A poor woman, while crying loudly complained that the cold will kill even more people if they continue living in those conditions. (Photo: RAWA.org)
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During the cruel cold of Kabul, more than 20 children have died in an IDP camp in the outskirts of Kabul. More will surely die, the inhabitants fear. Half-naked children are seen everywhere in the blistering cold. Hundreds live in terrible conditions which constantly threat their life, especially in winters.
Water streams stand still and snow stacked in corners of small muddy streets. Small one-roomed, dark mud huts covered in shabby pieces of cloth and plastic house at least six to seven people. There is no running water in the area except a hand-pump that freezes completely in the winters. Sanitation however is no different from almost all parts of Kabul: holes dug in the open with no proper system to carry out the sewage. There is no doctor and people cannot afford those in the city.
A woman who lost her 20-day old baby girl says tearfully, “I fear I will lose my other children too. It is too cold here. My husband is a laborer and earns less than 200 Afghanis (4 USD) everyday which is not enough for our large family. This is if it doesn’t snow; when it snows there is no work and we have to sit at home, cold and hungry.”
The inhabitants are all from Helmand, where a fierce battle raged between the foreign forces and Taliban, and killed more civilians than either side’s people. Most children already had strange diseases when they came to Kabul. A teenage girl sat disabled in the corner of a hut. Her mother said she couldn’t move her sticky arms and stand up. Her father said they don’t have enough money to get her treated. “My wife had complications when delivering her last baby too. After that I tried to get her treatment but after a couple of times, I saw that I couldn’t afford it so I had to drop it.” This family is a typical example of families all over Afghanistan, battered and helpless.
Walking through the camp, every face is twisted with pain and suffering, except an occasional smile from an innocent child for a photo. The IDPs claim the government and NGOs have done nothing to help them. More than 60 billion USD of aid has filled the pockets of such treacherous warlords and criminals seated in the highest government posts, who won’t spend a cent to save the innocent lives of children who live in the capital city itself.