Food and blankets were recently distributed by the Embassy of Italy in Kabul to the children of the girls' orphanage in Herat, a gift of the Italialn Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT). The donation was made in the presence of Head of the Civil Component of the PRT Counsellor Alberto Vecchi, within the framework of an emergency relief programme for the people of Heart sponsored by our embassy in Kabul.
The orphanage, built in 2006 with funding from the Italian Cooperation, hosts 170 girls, and these supplies will go toward confronting the severe Afghan winter. This gift is evidence of the solid cooperation and synergy between the military and civil components of the Italian PRT, which have joined forces in lending assistance to the orphans of the city of Heart.
Located in Western Afghanistan in the province by the same name, Heart lies in the valley of the Hari Rud, a river sunning from the mountains of Central Afghanistan to the Karakum desert in Turkmenistan; with a population of approximately 250,000 it is the country's third largest city.