Road to recovery

Ehsanullah Aseer is a native Afghan who has worked for the Prague-based NGO People in Need (Člověk v tísni) since early this year as the deputy project manager for the Food Facility Project. He offers a firsthand account of an ongoing road-building project in the northern province of Balkh. The photos come from work near the village of Baiza. All construction must be done by hand as the terrain makes the area inaccessible to large vehicles. The workers are paid every two weeks with funds from the European Union. The Afghan program is currently the largest overseas mission of People in Need, which has been engaged in the country since 2001. More than 180 national staff assist the local population in remote areas of four provinces in Northern and Eastern Afghanistan. Aseer's observations follow:

We met Halema Yeah, wearing her traditional Afghan scarf, sitting on a patio at her residence. She is 58 years old and had lost her husband more than quarter of a century ago during internal Afghan fighting. Yeah had no brother and no son, but one daughter who was married years ago and now lives in a different district. Yeah has to try to support herself, not an easy task for a widow in rural parts of Afghanistan. She uses a relative's house for shelter.

Elders in the local community chose Yeah to receive a cash grant within the road reconstruction project being implemented by People in Need.

Rehabilitation of the road connecting the village of Baiza with all the other 13 villages in the Marghzar area was one component of a larger project implemented by People in Need in the mountainous parts of Northern Afghanistan. The European Union-funded project focuses on the long-term improvement of agricultural sector productivity and the diversifying income sources of the residents in the area. It also includes several smaller "cash for work" projects, like the road in Marghzar, intended for temporary employment of the local population during the "hunger gap," the lean period of the year that comes before harvest, which simultaneously rehabilitates the local infrastructure.

About 185 people are working on the road in Marghzar, each for 44 days and each making close to $200 [3,986 Kč] over this period. This is big money in Marghzar, where an average family of 10 people has a yearly monetary income of some $900. Most families say they will use it to buy things they do not cultivate in their own fields or spend it on things that will generate further income: tea, sugar, vegetables and maybe an additional sheep for milk and wool. 

But apart from those working directly on the road reconstruction, People in Need cannot forget the most vulnerable members of the communities, such as widows, orphans and the elderly who have no support from their families and cannot take part in the work.

The idea for cash redistributions stands on the premise that all vulnerable members of the community have an equal right to take part in the project and should share the sense of building their community. Thus, an additional 40 people, like Yeah, were selected as beneficiaries of the Marghzar road project to receive the same pay as the workers.

"I know the road is being rehabilitated since my neighbor works there," Yeah told us as we sat down on the patio with her. "But I didn't realize I will also get some money, since I am an old widow and I cannot work."

As we explain again, she starts to smile.

"Really? 8,800 Afghani?" she asks repeatedly. "I will buy some chickens and will keep them. With eggs, I can make some income and support myself for a long time," she says of her intentions, and then thanks us for bringing the good news.   

As we say goodbye to Yeah and leave her house, we soon come back to the now leveled but still dusty road. It is still quite bumpy and cars rarely pass by, but it will be a road to tea, sugar and chickens for Yeah and others. 

- Ehsanullah Aseer, People in Need