My journey through Afghanistan - Day 5

Oxfam’s Zahra Akkerhuys spent a week in rural Afghanistan visiting Oxfam’s team fighting in the frontline – in the battle against poverty.

Saturday

Life in these villages in the winter months is grim. Snow falls several feet thick and the villages cannot be reached by car between November and April. Oxfam staff rely on horse-power to help them go about their work. In the village of Khordakhan, where Oxfam’s Shar-i-Bezerg office is based, Oxfam’s two horses are stabled. They are pretty frisky and look like they would be lots of fun to ride. But these are working horses and regularly carry Oxfam staff to some of the remotest villages of the district when the snow is thick on the ground.

But it’s now summer-time – and the temperature is around 35C. Beautiful blue, yellow and red wildflowers grow alongside the wheat and barley crops, their heads bobbing in the faint breeze and colourful birds I have never seen before dive into the valleys playing with the wind currents as they glide through the air. Cows and goats munch the day away on the hilltops.

So little is known about this side of life in Afghanistan and it’s hard to believe that I am in the same country that we see in the UK on our TV screens each night - where suicide attacks occur at the rate of three per week and one person each day is killed by assassination (UN figures); where troops fight for their lives and a political war of words is being won and lost.

It’s peaceful here in Badakhshan. The people are some of the poorest in the world but at least their children can roam the mountains free as they look after the goats and cows. There are few jobs opportunities, schooling is basic at best and healthcare is almost non-existent but it’s not a war-zone – and I find some comfort in this. Not all Afghans are living in fear for their lives each day – I hope that the peace of the mountains will one day spread further than the province of Badakhshan and across the entire country. I also hope that, one day, I will return here.

Read more

Oxfam's work in Afghanistan

 The Cost of War: Afghan Experiences, in pictures

Join the petition: Afghanistan – People First