common cause - ActionAid

12 COVER STORY
COVER STORY 13
Any visitor entering the room could be forgiven for
thinking that this is a class of some sort – but it is much
more than that. The careful making of these charts by
Daasil’s women, many of whom have never held a pencil
before, has brought about deep changes that have
improved and empowered their lives. The charts are the
first steps in an ActionAid programme that has brought
villagers together to work for community changes they
never dreamed possible.
Since 2003 ActionAid has been carrying out
developmental activities in three districts of northern
Afghanistan. The spearhead of our rural programme in
the region is a community-based plan for change, a
process that enables villagers to discover, prioritise and
put into action the changes that will improve their lives.
ActionAid staff, including locally employed ‘social
mobilisers’, work directly in the villages, providing
support and encouragement and recruiting organisations
to help fund and partner the various projects. The
process starts with men and women separately
researching their own village to work out exactly what
needs to be changed. They pinpoint the poorest in the
community and highlight the inequalities between males
and females. They then turn their findings into drawings
on charts, and these are constantly referred to as they
begin to make changes.
“Before ActionAid came we knew each other, but not
well. It’s hard for women to gather together and we had
to get permission from the men. For a year we were
going into the mountains and sitting there during the war,
hiding in caves together, but we still didn’t know each
other’s thoughts. We are trying our best to do something
and solve our own problems. We are very happy now
and have improved our lives. The men are very surprised
that we have made decisions for ourselves,” says Bibi,
suddenly slapping her chest. “I now have the power to
speak. I am not afraid any more to say what I think and if
there are any literacy courses coming here I will do
them…even though I am 45 and old.” Her companions
laugh and chorus in support of their friend.
In nearby Abashi village, an ActionAid income
regeneration programme is underway as part of its
change plan. Nasima Shorkhoki, 40, proudly shows off
the 20 chickens remaining from the 250 she has
managed to raise with the help of an incubator that she
shares with three other families. “I am a widow with four
children and had no money. Now I am selling the
chickens to the villagers. Before, my brother and
relatives helped me. My husband died because he was
sick and we didn’t have the money for a doctor.”
On a veranda in the same house, another Bibi busies
herself monitoring the progress of a group of women
weaving a brightly coloured carpet. There are ten
families in the village weaving for $2 a day – a lot of
money for rural Afghanistan. “We are the poorest
families and we are selling the carpets and buying the
wool,” Bibi explains, adding that it takes l5 days to
make one carpet. A widow and mother of seven
children, she is happy with the arrangement. “The next
step is for me to get a cow. I want a big one with plenty
of milk.”
ONE ROOM IS SO PACKED
WITH WOMEN AND CHILDREN IT’S
DIFFICULT FOR THE DOCTORS TO
SQUEEZE THROUGH TO GIVE
THEIR HEALTH EDUCATION
PRESENTATION. THE DOCTORS’
VISIT IS A LONG HELD DREAM FOR
THE WOMEN AND THEY CAN’T
HIDE THEIR EXCITEMENT
Nasima wants to say that even though she is a widow
she can marry again. “What do you want a husband
for?” asks Zakiya, who is about 80 years old. “I have no
teeth and nothing else left for a man!” Nasima ignores
her and wants to show us the incubator that hatches her
eggs in a room behind the weaving loom. It’s hard not to
notice the huge gaping hole in the roof. “Bomb,” she
points, “boom, boom,” and everyone laughs.
In the nearby village of Abdul Malik, ActionAid’s three
female doctors from the mobile health team are arriving
at a small house, where one room is so packed with
women and children it’s difficult for the doctors to
squeeze through to give their health education
presentation. The doctors’ visit is a long held dream for
the women and they can’t hide their excitement. On a
verandah outside the nearby mosque, 40 men and boys
are listening attentively to their first health education
class given by Dr Rashid, the team’s only male doctor.
The excited, chattering voices of the women can be
heard through the sycamore trees.
In Afghanistan half a million women die each year
from pregnancy-related complications, the causes of
which are exacerbated by poverty and isolation. The
maternal mortality rate is the second highest in the
world, and diarrhoeal and acute respiratory infections
cause an estimated 42% of childhood deaths.
Not surprisingly, every village participating in
ActionAid’s programme for change ranks healthcare as a
priority need, although it is men and boys who are given
priority when it comes to urgent medical treatment.
Charts drawn up by the men and women show that if
men or boys are acutely sick they are more likely to be
transported to the nearest town to see a doctor. Women
and girls tend not to be taken to see a doctor until it is
generally too late to save them.
One woman in a red scarf interrupts: “We need a
clinic especially for the women giving birth,” she says.
“My daughter had problems and wouldn’t stop bleeding
after her baby was born. We took her to town and the
doctor said there was no way she would stop bleeding.
We borrowed the money to see him.”
Looking at the eager crowd of women in the tiny
room, it’s surprising to hear from health programme
leader, Dr Manjusha Gupta, that, at first, gathering the
women together in each village was an enormous
obstacle. “Either some were too busy weaving carpets
and thought their time was too precious to be wasted on
health education, or the male in the family was reluctant
to allow women to participate,” she says. “But this
programme had a major advantage in that the health
team consisted mainly of female doctors and the
women’s immediate medical needs could be attended to.
Each woman here today has brought either her own
health problems or a child’s, and will be treated by one
of the female doctors after the class.”
This is good news for a country that is still struggling
to rebuild itself and provide some sort of infrastructure
for its people. But, until it does, it’s business as usual for
the four doctors bravely travelling to some of
Afghanistan’s remotest villages to meet the demands of
people desperate for medical attention.
WE ARE TRYING OUR
BEST TO DO SOMETHING
AND SOLVE OUR OWN
PROBLEMS. WE ARE VERY
HAPPY NOW AND HAVE
IMPROVED OUR LIVES.
THE MEN ARE VERY
SURPRISED THAT WE
HAVE MADE DECISIONS
FOR OURSELVES
Although we do not have a child sponsorship
programme in Afghanistan, you can still support
our work in the country by means of a donation.
To do so, please call 01460 23 8000 or email
commoncause@actionaid.org.uk quoting your
supporter number or postcode.
common cause SUMMER 2004 www.actionaid.org.uk
www.actionaid.org.uk common cause SUMMER 2004