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Ali lends hope, visits projects in Kabul

Kabul, 18 November 2002 - Muhammad Ali, UN Messenger for Peace who is making his first trip to Afghanistan, started with a visit to Karte Sei High School, in western Kabul.

The school provides education for 7,000 students in one of the most devastated quarters of the capital. UNICEF has supported the rehabilitation of the school, with US$19,000 worth of repairs including replacement of windows, doors, roofing, and the installation of water and electrical supply. Despite the repairs, the two-storey building of 18 classrooms is still not big enough to accommodate the students. UNICEF has supplied 15 large school tents for additional space.

Mr. Ali was welcomed by an honour guard of pupils before touring some of the classrooms. There he met children preparing for their year-end examinations; for many of the students, this was the first set of examinations that they have been able to take for many years because of restrictions on girls' education. Mr. Ali then proceeded to take his place among students inside tented classes to see first-hand the difficult conditions that many children still face. Before leaving the school, Mr. Ali presented the students with gifts of volleyballs and skipping ropes; in return, the students gave Mr. Ali a UNICEF school bag, containing textbooks and stationery equipment, as a memento of his visit.

Mr. Ali then moved on to participate in the daily distribution of bread at the WFP-supported Bakery No. 5 in one of the most destroyed parts of Kabul. The women bakers, most of them widows, greet him with a presentation of a loaf of bread. Mr. Ali had the opportunity to meet beneficiaries and heard about the growing needs of the most destitute people in Kabul. Through its flagship urban bakery programme, WFP provides a daily ration of bread to approximately 250,000 highly vulnerable people living in Afghanistan's major cities.

Later in the afternoon, at his own request, Mr. Ali visited a boxing club in central Kabul, where he met with young sportsmen and presented a gift of athletic equipment.

In the evening, Mr. Ali was the guest of honor at an Iftar reception hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Guests included senior representatives of the major donor countries and UN agencies. He then held a private meeting with former King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan.