Help schools, victims of terror attacks and IDPs

Thank you for your generous support to Help schools, victims of terror attacks and IDPS. Your donation has helped our team in providing over 1000 scholarships to at-risk youth, mostly girls, and life-saving assistance to hundreds of vulnerable families in the marginalized and persecuted Hazara communities in Afghanistan. 

This summer, Kabul is going through a severe water scarcity. Dasht-e-Barchi area, an overpopulated Hazara western part of Kabul in general and Regreshan area in particular, is bearing the brunt of the water shortage. The wells that were excavated by the water supplying companies over the years have dried up, which adds to the suffering of residents of Regreshan.    

Since the Taliban’s takeover in the summer of 2021, the government has stopped supplying water from the government reservoirs to people in the Hazara Dasht-e-Barchi area. The water shortage issue was only made public via social media as the local Afghan news outlets that are either controlled or influenced by the Taliban did not report on the issue.  

The Bamyan Foundation team in collaboration with community leaders on the ground and local mosques conducted a survey and an analysis of the water shortage. We learned that solving the issue requires the monumental task of a sizable budget/funding and support from the local government that are almost impossible at the moment. 

After the issue became public on social media, some of the aid agencies took notice and excavated deep wells in mosques that alleviated some of the hardships; however, accessing water from the wells depended on electricity that was mostly unavailable. The lack of electricity resulted to long waiting lines for the residents, sometimes for hours, outside the mosques just to get a few liters of water for their families. 

Our team noticed that women, including mothers with babies, and mostly children were delegated with the task of long waits during the heat of the summer. Some of the children were seeking shelter from the sun under their empty water containers. This was an uncomfortable scene as the children, boys and girls, should have been at school instead, yet they had to be there not to lose their spot in the long lines. 

Our team with the approval of local community leaders decided to provide tankers full of water in selected mosques located in the neighborhoods that were experiencing the most severe water shortage. This would help in reducing the long waiting lines and help women and children to access drinking water faster.

In total, our team provided 13 water tankers, each containing 4,000 liters of water, in 13 mosques in Regreshan area, and two 500 liter tankers in Chehel Dokhtaran neighborhood. For more, please visit our website via one of the links below.

As mentioned above, long term solution to the water shortage in Dasht-e-Barchi requires serious attention by the government and major aid organizations; however, in the absence of a responsive and responsible government, people have no choice but to find temporary solutions on their own. 

The water tankers provided a temporary relief; however, the long and harsh winter is ahead for the most vulnerable families in these impoverished neighborhoods. Furthermore, it is of utmost importance to educate people about proper water conservation and the consequences of too many deep wells that will adversely affect the underground water reservoirs in the long run. 

Our team further visited a family in need, a blind widow with three daughters, Fatima, Fereshta and Shireen and provided a modest assistance of $300 for the well-being of the three girls to help them prepare for the upcoming winter.

And that’s why we are endlessly grateful for you! Your support has enabled us to continue our community-led initiatives and help marginalized populations that either deliberately sidelined or inaccessible by major aid organizations.

With gratitude,

Timor + The Bamyan Foundation Team

Links:

• Kabul Water Shortage
• Video report on the severe water scarcity in Kabul