Winter arrived sooner than usual this year in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan's eastern border with Pakistan. Early snow was an ominous sign of what would be the coldest winter in over fifteen years.
The harsh weather burdened everyone but seemed extra hard on returning internally displaced persons and refugees like Gul Bibi.1 A 33-year-old widow with two sons and two daughters, Gul Bibi recently settled just outside Gardez in the Dara valley. The area is called the Banuzai settlement by returnees.
The family's new home was roofless - not yet finished - but they were living in it. United Methodist Committee on Relief's winter assistance project provided a stove, blankets and plastic sheet that helped protect them from the cold. They used the plastic sheet cover in place of a roof and the blankets and stove to stay warm.
In 2001, Gul Bibi had fled to nearby Pakistan. Already a widow, she spent three years in the Ashgaroo refugee camp, living with her family on only World Food Programme rations. She returned to Afghanistan in early 2004, but she had no land to settle on.
As one of the more fortunate landless returnees, she was given the opportunity to purchase a small plot of land just outside Gardez, the capital of Paktya. The purchase made her eligible for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) shelter project. Her son, the only provider of the family, works for a Turkish road construction company. He spent his evenings and weekends working on the house. Due to some difficulties in getting the needed materials to complete the structure, Gul Bibi's shelter and those of 313 other families in the Banuzai settlement could not be completed before winter arrived.
Helped by neighbors and her son, Gul Bibi finished the shelter by late January. Since the construction took place in the cold and wet season, the mud plaster on the floor, walls, and roof dry very slowly. The dripping water in her house and the cold rising from the floor have hurt the health of Gul Bibi and her four children, the youngest only a year old. UMCOR's assistance has helped her to survive the weeks of harsh weather. Yet, for Gul Bibi, the struggle for a better life will be ongoing.
In cooperation with UNHCR, UMCOR has assisted 314 families in the new Banuzai settlement. The assistance consisted of stoves, blankets, plastic sheets, cash to buy wood, soap, lanterns, and health, sewing and layette kits. The soap, kits and blankets had been received as part of a $296,737 shipment of supplies from UMCOR Sager Brown.
Note:
1 Gul Bibi is not her real name.
This material has been adapted from an article, "UMCOR Winterization Program in Afghanistan" by Michel Kersten, an UMCOR program manager whose office is in Gardez, Afghanistan.