the 80 staff, all former orphans from an orphanage she still runs, carrying bread but such was the desperation they were swamped by hands grabbing before queues could be formed.

Young passengers waiting to board a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III. Picture: Supplied

“It’s overwhelming. You can see the UN is not there, the Afghan government is not there to help them, we are the nation and as humanity we cannot really cry because of our emotion but to use our strength and help the people on the ground,” she said.

Her son Nawid Cina, general manager of the program, said the group was one of the only ones actually still administering aid in Afghanistan.

“People are broken that’s how they really feel … everyone is still moving, their lives continue so we just want to support as much as we can; we don’t know how things will be going forward but my mum’s resolve is strong and we will continue,” he said.

Donations to go toward tents, food and clothes can be made to mahbobaspromise.org.