With
a coy smile, Jan Bibibarahouie lifts the hem of her robe ever
so slightly to reveal the bruising on her ankle, before bursting
into laughter.
“You see how they push and shove to get to the water,”
she notes with a grin. “But it is my job to keep order”.
The women and children clustered around her giggle from behind
their veils, nodding their agreement. It is a good-natured group
- which only serves to underline the seriousness of the situation.
Mrs Bibibarahouie is one of 22 guards, each assigned to a water
distribution point on the outskirts of Zahedan, in Iran’s
drought-stricken Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Their job is to ensure a fair and orderly distribution of this
most precious of resources to more than 45,000 people, 80 per
cent of whom are Afghan refugees. The rest are Iranian villagers,
forced by the drought to abandon their homes. This is their
only source of drinking water.
Behind Mrs Bibibarahouie’s banter, one senses a steely
determination. It is not hard to see why her community has chosen
her – one of the few women to hold such an important position.
Her responsibilities include keeping a record of deliveries,
as well as maintaining the area around the fixed 5,000-litre
tank so as to prevent contamination. A neat row of brightly-coloured
jerry cans snakes hopefully along the dusty track, awaiting
the next delivery.
The drought which has affected this remote south-eastern province
of Iran is in its seventh year and shows no sign of abating.
For over three years now, the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS)
and the International Federation have been working to provide
safe drinking water, dispose of solid waste and distribute hygiene
articles to the most vulnerable people living on the outskirts
of Zahedan and in the villages surrounding Zabul.
These communities have come to depend on the programme. Without
it, they would have to purchase water from vendors – which
at 6,000 rials (US$ 0.75) per can, is beyond their means.
A striking young Iranian woman with a piercing gaze shrugs,
putting a protective arm around her youngest child. “Then,
we will have less water”, she states simply. Even now,
the Red Cross Red Crescent programme is struggling to meet minimal
recommended standards.
The Federation’s Senior Field Officer in Zahedan, Amir
Abdolahpour, wears a worried frown as he puts the finishing
touches to the next project proposal. After all, droughts are
not meant to last this long and he is concerned that donor interest
will dry up well before the rains return. The current programme
runs until the end of July 2004.
This is not the only complication. Iran has one of the largest
refugee populations in the world, which includes more than 2.3
million Afghans, according to the authorities.
Many have been in the country for over 20 years. Now, the Government
of Iran – within the framework of a tripartite agreement
between itself, the Afghan authorities and the United Nations
refugee agency, the UNHCR – is actively encouraging voluntary
repatriation.
The Joint Programme is set to run until the end of March 2005,
at which point the government estimates that there will be no
further need for the water distribution programme.
This poses a serious conundrum for the IRCS and the Federation.
After all, one cannot simply turn off the taps from one day
to the next. In any event, even if all Afghan refugees have
been repatriated or integrated into the community by then, the
problem of the drought-affected Iranian villagers will remain.
For Dr Ali Reza Ghadiani, Director General of the IRCS branch
in Sistan-Baluchistan, the answer is simple: “As long
as the people need help, we are there to help them”.
The challenge then, for the Federation and IRCS, has been to
find a way to wind down the programme whilst ensuring some lasting
impact.
In May 2004, the Federation delegation in Iran commissioned
an evaluation to formulate a long-term strategy for dealing
with refugees and drought and to design a possible ‘exit
strategy’.
As a result, the new proposal currently before donors focuses
on providing essential services over the next eight months and
at the same time enhancing the skills of the returning refugees
to better meet future challenges as they return to Afghanistan.
Its main components are: maintaining the daily water distributions
to the 45,335 beneficiaries around Zahedan and Zabul until the
end of March 2005; ensuring constant water supply by building
four public water distribution stations, which will be connected
to the city water networks and taken over by the local water
and sewage company; providing 15,000 Afghan refugees with basic
health care training; and training 60 refugees as skilled community
health workers.
Commitments have already been sought and obtained from local
authorities in Zahedan to link these marginal communities to
the local water supply, as well as ensure adequate and on-going
garbage collection.
In itself, this is a big step towards local self-sufficiency
- and a crucial one, if minimal standards of water distribution
are to be maintained until March 2005 and beyond.
It is a carefully-crafted programme which aims to balance immediate
needs with providing practical solutions for the refugees as
they contemplate the unknowns of a future back in their homeland.
A few of the women have taken refuge in the shade of the water
tank as the sun beats down implacably on the baking alleyways.
They watch and wait, as does Mrs Bibibarahouie.
She clutches a battered copybook, its dog-eared cover belying
the meticulous record inside - row upon row of neatly inscribed
names, each line a testament to an uncertain future and just
another drop in the bucket of these peoples’ meagre existence.
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Water
distributions by the Iranian Red Crescent and International
Federation have been essential for drought-hit Zahedan
(p11814)
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The
Iranian Red Crescent branches in Zahedan and Zabul have
been providing safe water to Afghan refugees and the local
population for the past three years (p11811)
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Many
of the Afghan refugees know nothing about their homeland,
but now they are preparing to return (p11808)
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A
Red Crescent volunteer ensures a fair and orderly distribution
of water (p11815)
The Red Crescent programme serves more than 45,000 people,
80 per cent of them Afghan refugees (p11813)
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News
