By Town Crier Staff

Rotarians from Hayward to Los Altos are desperately trying to find transportation for some 80 tons of supplies intended to help war-beaten Afghans survive a cruel winter.

They have received donated materials ranging from food and clothing to ultrasound machines and an ambulance intended for tens of thousands of suffering Afghans in the Dar-Ul-Aman district.

As of last week, no one had come forward to provide the needed air or ship transportation to deliver the supplies.

Doug Franco of the Hayward Rotary Club has been actively trying to contact Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta about government transportation, but so far he has been unsuccessful.

Supporters also hope transport businesses will offer services.

Franco said he and other supporters will travel to Washington, D.C., Saturday, to lobby for help.

Franco recently enlisted the help of Los Altos Rotarians such as Bob Adams, through Los Altos Rotary’s World Community Service Committee.

Franco recently visited Afghanistan to assess their needs.

Other involved agencies include Assist International and the Wheelchair Foundation. The organizations work with De Solay Daywa, the “Torch of Peace” Foundation, which raises funds to provide food, health care and education to the poorest elements of Afghan society.

Dwayne Brown of the Los Altos Sunset Rotary Club and his wife, Sophia Omar of Palo Alto, also visited the ravaged country. Omar is a former Afghan refugee from the late 1970s, who has become an American citizen and operates a small business.

Omar said that if neither the government nor supporting businesses step forward, Rotary Afghan supporters would have to pay for the transportation themselves — the cost could go as high as $100,000.

“We really need help with the shipping,” Franco said. “That’s our biggest need.”

Another urgent need involves a deserted building that the government has given to the Rotarians to launch a medical clinic. Time is of the essence here too, for Franco said another agency could come claim the building if the government deemed it more ready to operate.

Omar acknowledged the Marshall Plan and its mission to help millions of Afghan refugees. But help under this plan is still months away.

“Many will not survive this winter,” she said. “(The supplies) need to be delivered right away.”

She described how winters in many parts of Afghanistan “are almost like Siberia - it gets 40 degrees below. Some parts get six months of winter.”

Warm clothes, such as sweaters, and shoes are especially needed for the suffering people, she said.

Many are living in shoddy tents with no roofs, with walls of flimsy cloth stretched against wooden supports, Omar said. They have little protection against the strong, chilly winds.

Omar offered some shocking statistics about Afghan children: one in five children is handicapped from the the estimated 20 million land mines in the country; and one in five children will die before age 5.

For more information or to help, logon to www.haywardsunsetrotary.org. Click on “projects” and then “Afghan trip.”