Local News
Afghan nonprofit looks to aid tsunami survivors


1/18/05
By MELISSA EVANS
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
Diana Haskins The day after Diana Haskins dreamed that thousands of Afghan women pounded on her door, the philanthropic world opened for the Goleta mother.

Her three-year-old nonprofit, Afghan Academy of Hope, has been handed two humanitarian awards, has partnered with another organization to provide meals to thousands of orphans and has been featured on national television.

Because of her newfound connections, she and others involved are now able to help orphans in another part of the world: Southeast Asia.

The group's current focus, among others, is finding donors to send VitaMeals, which contain complete nutrition for starving adults and children, to the tsunami survivors. The meals are made by a nonprofit called Nourish the Children that partnered with Mrs. Haskins' group last spring.

"We're putting out a plea to our regular donors," Mrs. Haskins said. "We need to help the survivors."

Her charitable work to help poor children across the globe began with a dream. In the days following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the former Mary Kay Cosmetics saleswoman prepared to write a check to the New York City relief effort.

"I had a strong feeling the money was supposed to go elsewhere," she said.

That night, she dreamt that thousands of Afghan women wearing traditional head coverings were raising their arms and asking for help at her door. She said God has since opened door after door, providing ways for her to help women and children in a country she couldn't even place on a map before the terrorist attacks.

After a couple of chance meetings, she found herself working with Soraya Abdullah Hakim, who heads all of Afghanistan's orphanages. Mrs. Haskins' organization supports an orphanage there with 250 kids and has worked to support home schools throughout Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and create financial aid programs so adults can attend college abroad and then return home to help the country rebound from 25 years of war.

The success and publicity of her work has been phenomenal, she said. Last spring, the organization was featured on an ABC program about Ms. Hakim and her work in Afghanistan.

Mrs. Haskins returned to Afghanistan in May for the third time in three years to take donations raised after the program aired. She also has worked with Southern California teachers, who brought $25,000 with them and purchased school supplies.

Then, last spring -- through another chance meeting -- Mrs. Haskins' organization partnered with Nourish the Children, a philanthropic initiative of Nu Skin Enterprises, based in Utah. The organization specializes in making VitaMeals and built a plant in the African nation of Malawi that utilizes local labor and local materials to feed local people. The group is sending more than a million meals to countries across the globe this week.

Nourish the Children is already shipping the meals to orphans in Afghanistan, but Mrs. Haskins would like to oversee and help the organization build a similar plant in Afghanistan to allow people to become self-sufficient. She also wants to establish a loan program in which students would borrow money for school and then repay it to help the next generation.

"This is such great work," she said. "It's so fulfilling."

She says the money she initially sent to Afghanistan was going to be used to build a tea house on her property. "Such a frivolous thing. So unimportant," she said. "I can't imagine using that money on anything else than to support the people."

To make a donation to Afghan Academy of Hope, visit www.aaoh.org or call 689-9147.