About

FRIENDS OF ASCHIANA UK, is a registered UK charity, created in 2002, dedicated to supporting the work of Aschiana, the School for Street Working Children in Afghanistan. We aim to continue helping this unique organisation, saving and improving the lives of some of the poorest children in the world.

ASCHIANA, the School for Street Working Children, is one of the most loved and iconic organisations in Afghanistan. Founded in 1995, it is dedicated to getting vulnerable children off the dangerous streets and into full-time education, to help them play a positive role in the future of their country.

ASCHIANA aims to rescue street working children, who would otherwise never go to school, and have no means of improving their lives.


Barrow for hire boys outside Kabul.


Girls earning a pittance, collecting paper from rubbish beside the road.


Photo courtesy of Wendy Summer, zaanha.com

ASCHIANA has been educating street working boys and girls equally, since 1995.  Its area of work now covers, Kabul, Herat, Mazar e Sharif, Khost and Paktya. And it supports women and children in IDP camps surrounding the major cities.

IDP – Internally Displaced Persons – as with those fleeing the fighting in Helmand Province.


ASCHIANA’s main centre in Kabul provides Basic Education, Literacy, English, Computer Studies, Child sponsorship, Vocational Training (Tailoring, Carpentry), Sports (Football and Judo), Recreational (Arts, Calligraphy, Miniatures), Library (including a mobile library which serves the IDP camps). And a Hot Meal a Day to all its students.


Aschiana’s main school Library, with video technology as an aid to teaching literacy.


ASCHIANA’S schools in the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps brings education to children, who otherwise would never be able to go to school. Their families have lost everything in conflict areas, and are forced to live in squalid camps appearing around the major cities. Aschiana also strives to provide food and other assistance to these children and their families.

We go to Afghanistan, witness how donations are spent, and identify other areas where we can be of help. Aschiana’s Founding Director Engineer Mohammad Yousef, interviewed by Friends of Aschiana’s Caroline Mylon, at Charahi Qumbar IDP camp outside Kabul.

Friends of Aschiana UK is manned entirely by volunteers, with no office premises to maintain. This means that almost 98% of your donations go directly to help educate and feed Aschiana’s children in Afghanistan.

OUR TRUSTEES

  • Caroline Mylon (Chair)
  • Julian Davies (Treasurer)
  • Fiona Earle MBE (Secretary)
  • Edward Lockhart-Mummery
  • Federico Motka
  • Lucy Lyon
  • Lyse Doucet
  • Noal Zaher
  • Rosamund Lockhart-Mummery

Friends of Aschiana UK is proud to be a member of BAAG (British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group) a unique advocacy and networking agency, which aims to support humanitarian and development programmes in Afghanistan.