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We report about our
post-earthquake rehabilitation project in Rustaq, northern
Afghanistan:
Strong
earthquakes hit the area of Rustaq district in northern
Afghanistan in February and May 1998 with heavy loss of
life and livestock, and massive destruction of housing and
infrastructure of 15 villages. Mainly due to these natural
disasters, Rustaq was “discovered” by the NGO community.
Like
many other parts of Afghanistan Rustaq is suffering from
three consecutive years of drought, and famine is still
prevailing. The level of poverty is striking. The coping
mechanisms of the local population are exhausted and whole
villages were at the brink of collapse. Reliable
statistical data on health are still not available for the
district.
Terre
des hommes
(Tdh) surveyed the area together with a local NGO in 1999
and began in March 2000 with a rehabilitation project in
Rustaq district. With the clear mandate to significantly
improve the living conditions of thousands of children and
their families, Terre des hommes (Tdh) began to
construct schools in the district, to rehabilitate the
only existing clinic and to provide safe drinking water to
thousands of villagers who lost almost everything in 1998.
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The
village Zahan Bala in the remote Hindukush Mountains is part of
the rehabilitation project
Water supply for 15 villages
Lack of safe drinking water, like here in Hazar Sumoch village
(photo above), and bad sanitary surroundings are important causes
of ill-health and infectious disease – mainly for children. A
large proportion of the population has no access to protected
water sources or proper sanitation. Water is a scarce and
important resource for which ownership and entitlement are
significant.
Collection, traditionally the responsibility of women, is being
passed increasingly to children. Water is often collected three
times daily and carried to the household in jerry cans. The task
is a heavy one for children and the source may be at a
considerable distance from the compound.
Terre des hommes
assists in provision of water supply systems for at least 15
villages and Rustaq town and 12 villages have now access to safe
drinking water already.
Water
distribution points are equally distributed in the villages, like
here in Jarahyel village, to allow easy access for elderly person
and children
A new water
reservoirs is made in Toot village
Health
Around 1300 mothers and children receive monthly medical treatment
in Rustaq’s town clinic, which has been rehabilitated last year.
It is the only health facility for the whole district with its 173
villages, and is run by Tdh staff.
Mobile
teams of doctors and nurses are regularly visiting 5 health posts
for 15 villages. Being a rural maternal health project, the
project sites have become a focal point for village women and
their daughters.
Vaccination programs cover very soon the whole district with its
173 villages. Also supported by UNICEF, the health staffs of
Terre des hommes and very many health volunteers are regularly
vaccinating mothers and children as part of an “expanded program
for immunization”.
School
construction and education
Terre des
hommes
rehabilitation project included the construction of four primary
schools for the 15 villages, and rehabilitating the educational
sector. Meanwhile the whole assistance program has extended to
rehabilitating the middle schools and high schools for boys and
girls in Rustaq as well as to rehabilitate additional village
schools in order to give access to education for small children
who cannot walk longer distances.
While the
old high school building for boys, previously a primary school
building, is under rehabilitation, the community did not hesitate
to erect tents and to accommodate more than 800 boys outside the
building to continue education.
2084 girls and 3164 boys of 15 villages and Rustaq town have access to
schools beyond primary education. An enrolment figure for girls is
now given with slightly above 39%. Teachers have been trained,
teaching quality improved and four primary school buildings,
constructed in the past, offer full services to primary students.
Village committees are encouraged to promote better enrolment to
the children of the community especially for girls.
Primary
enrolment increased in March this year by 450% reflecting the
acceptance of Terre des hommes’ education policy. Some
students who graduated from the Tdh-funded high school for boys
have been admitted to the university in Mazar-I-Sharif, which
again gave positive feedback to the Rustaq community.
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Mr.
Mustafa is one of many community health workers of Terre des
hommes in northern Afghanistan. As the only one in his village
Zahan Bala who can read and write, he wants to make sure that his
community will get access to safe drinking water and the children
will get an opportunity to go to school.
Rustaq
Rustaq is the second largest
district of Takhar province, located in the Northeast of
Afghanistan. Before the war Rustaq was a calm and undeveloped
district of the province, and a small number of educated
civilians could be found among its pre-war population.
It is estimated
that around 160.000 people are now living in Rustaq, district with
20.000 in Rustaq town. Farming and livestock are the main economic
activities of the area. The main agricultural crops grown are wheat,
barely, flux, chickpea and sesame. Farmers concentrate their efforts
on those vegetables and farm products, which require minimal water
resources. The main
fruits are
apples, pears, grapes, almonds, walnuts, apricots, cherries and
mulberries.
Local
skills include blacksmith, carpenters, goldsmiths, leather
processors, leatherworkers and tailors. Women are involved in
embroidery, carpet weaving, poultry farming and livestock rearing.
Education in Rustaq has suffered over the years as a result of the
war and the economic deterioration over the past 23 years.
Government authorities are not in the position to provide any
incentives or salaries to the teachers in the district.
The
administration system of the district is being controlled by former
Mujahideen commanders in what is referred to as the Jehadi system.
This system operates through a network of local commanders and their
deputies. The commanders do not have much relationship with
government and provincial authorities.
New school
latrines in Sari Ghar village, as part of a sanitation program for
all primary schools of Tdh
Sanitation
Poor sanitation continues to be a principal factor for the poor
status of public health in
Afghanistan.
Waste disposal systems are either poorly maintained or non-existent
with sewage and refuse often discharged directly onto the streets.
Awareness of safe and appropriate disposal of solid waste is poor.
Rural households, numbering over two million, generally have their
own latrine but few are sanitary. Awareness of hygiene and
sanitation is generally very poor with men often not using latrines
even where they have them.
Sumia,
from Ganji, village has all options to go through the whole
educational system in Rustaq and will maybe later on study in Kabul
or elsewhere.
Afghanistan had
one of the lowest sets of social indicators in the world, even
before the Soviet invasion. Furthermore, twenty-three years of war
and internal strife have resulted in the destruction of social and
economic infrastructure. Children always suffer in such unsettled
conditions. That educational services are now provided in Rustaq to
more than 5.000 children – even beyond primary education – provides
some hope for the people of 173 villages.
A new high
school for girls in Rustaq
Terre des hommes
began very recently with a new ambitious project in Rustaq: to
construct a new high school for girls, equipped with solar energy,
TV for BBC, simple laboratories and a library
Education has
been accorded a high importance in Rustaq district, and besides
maintaining a middle and high school for boys the community also
surprisingly established a middle and high school for girls some
years ago without any financial means. Meanwhile 10 girls reached
level 12 and will hopefully graduate this year – for the first time
in history there.
The massive influx of children to the schools created too many
problems for the teachers. Up to 70 children are sitting in a 1st
Grade classroom and much more teachers would be required to provide
quality teaching. The high school for boys is already working in
three shifts in order to accommodate the huge number of students,
whereas the high school for girls operates in two shifts already.
All the
girls of the high school are also accommodated in tents for the time
being. Of course, teaching is now much more difficult but teachers
and girls are looking forward to get soon to the new building,
presently under construction.
Skilled
people are employed at the construction site, but there are also a
considerable amount of volunteers assigned to assist in
construction. The new high school for girls is seen as the biggest
investment in Rustaq town for decades. It will give place to better
education of boys as well, since they will be accommodated later on
in the former old girls’ high school.
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