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16 May 2002 "My house was destroyed in the bombings, and I was afraid to stay in the village any longer," says Abdul Satar, a 35 year-old father of four children who has been living with his family in Maslakh refugee camp for five months. "I was a farmer in Maimana, Faryab province, and I had some sheep that I was forced to sell to pay for transport. Now I have nothing, no house, no animals, my fields are abandoned and uncultivated." Maslakh, with more than 100,000 people, is the biggest of several camps around Herat that are now home to around 150,000 internally displaced Afghans. In cooperation with international organizations and relief agencies the Afghan government is now helping internally displaced people to return home. According to the ministry of refugees, more than 22,000 people have left Maslakh camp since the end of February. Most of the refugees are eager to return to their homes as conditions in many camps for internally displaced persons (IDP) are far from pleasant. IDPs have nothing but the absolute basics – minimum food rations and a tent. There is a lack of hygiene and health care in the camps, resulting in high infant mortality, endemic diarrhoea and other diseases. "I will return to my farm as soon as possible," says Satar. "I know that the longer I stay here the more difficult it will be to return. Our health is worsening and it has a very bad effect on the mind just to sit here outside the tent doing nothing. If we don't leave the camp soon maybe it will be too late." "I have lost three of my children since I came here," says Gulbadan Chaghcharam, a widow in her early thirties who arrived in Rawzehbagh IDP camp two years ago. "My husband is dead and my oldest son is only 10 years old so I have no means of support at home. I have no choice but to stay here and try to survive on the food donations we receive. Without help I will never be able to return." Chaghcharam is one of 200 widows in Rawzebagh IDP camp, where 1079 families live in tents and temporary mud constructions. Most of these women have nobody to support them, many are too old and frail ever to go back to their villages, others are in bad health and cannot return to their neglected houses and fields when there is not even a child in the family old enough to work. The lives of women in Afghanistan is very hard if they have lost their husbands, and the thousands of widows who live in extreme poverty are one of the most vulnerable social groups in the country. Rawzebagh IDP camp, on the outskirts of Herat City, is eight years old and no longer receives new people. There is a constant flow out of the camp and most of the families are expected to leave soon. The return to their home provinces is sponsored by relief agencies, and in some cases returnees can expect continued assistance once at home. In many cases the people need seeds and tools in order to resume cultivation and to rebuild houses and irrigation systems. Returning refugees from Iran avoid the IDP camps if it is possible. If they can, they stay with relatives in the towns and villages they came from. Many returnees have high expectations about peace and prosperity in Afghanistan and the number of people entering the country has already exceeded forecasts. Hundreds of people enter the country every day, which has raised questions about how society will be able to accommodate the returnees. There is still fighting in many areas of the country, and a lack of health care, education and jobs, which was a reason why many people left Afghanistan in the first place. Meanwhile, a number of IDPs remain in camps with bleak prospects of rebuilding a normal life. Not only widows and the elderly despair about their future. "We were forced to leave our homes because of poverty," says 30 year-old Seifullah, a farmer from Gohr province who came to Rawzebagh IDP camp seven months ago. "We had no water and our vegetables and wheat did not grow. We sold everything we had to pay for the transport to this camp and we have nothing left. I will not be able to return to my farm with my wife and child without help." Related Links: 22 April 2002 - Snapshot from Afghanistan: Too many widows 20 April 2002 - Snapshot from Afghanistan: a people weary of disasters 17 April 2002 - Afghanistan again hit by earthquake 10 April 2002 - Northern Afghan villages hit by floods, in need of help 13 February 2002 - Shocking poverty revealed in west Afghanistan More on - Afghanistan |
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