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Afghanistan: seeing families through the harsh winter
11-11-2008 Photo gallery
The worst drought in a decade, soaring food prices and relentless insecurity could force thousands of Afghans from their homes this winter in search of food and work. The ICRC and Afghan Red Crescent Society are working hard to meet the needs of 280,000 people in the northern and north-western provinces.
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Hundreds of thousands of Afghans may be forced to leave their homes in the north of the country this winter because of drought, insecurity and rising food prices.
The ICRC is working with the Afghan Red Crescent Society to meet the needs of 280,000 people (40,000 families) in eight districts of the northern and north-western provinces of Kunduz, Balkh, Faryab and Badghis. The organization will distribute about 5,000 metric tonnes, or 500 truckloads of food.
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The worst drought in a decade has severely affected the current harvest in the area. Some villagers were only able to obtain fodder for their livestock.
Afghan Red Crescent Society volunteers are delivering food parcels containing rice, beans, butter oil, salt, sugar and tea to people living in the most affected areas. The first distribution is taking place in October-November 2008, before the onset of the harsh Afghan winter, the second in early 2009.
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The plight of Afghans in the northern provinces is compounded by soaring food prices. Increases in global food prices have resulted in export bans by key regional food exporters, further restricting the flow of food into Afghanistan. Across the country, large numbers of people cannot afford to buy essential staples like wheat and rice. The cost of flour, for example, has doubled in less than a year.
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With no food, no money to buy seeds, and no guarantee that the rains will come, the outlook for the winter harvest is bleak in this area that relies on rain-fed farming. Thousands of families are expected to be forced to leave their homes this winter in search of food and work.
There is a dire need that the next harvest be a successful one, otherwise the situation will demand an emergency response. The ICRC and Afghan Red Crescent Society are preparing for worst-case scenarios.
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"Our volunteers are doing an extraordinary job. They find it very rewarding to be able to help people and relieve some of their own anxiety about the approach of winter," says Fatima Gailani, the president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.
In 2007 the Afghan Red Crescent provided food and other assistance to more than 500,000 families, and health services to around one million individuals. The organization carries out its work in all provinces of the country.
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Infrastructure problems, including a lack of decent roads, have also contributed to the shortages of food and essential supplies. These factors have worsened the already chronic food insecurity faced by many Afghans due to the severe drought that has gripped the country since 2001.
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“Last night we only had a piece of bread, warmed up, with a glass of tea,” says a local villager waiting for the distribution to begin. “The whole family just got small pieces of it, to eat throughout the night, quietly.”
“We don’t have enough food to survive this winter,” he concluded.
The ICRC is hoping that two large food rations per family will see the Afghans in this region through to the next harvest period. If rain still does not come for the winter harvest, the organization will step in again with emergency supplies.
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In January 2008, the ICRC and US authorities launched a unique new video teleconferencing facility that has enabled detainees at Bagram to communicate with their families for the first time since their arrest.
“My son has been in detention for eight months,” explains Mohammed tearfully. “In that time I’ve been able to speak with him three times using the video phone. I always ask him if he’s being treated well, and because I can see him on the screen, I can see that he’s in good health.”
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Of all the strain placed on a family during an armed conflict, not knowing the fate of a missing loved one is among the hardest to bear.
The ICRC video teleconference programme has been a major success, with over 1,500 calls made over the last nine months between detainees in Bagram and their families, who came to the ICRC delegation in Kabul from around the country. The videophone system was an important first step in reassuring family members that their relatives held in Bagram were alive and well, and vice-versa. However, nothing can replace the intensity of meeting in person. The first face-to-face visits at Bagram Theater Internment Facility began in late September 2008.
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The centre, now in its 20th year, fits patients with about 15,000 new limbs a year and provides almost 200,000 physiotherapy sessions. The centre also helps disabled people integrate back into the workplace by providing vocational training and micro-credit loans to those wishing to start their own businesses.
According to the UN mine information network, an average of 62 people are killed or injured by mines each month in Afghanistan.
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A former policeman, Shah stepped on a landmine whilst patrolling a town in Paktika, south-east of Kabul.
25-year-old Mohammed Said Ashraf is the orthopaedic centre’s junior administrator. At the tender age of eight, Said lost the use of both legs when his spinal cord was shattered by shrapnel during a rocket attack near his home. In addition to orthopaedic and physiotherapy help from the ICRC, Said benefited from its home schooling programme, which enabled him to make up for the five years of schooling he had lost whilst bedridden.
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Ali lost one leg to a mine and the other in a rocket attack in his home province of Wardok, south-west of Kabul. With an 18-month small business loan from the ICRC, Ali is able to maintain his business as a disabled man and thereby support his family. Nonetheless, life is a struggle as he earns on average just 1.20 USD per day. As they are particularly vulnerable, Ali and his family receive supplementary food rations from the ICRC once every three months.
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The ICRC ensures basic water and sanitation conditions in places of detention across Afghanistan.
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The ICRC repairs urban and rural water networks throughout Afghanistan.
The ICRC has been helping the war wounded and people displaced by armed conflict or natural disasters in Afghanistan since 1987. It delivers its humanitarian aid in cooperation with the Afghan Red Crescent Society, which has a grassroots network of over 20,000 volunteers.
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