Supporter: Sayeed Farhad Zalmi

The old water system in Ortabuz. Photo: Sayeed Farhad Zalmi/Mercy Corps

Ortabuz is a small village in the east of Afghanistan’s Takhar Province. At least 600 families are living in this small and green village. The people of Ortabuz are mostly farmers and each family have one or two jerib — about one-half to one full acre — of land for planting of crops. This is their only source of income.

The total agriculture land of Ortabuz is about 400 hectares, and they were irrigating their land in the traditional way. For more than 20 years, farmers were using empty big drums to get water to the croplands but, unfortunately, this system was damaged and leaking. The community used various kinds of glue materials to try and repair the drums, but it was not effective and — as a result — all 600 families in the area were deprived of water for both irrigation and drinking.

The new 130 meter-long irrigation canal that Mercy Corps helped construct. Photo: Sayeed Farhad Zalmi/Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps was the only organization in the area to initiate and start the construction of a canal to solve this problem. The canal is about 130 meters long, and was built with a 20 percent resource contribution from the community. So far, the project has made big changes in the lives of local families in the district — and even the provincial government authorities participated in the inauguration of the project.

The result of this project is that people who during the past years could not properly irrigate even their first seasonal crops can now irrigate the first and second seasonal crops. Today, they're cultivating corn, beans and rice because they have enough water.

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Several of Mercy Corps' female team members in Afghanistan smile with their gifts celebrating International Women's Day. Photo: Sayeed Farhad Zalmi

Mercy Corps Afghanistan celebrated International Women's Day in Kabul with bunches of flowers and gifts for female staff. Many of Mercy Corps' female staff here are working in high positions: country director, program manager, deputy program manager, head of departments and coordinators.

The party began around 2 p.m. and all staff from Mercy Corps' main offices gathered for this important event. At the opening speech, Mercy Corps' deputy country director — Dr. Sardar — congratulated Mercy Corps' female staff on International Women's Day.

Dr. Sardar emphasized the significant role of women in global development. He counted Mercy Corps' female staff as key players of our program achievements. “If you see the biggest people in the world, he/she is born by a woman and raised by a woman,’’ he said. At the end of his speech, Dr. Sardar called Christian Mulligan — Mercy Corps Afghanistan's country director — and presented her a bunch of flowers and a scarf.

One by one, each female staff member received gifts.

Fahima Rahimpur — Mercy Corps Afghanistan's Deputy Manager of Monitoring, Evaluation and Information Management — expressed her thoughts: "As a woman working in a male-dominated society, you can maintain your personal momentum by staying true to who you are, knowing your strengths and having the confidence to show them off. Take advantage of your uniqueness. If you are the only woman, consider it a positive, not a negative. Every time you attend a meeting or lead a presentation you have a tremendous opportunity to showcase your skills and talents.

"Mercy Corps Afghanistan is one of the few organizations here where women are busy working in many different positions," she continued. "Although most of the workers are men, the friendly, safe, professional and supportive environment given and provided to the ladies is beyond imagination. For me as a women working in such an organization, I really feel privileged and honored."

"Celebration and recognition of International Women's Day gives you the feeling of being valuable and credible to male co-workers and the whole organization. It paves the way for more growth and significant contribution towards achievements of goals. This is a great opportunity to thank all male colleagues for their support.’’

This day is celebrated in a time when the new government of Afghanistan has put some extra attention on appointing women in high positions. The first female provincial governor, the appointment of three female cabinet ministers and several deputy ministers are some positive evidence that women were making progress in male-dominated conservative Afghan society.

Although such progress has been made, discrimination against and abuse of women continues. Domestic violence and forced marriages are all too common, and many women in the country suffer from poor access to legal resources and exclusion from public life.

Afghanistan has a ways to go in its recognition and treatment of women — but here at Mercy Corps Afghanistan, we appreciate and celebrate their work every day.

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It is six o' clock of the morning of January 5. It is still dark and cold. The vehicle waiting outside of my house is honking its horn. The horn means I have to be ready to go to airport and fly to Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

I'm ready and holding my bag on my shoulder. My wife is saying good-bye to me and holding the Holy Qur'an over my head. In Islamic tradition, putting the Qur'an over a person who will be traveling means safety and a safe return.

I have been told not to take jeans to Helmand because the people who live in there are suspicious of western clothing. Helmand — particularly the fighting and violence there — is in the headlines every day and on the news every night on headlines. That news is scary. Whoever I talked to in my office about my trip to Helmand reacted as if I'm going to a gladiator fight.

Finally, after a serious security check at the Kabul airport, I board the plane and am on my way. As we're flying, I feel a heavy hand on my left shoulder, the hand of a short and strong man. I see his smile me as if he knows me. I pressure my mind to recognize this man, and then realize that he is Wasi. I can’t believe it! He is my classmate from the 8th and 9th grade. Wasi and I studied together at a school supported by a Japanese non-governmental organization (NGO) in Pakistan. He is working with the United Nations as a Finance Officer now.

The pilot is announcing our landing. Previously when I've traveled to Helmand, our plane landed on a non-asphalted runway. This time, the runway is asphalted — the airport is under construction with funding from USAID — but there is still no terminal building or other place to check in and wait. So we sit in the airplane and wait for a vehicle to come pick us up.

Southern Afghanistan's Helmand Province — whose capital is Lashkar Gah — is plagued by violence, deep poverty and extensive opium poppy cultivation. Photo: Scott Heidler/Mercy Corps

And now we are heading to the local Mercy Corps office, which is about 10 kilometers from the airport. I'm feeling scared as we're driving. The city looks like the headquarters of the Taliban. Almost everyone here has a long beard, turbans and shilvar kamis. I feel as if everybody is looking at me like a stranger. However, I'm confident because I know the local language and, according to tradition in Afghanistan, language is one of the most important things in somebody's identity.

Finally, we arrive at the Mercy Corps office in Lashkar Gah. We don’t have any plans for today, so I will rest.

The ring of my mobile phone wakes me from sleep. My friend Wasi is on the line. He is waiting for me on the other side of my office door. He says "Let's go to explore the city." I'm scared, but I can’t say "no" because he might think I'm a cowardly person. And so I go with him.

Here in Lashkar Gah, it's very difficult to find a vehicle with a license plate — including the vehicle I'm riding in. Wasi tells me that almost 90 percent of vehicles here are not registered with government.

Lashkar Gah's small main bazaar and only a five-minute ride from the office. At first I was still feeling very scared because I'm still thinking that everyone here looks like Taliban. After all, Helmand used to be one of the most important headquarters of the Taliban in 2001, when they controlled 95 percent of Afghanistan.

We don't see a lot of people any place we go in the city. Wasi tells me that people are scared of gatherings, because they are afraid of suicide bombings. The people of Lashkar Gah have experienced this twice over the past two years. Just a few months ago, a suicide bomber targeted civilians in one of the city’s biggest mosques. The second time, another suicide bomber exploded his bomb among the people who were lined up registering themselves for Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

Eventually, after spending an uneventful seven days in Lashkar Gah, I returned to Kabul. As I was leaving, I realized that the city is not as dangerous as I feared it would be. And so now, the next time I get an assignment to go there, I won't be feeling so scared.

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The croplands of Afghanistan's Kunduz province are fertile, but prone to crop-killing floods. Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

It was raining hard that day, a rain that brought hope to land and livestock owners in Afghanistan’s Kunduz province. It was the rain of the first month of spring, beneficial for the lands and pastures, but also bringing hopelessness to some farmers in the Imam Saib district. For many in this area, the first rains mean flooding.

The water table is high in villages of the district. When the rains arrive, agricultural lands are waterlogged and not cultivatable. What comes as a blessing to most farmers means bad conditions for these families.

At the onset of the rainy season, we rode to the Imam Saib bazaar and walked up to the villages. A sleepy little road led us to the village of Batash. Walking these small and muddy streets in the rain is quite difficult for a stranger. Even though the locals are used to these conditions, they still find them challenging to navigate this time of year.

Good agricultural land is considered more valuable than gold treasure in northern Afghanistan. But in this community, those who have land are equal to those who don’t, because farming the land is so difficult. Everyone struggles to survive: agriculture is not considered a good vocation in Batash because of the constant hazard of flooded croplands.

Sixty-year-old Haji Mohammed Alem has a wife, nine sons and two daughters. A family this large is not unusual in Afghanistan. This family of thirteen longs to farm their own 29 acres of land in Batash, but flooding has forced them to find alternatives in order to survive.

“This area is full of water,” he told us. “In the past, we had a system for draining the lands. But it’s been damaged for 30 years now.”

Drainage canals help divert floodwaters from family farms. Photo: Sayeed Farhad Zalmi/Mercy Corps

“Three of my sons and I are working as farmers for other land owners; we can earn about 10,000 Afghanis (about US $211) per month,” he continued. He spends almost all of his income on food, and whatever is left over on clothes and school expenses for his children.

“My father was a rich man in our village in the past, but wars took everything from us. We had 500 sheep which was the most livestock in the village,” Alem said. Haji Mohammad Alem is a gentle old man with bad memories of war in Afghanistan. He tells us that he never joined any armed group and regrets that his father never let him go to school.

Alem is among the rare Afghan villagers who allow their daughters to attend school. “An educated person can survive more easily than an uneducated person,” he said. “My six sons and two daughters are going to school. I hope they become government or non-governmental organization employees one day in the future.”

“If I had gone to school it would not be this hard for me to survive now,” he remarked. “I would have a job and wouldn’t be dependant on lands that are so hard to cultivate. What can this land give me?”

“Last year I cultivated more than 140 kilograms (more than 300 pounds) of wheat, but the crop yield was zero and even my house was destroyed because of flooding,” Alem said.

The food crisis has also impacted his family in a very negative way, he said. “What I earn now I spend on food and nothing else, but it is still difficult to survive. Before I was able to buy two shirts per year, but now I can’t even buy one.”

Mercy Corps is working to turn around this situation for villagers like Haji Mohammad Alem, who dream of sustainable farms and economic independence. We are helping Afghans feed themselves in the long term by making their farm land productive again. Our Afghanistan Agro-Business and Agriculture Development program is rehabilitating the drainage system in Imam Saib District. When drained, the soil of Imam Saib will be suitable for all kind of crops. From one hectare of land, farmers could produce 3500 kilograms (about 3.8 tons) of wheat. The project will reclaim more than 15,000 acres of land for cultivation.

Photo: Miguel Samper for Mercy Corps

When I asked Alem about the Mercy Corps drainage excavation project, he was very hopeful. “This project will return our previous life, we will again cultivate the lands, and my sons will be able to work on my own lands,” he said.

This dream is starting to look like reality for Haji Mohammed Alem. The seed of hope for a sustainable life has been planted now in his heart. This seed will grow and give yield when his fields are cultivatable again, and he can double the crop output from his land.

Alem plans to grow melon when his lands are dried and usable again. He estimates that he will earn at least 200,000 Afghanis (more than US $4,200) in one agricultural season. Melons are a famous fruit in Afghanistan, especially the melons from this district. Alem has promised us a wonderful melon party when his fields are drained and have become suitable for cultivation.

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