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ACT Dateline Afghanistan 03/08 On a wind-swept outskirts of Kabul, a fundamental change January 11, 2008 By Chris Herlinger, ACT International Special Note: On assignment from CWS, Chris Herlinger recently returned from Afghanistan -- his third visit there since the summer of 2001. In this series of three stories, which can be used as a package or individually, Herlinger reports on the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as 2007 came to an end, as well as the ongoing CWS response. High-resolution photos to accompany these stories are available at: KABUL, Afghanistan--Among those benefiting from the work of ACT member, Church World Service (CWS), in Afghanistan are two families living on the hilly, wind-swept terrain of the outskirts of Kabul. There, CWS has worked with its partner, the Afghan Development Association (ADA), on a shelter project that has provided housing for dozens of families. On a recent visit, the experiences of two families highlighted the progress CWS and other aid agencies working in Afghanistan have made in providing homes to those most needing them. One family, parents Malik and Bassri and their four children, ages 5 to 14, recalled a tortuous journey of displacement that is all-too common in Afghanistan. The family was first uprooted from their home community -- in this case, the city of Jalalabad -- and headed east to a refugee camp in Pakistan. The family then returned to Afghanistan, first to Jalalabad and then eventually to Kabul, where they have lived since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. Some sense of normalcy proved elusive, however, as Malik, Bassri and their children lived in a lightless, cramped hillside cave -- an uncomfortable, if not downright dangerous and threatening place, as Bassri noted. She said the cave's possible collapse was a constant and draining concern for the family as they eked out a living. "Now we don't have those worries," she said, noting the new home has four rooms in all, with an exterior water pump and latrine. "We are happy," Bassri said. Another family experiencing a bit more comfort and safety is that of Faqirullah Hamidi, 45, and his wife, Nafisa. Faqirullah must navigate with crutches -- the result of leg wounds he sustained during what he calls, in dry understatement, "the Soviet time." As a result of the injuries, he is also the principal stay-at-home parent -- Nafisa is employed by a government agency -- and tends to the couple's eight children, ranging in age from a month old to 12 years. The family's life together has been immeasurably easier with a new two-room home. It is still a bit tight for a family that large but it is a place the family can call their own, and they are not, as is so often the case in Kabul, going from rented space to rented space. "It's a fundamental change that I have my own house," Hamidi said, describing the family situation now as a happy one. Small steps, perhaps. But as Johnny Wray, director of ACT member, the Christian Church (Disciples)/Week of Compassion, a long-time supporter of CWS work in Afghanistan and himself a one-time visitor to Afghanistan, put it: The small-scale efforts by CWS and other humanitarian agencies are "offering both North Americans and Afghans of goodwill alike a remarkable opportunity to bring help, hope and ultimately peace to that battered, yet beautiful land." (ends)
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