Refugees in Afghanistan: “Survive only with bread and water”

Many people in Afghanistan have fled the fighting within the country. There is an underground refugee camp near Mazar-i-Sharif – in a catastrophic condition.

Stones, dust and gray sand as far as the eye can see. And suddenly: little beige-colored hills. Only at second glance does it become apparent that there are dwellings under this hill. People live there – underground. Around 100 families have buried themselves in this barren area just behind the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in order to be able to survive.

They couldn’t afford more, says Sheikh Taher. “We filled sacks with sand in order to build a kind of wall out of it.” He just doesn’t have the money to buy wood and build a real house for his family. “Whenever people come by here, they ask us how we can survive here at all, some even start to cry.”

No money for medical treatment

Sheikh is only 30 years old and already has deep wrinkles on her face. He lives on the few square meters underground with his wife Maryam, his niece and their little daughter Nergis.

Maryam sits on the floor with sweat on her forehead and doubles in pain: “I’m sick, the doctor says I have jaundice.” They would have bought medicines, but now they have run out of money. “The doctor says I’m not allowed to come to him anymore because we can’t pay for the treatment.”

“We can hardly afford water”

Little Nergis is almost two years old, but she looks much younger. “We only have one small bread a day for our little one, we cut it into slices and put it in the water to make her a soup. That’s all we can give her right now,” says Sheikh.

The Taher family has to buy the water like everyone else here. There isn’t even a pump in the underground refugee camp. “Water comes here from outside in a container. They pour it into this hole, where we collect it,” says Sheikh. They would have to pay for the water, but they could hardly afford it and they owed the water seller.

Afraid of the next winter

It hasn’t rained here for months. In many regions of Afghanistan, people are grappling with drought. But the Taher family is even more afraid of next winter.

Maryam has tears in her eyes when she talks about last winter. “It snowed so much. I tried to shovel the snow off our plastic tarpaulin roof with my bare hands and a plate. Then it broke in. I was pregnant and lost our child in the fall.”

“We die of poverty and hunger”

The Tahers have been living in the middle of the stone desert for a year and a half. They had to flee their village because they were caught between the front lines: the Taliban and the former government army also fought in their village.

They used to have a small house – as a farmer, Sheikh had at least been able to earn enough to support himself and his family: “We ask the world for help so that we still have a future. Help us here or rebuild our village. We die of poverty and hunger. Even if we were to return to our homeland, there is no stone left unturned. “

Every third person in Afghanistan does not know at this moment where he or she is going to get their next meal. The United Nations has called on all member states to stand up for the people of Afghanistan “in their darkest hour” of need.