Meeting early in the morning, some 40 Afghan men reflected on their lives as refugees in the Utmanzai refugee village, situated in the Peshawar valley in District Charsadda, Province Khyber PukhtunKhwa in northern Pakistan. Each man had a similar story to tell—stories of hardship, resilience and human dignity, even amid great suffering.

Over cups of qahva, traditional green tea, the villagers used the community meeting as an opportunity to discuss their needs and future plans. Sixty year-old Sher Khan highlighted that the Afghan community suffers especially from the lack of access to basic services that are overburdened and strained due to the similar needs of the Pakistani populations, especially in the areas of health and education.

“We have lived here for two generations, but we have not been able to rebuild the lives that we had back in Afghanistan. We have received a lot of support, but even so, basic necessities are often difficult to come by in the camps. Many children are unable to attend or access schooling and recreational facilities such as parks or playgrounds, and women are often unable to receive an education or skills training and/or the skills needed to boost access to productive resources.”

This community of 300 households in the ‘Utmanzai camp no. 1’ are among the 1.7 million Afghans in Pakistan who fled their country in 1979. While millions have returned to Afghanistan during the last decade, many are still unable to do so. According to UN estimates, 13 Afghan camps were adversely affected in the recent floods, and some 12,000 dwellings destroyed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). Overall, more than 20 million people were affected by the 2010 floods, which are likely to recur in 2011.

ICMC has been working with local communities in the region to specifically provide emergency relief to the former residents of the Utmanzai refugee village, and to support their efforts to regain long-term self-sufficiency. With the support of Caritas Germany, unskilled workers in the community have received training towards shelter construction, which has in turn led to the construction of 270 transitional shelters and communal hand pumps that provide clean drinking water for those who lost their homes in the natural disaster.

In addition to spearheading numerous initiatives to sustainably improve water and sanitation conditions, community members are also benefitting from food kits, hygiene items, winter support kits and primary health care that have been made available by ICMC at the newly constructed community center at Utmanzai.

By Zahoor Muhammad and Daud Jan, ICMC Pakistan
Photo credits: ©ICMC/A.Saddiq/2011, ©ICMC/N.Hussain/2011

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