Feature: Afghans laud Chinese company for essential food aid

PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Standing beside a truck loaded with food donated from China, Shah Agha is eager to take the foodstuff home, which would delight his family.

A crowd of needy Afghans from the east Logar Province gathered at the Mosi Aynak base of the MCC-JCL Aynak Minerals Company Ltd. (MJAM) to receive a package of foodstuff supplied by the Chinese mining firm ahead of the Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice, which falls on June 28 this year in Afghanistan.

The MJAM supplied humanitarian aid worth 20,000 U.S. dollars to needy families from the province's Mohammad Agha district.

"I took flour, cooking oil, tea and sugar home and my children will be delighted," aid recipient Agha said.

The impoverished Afghan man, also the breadwinner of a 10-member family, said he hadn't taken anything to his family to celebrate the Eid al-Adha.

"I earn a daily wage and the availability of work for me depends on my luck, as each week on average, I work two or three days. I earn 350 afghanis (about 4 U.S. dollars) daily," Agha told Xinhua at the site of the aid distribution.

"The food aid for each recipient will last about 10 days, and I plan to keep it for Eid. At that time, we can make palaw (a traditional dish mainly made of rice)," Bulbul told Xinhua.

"In our daily farming life, we only have a little palaw to eat, just making meals with some vegetables," said Bulbul. "We eat palaw during the Eid al-Adha, in wedding parties or while receiving such food from charity," he said.

Welcoming the aid package, Mawlawi Atiqullah Azizi, the acting deputy Minister of Information and Culture, expressed his gratitude to the Chinese company for providing humanitarian assistance to poverty-stricken families.

Over the past year, China has also been providing other humanitarian assistance, including COVID-19 vaccines, winter clothes, food produce and tents to Afghan families who are desperately in need.

Azizi also noted that the almsdeed and presence of Chinese people and China-invested companies in Afghanistan have boosted the country's progress to nation-build via a number of major projects.