by Erja-Outi Heino in Khatlon
Hokimsho Zaifov and his extended family
of 18 people live from a hectare of land planted with wheat. But because
of the drought that has struck Tajikistan, he has lost his crops. Zaifov
will be just one of thousands of beneficiaries of food distributions as
the relief focus switches to the south of the country.
Following Red Cross/Red Crescent food distributions in north Tajkistan over the past few weeks, the teams are moving to the south. The low-lying Khatlon region is the bread basket of the mountainous republic but it suffered severely from the drought that struck the Central Asian republic last year. In rural areas, people lost their crops whereas the urban population has to cope with higher food prices and fewer work opportunities.
Hokimsho Zaifov, 55, is weak with pneumonia. He crouches down and seeks support from the wall until one of his grandsons brings a small stool. A Red Crescent field monitor is checking the beneficiary list in the small village of Archa. Zaifov is a clear candidate to receive food provided by the World Food Programme. Zaifov's household consists of 18 people. He and one of his sons work at the collective farm but receive no salary. The extended family lives out of a scanty hectare planted with wheat. "I spent 120 somoni (about 50 US dollars) on renting the land, seeds and tools. Because of the drought, that money is all lost," Zaifov sighs.
Does he remember a year as difficult as this? Yes, he does, but it was during the Soviet era and then the State was able to help its people. After the civil war ended in 1997 and his sons had returned home, Zaifov thought better times were on their way. Now he hides his face and lets the disappointment out in suppressed sobs.
Southern Khatlon region is experiencing an early spring. Although these are only the first weeks of March, the apricot trees are already in pink bloom. The slopes are bright green, as the winter wheat is beginning to spring up. But the beautiful weather makes people concerned: it's too hot, too soon, and that might augur another year of drought. Spring is birthing time in Tajikistan. "The season starts at the end of February," midwife Harigul Mosharipova explains. She has been working in the Dangara district hospital for more than 30 years. Only the lack of medication and equipment cause her some concern. And the insufficient salary, of course: she receives about one dollar a month. For subsistence, the 52-year old midwife has resorted to trading cattle.
One in every four or five children is born sickly. When the mother suffers from anemia, the infant doesn't get sufficient nutrition. The poor hygienic conditions at home only worsen the situation. As part of the ongoing drought operation, the Federation and the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan are running a public health campaign - mainly in the same districts where the food is distributed - to diminish the health risks posed by the lack of water.
More than 200 community volunteers are being trained in hygiene and in the prevention of most common water-borne diseases, such as typhoid, dysentery and diarrhea. The bacteria have ample space to grow in the water tanks and people find it hard to get enough water for their daily needs. "The very basic message is: remember to wash your hands. It is much cheaper to use soap than to buy medicine," the Federation's health delegate Louise Hamberg-Dardel sums up.
During Soviet times, public health focused on curing, and prevention was merely a word. But in the current economic situation, prevention remains the only feasible alternative for the poor. Trying to improve general hygiene may sound simple, but in fact, the volunteers working in the communities have to tackle deep-rooted cultural habits - for instance, the custom of sharing plates and not using spoons or forks. Traditions can become a problem when water is scarce. "Our volunteers include medical personnel and local authorities as well as unemployed or farm workers. For the campaign to be successful, it is crucial that the community is well represented," Hamberg-Dardel explains.
It has been easy to recruit volunteers, as time is one of the few commodities people have plenty of. Perhaps the biggest problem in both urban and rural Tajikistan is lack of employment, so people welcome the chance to take part in an activity with a purpose. "I used to work as a tractor driver but I have now been unemployed since the civil war started in 1992," Jumahon Mahmadov says. He lives in the urban centre of Farkhor district together with his wife and six children. He tries to explain the mysteries of subsistence survival to the Red Crescent monitors who come to visit. How does a family of eight get along if there is neither salary nor land? "We have relatives who live in Dushanbe and they help us sometimes. I also dismantled part of the roof to sell it for construction material."
Mahmadov's oldest daughter, 12-year-old Ruzigul reveals that she is very fond of school and dreams of becoming a teacher some day. That is not a very common dream in present-day Tajikistan. Teachers receive starvation wages and many decide to leave the profession. Rather than teachers, most children would like to become businessmen. The literacy rate is on a steep decrease.
"With spring and sunshine, the situation is getting better," believes Saiboash Nurhonova, a teacher in Archa village. All the pupils can attend the school even if they don't have shoes. Nurhonova has five small children herself. Her husband has been unemployed over the past nine years of marriage. The family cannot cope with Nurhonova's monthly wage of 13 somoni (five US dollars), and last spring, her husband left for Moscow to work on a construction site. After six months he came back with a television set and a video recorder. "Recently, he sold the video recorder to get money to return to Moscow," says Nurhonova.
The International Federation, together with the Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan, is distributing food for 130,000 people in drought-stricken Tajikistan. The largest partners in the operation are the World Food Programme, the Swedish Government and the European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO).