Support Gulsoma

Reader response to the story has been overwhelming; the Hot Zone comment boards have been flooded with messages of support. Many readers have asked how to help Gulsoma, or even if they can adopt her.

The Hot Zone recently published a story about Gulsoma, an Afghan girl who was forced into marriage at the age of four. Her new family members tortured and beat her close to death, until she escaped at age 11. Gulsoma now lives in an orphanage in Kabul, where she is recovering from her horrific past and displaying strength beyond her years. You can read the story here.

Gulsoma

Reader response to the story has been overwhelming; the Hot Zone comment boards have been flooded with messages of support. Many readers have asked how to help Gulsoma, or even if they can adopt her.

As a first step, the Hot Zone team has set up an email account so that messages of support can be retrieved and forwarded to Gulsoma.

Our local contact monitoring the account tells us he has already received over 11,000 messages. Click here to e-mail your message. 

Unfortunately, the lack of infrastructure in

Afghanistan creates difficulty in setting up a system to deliver monetary or material support to specific institutions. Via local contacts, the Hot Zone team is exploring ways to deliver aid to Gulsoma's orphanage. Watch this space for more details.

It is hard to imagine suffering on the level that Gulsoma experienced. But the tragedy of war-torn Afghanistan is that there are many children in similar situations, growing up homeless, as orphans or simply living in poverty.

To learn more or to help, please visit the web sites of the organizations below.

Women for Afghan Women - runs a sponsor campaign for Afghan orphans.

UNICEF - works to provide programs such as medical treatment for Afghan children and to rebuild schools.

Save the Children -  has worked in Afghanistan since 1985 to bolster health, education and economic opportunities for Afghan children and their families in need.

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