GULAN’S PAKISTANI
REFUGEES: ONE YEAR ON
AFGHANISTAN
They fled the fighting between the Pakistani army and Taliban groups in Northern Waziristan and arrived in Afghanistan since June 2014.
Hundreds of thousands of people were fleeing the areas of tension to calmer regions of Pakistan, but ten thousand families decide to cross the Afghan border, the infamous Durand Line which has been separating Pashtun tribes between Afghanistan and Pakistan since 1893.
Some settled with close ones or in host families. Others, who could not rely on such an alternative, found refuge beyond the border, in Afghanistan, on a rocky field with no water, shade, where nothing grows.
And the Gulan refugee camp was born.
Some drove, others came on foot. They were carrying their meagre belongings, their most precious possessions, some food and what they could grab in a hurry.
Quickly, informal settlements were set up. Homes were formed by families who were settling in. It was Ramadan time, the weather was hot and neighbouring communities offered their help by greeting the refugees and giving food to the poorest people. Tradespeople from the city of Khost, a few dozen kilometres away, had saved up to be able to send water trucks to these thousands of people. A local business even dug a borehole in a field usually disputed between tribes in the area.
Relief was also quick in its arrival. NGOs began to distribute a few basic need items and set up water tanks to improve access to water.
At the end of September 2014, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL took over the management of water, hygiene and sanitation services thanks to funding from the European Union. At the time, there were 15,000 people in the camp, hoping to go back home by the spring.
One year later, the situation is different: the refugees are still there and Gulan camp now counts more than 65,000 souls.
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WATER TO DRINK AND WASH
SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL HAS BEEN
WORKING IN GULAN CAMP SINCE SEPTEMBER 2014
Having responded to the immediate emergency by trucking water to these populations, SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL has now tripled the activity and now provides 15 litres of water per person per day, covering essential needs. Community infrastructures are now also receiving water, producing more than a million litres daily.
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A market has grown, a dozen schools help children benefit from primary education, a health centre was built and some 40 mosques allow the faithful to come and pray.
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Slowly, the tarp tents are being replaced by rough brick houses, closely modelled on those abandoned by these people back in Northern Waziristan.
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Social structures have been created and an assembly of elders (Shura) helps to alleviate conflicts between refugees and between the various tribes in the camp population. These elders are the natural mediators between refugees and the aid agencies assisting them.
Malak Janan, a community leader, is responsible for easing relations between the different communities. He is particularly sorry that families are still in the camp more than a year after their arrival.
One of SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL’s objectives is also to develop access to women’s bathrooms. “The idea is to offer women a bit more intimacy because life in a camp is never easy on them, especially for women who are raising children alone,” says Water, Sanitation and Hygiene coordinator Remi Rodriguez.
Therefore, emergency latrine and family shower blocks were progressively set up in each camp sector. 5000 are needed to grant each family access to health structures adapted to the cultural environment. With public latrines, women would not have been able to access such indispensable facilities as freely as they can now.
AMÉLIORER LA VIE DES FEMMES
IMPROVING WOMEN’S LIVING CONDITIONS
“In order to strengthen our response to deplorable sanitary conditions, we built some 1460 latrines and bathrooms. 2440 are currently being built. We have distributed soap and jerry-cans, while promoting good hygiene habits to fight waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea,” says field coordinator Jean-Philippe Barroy.
SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL teams have also bought ten public laundry points, with ten more to come, still with the will to ensure more convenient hygiene conditions.
Waste management is also being dealt with by SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL, with the use of garbage bins throughout the camp, emptied daily by the refugees themselves into specially designed pits.
SOLIDARITÉS INTERNATIONAL teams are also promoting good hygiene practices, by helping these usually rural populations to live in a refugee camp context, with denser demography and higher health risks. They conducted hygiene promotion sessions in schools, homes and in some community locations.
When delivering hygiene promotion sessions in homes, the social code of these traditionalist populations had to be taken into consideration. Only women can access family or community areas and gain access to women and children. Therefore a team of six female hygiene promoters is now in daily contact with the camp’s women and spreads good hygiene habits within the community.
An uncertain future
The camp dwellers cannot picture a return to their homeland any time soon. Some are even considering staying here for several years. This idea is confirmed with the construction of more sustainable accommodation by the refugees themselves.
Their future depends on the evolution of the military and political situation in Pakistan and on the relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It seems difficult to predict now how the crisis will unfold. The future of these 65,000 people seems increasingly worrisome.
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Photography
Philippe Bonnet
Philippe was SOLIDARITES INTERNATIONAL’s Head of Mission in Afghanistan until September 2015 after filling the same position in Thailand, Chad, DRC and South Sudan. An aid worker since 2003, he has also been on mission with Doctors Without Borders, notably in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Sandra Calligaro
Sandra is an independent, award-winning photographer. She has been living in Afghanistan for almost ten years. Her portraits and reportage on the improvement of living conditions in Gulan camp are coupled here with strong words from the women and men who are trying every day to recover their dignity.
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> Portraits of our Kabul staff
Going further
> Remi Rodriguez recalls opening Gulan
> Afghanistan: Voices of aid workers
> Afghanistan: humanitarian context
