Disabled children in Afghanistan

Posted By: Erica

I spoke to a woman from UNESCO yesterday working on inclusive education for children with disabilities. Thirty years of warfare have left a significant number of disabled children, most due to poor health care access during 30 years of war but an estimated 25% due to the direct consequences of conflict. For example, those injured from explosive remnants of war (ERWs), including cluster bomb duds or other unexploded ordnance, are frequently children who inadvertently pick up or hit the ERWs while collecting wood, water or other materials for their family.  Children who lose a leg or an arm, suffer deafness, or have other disabilities are usually not allowed to go to school, not allowed to learn a trade, nor given other development tools that would allow them to become normally functioning adults.

The woman I spoke to in UNESCO has been working for the past twenty years to persuade Afghan government entities and school authorities to allow some of these children to go to school.  It’s a sad legacy that sometimes the most effective redress for those injured in conflict would be a return to normalcy – something that these children’s injuries and the ongoing conflict do not allow.

Tragedy at the Indian Embassy in Kabul

Posted By: Erica

This morning a suicide bomb attack on the Indian Embassy killed an estimated 30 to 40 civilians, and injured another 140. I just sat down with the an American friend who was in his office catecorner to the Indian Embassy when the attack happened. His driver was killed; many of his co-workers are in the hospital with injuries ranging from severe shrapnel and blast wounds to facial cuts from the flying glass. He was unharmed, although considering that this is his second week in Kabul, not completely unscathed. “You hear about how powerful the force is but there’s nothing like experiencing it. All the glass and some of the walls of our office were blown away… We walked outside and there were bodies and body parts in the street.”

I heard about the attack when I first arrived at work. About half an hour after it happened, an Afghan colleague of mine walked into my office and started telling me about his friend who was injured in the bombing. His friend worked for an airline and the office was in a shopping block just across the street from the Embassy. It’s one of the few two-story shopping complexes in Kabul and is always filled with pedestrian traffic. My colleague was angry:  “Why would they attack that place? There is no military, nothing. Just poor people.” Then in a more sober voice, my colleague told me that he and some other guys from the office were on their way to the MOI when they got the news.

My American friend said there was dead silence immediately after the blast but after about a minute, one of his Afghan colleagues said “This is Afghanistan.” They immediately grabbed brooms and cloth and started mopping up the rubble and the blood, he said.

Shar-e-Cott, pt. 2

Posted By: Erica

I met the elders of Shar-e-Cott, along with the other ACAP staff in the lumber yard of a large construction supply company. ACAP staff had pre-ordered and purchased the shovels, picks, gravel, lumber, wheelbarrows and other materials necessary to build a retention wall and irrigation system for the village of Shar-e-Cott. The retention wall and irrigation system will create a long-term improvement in the flood control, irrigation and water systems in the village, and in the short-term provide at least 250 families with day labor jobs constructing the wall and irrigation systems.

Germany helping Afghans

Posted By: Erica

I’m in Kunduz now, in the north of Afghanistan. Kunduz saw heavy fighting and bombardment in 2001, when coalition forces were attacking Taliban fighters fleeing to the north, but since then it’s been a relatively quiet province. A few suicide bombings last year and threats from local insurgent groups suggest that might be changing, but for the time being the German Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), which is in charge of security and stabilization for this province, has a fairly quiet job.

Despite the calm in Kunduz there are civilians who are being harmed by the ongoing conflict and the military presence. I went to the local German PRT to talk to them about how they handle these issues. One officer told me that when there is an insurgent bombing that harms civilian casualties, or a road accident resulting in civilian injuries, they do what they can. But they are not given any funds to spend on such condolences or gestures of compassion to civilian families. Any funds they do raise come from the individual soldiers on the PRT or from their families back home in Germany.

One soldier told me: “When he had the automobile accident [a few days ago], at the morning meeting every soldier gave maybe 5, 10 euros, whatever he could for the family.” In that case, they were able to scrape together about 200 euros for that family.

Sometimes these soldiers find ways to help families that go beyond a monetary contribution. When there was a suicide bombing last May, resulting in 21 civilian casualties (5 deaths, 16 injuries), the Civil-Military (CIMIC) coordinator at the PRT tried to find jobs for those injured, or for their surviving family members, at the PRT or with other organizations in town. One of the victims, a 7-year-old girl, suffered severe burns requiring skin grafts and plastic surgery to restore. The PRT officials found a German charity that would take responsibility for flying her for treatment to Germany and taking care of her while there. After a lengthy process of approval, they were finally successful, and the little girl boarded a plane for Germany three days ago for her treatment.

It is an inspiring gesture of humanity that these troops will dig into their own pockets and resources to help Afghans. But it shouldn’t have to be that way. All NATO countries operating in Afghanistan should be giving funds to help war victims.

Aid isn’t one-size-fits-all…

Posted By: Marla B.

Erica’s story illustrates an interesting point. As you well know, we believe civilians suffering in armed conflict need and deserve help. The difficult question becomes ‘what kind of help’? This question cannot be answered without a firm grasp on the dynamics not only of this conflict but also of this particular community. As we’ve seen in several cases in the past, sometimes the best option is victim specific redress. But in this particularly difficult security situation, our answer comes in the form of community re-building. To be sure, there can be no ‘magic’ answer to the question - one that works for every situation. Each conflict, each case has to be considered on its own. What we can be sure about is that regardless of the type of aid, it is imperative to help civilians harmed in ways both feasible and meaningful to them.