“My grandparents emigrated to Pakistan a long time ago,” Zainnuddin told us. He therefore grew up in Pakistan, and it was the only home he’d ever known - that was until a decade ago, when he moved his family back to the north of Afghanistan to start anew. He’d heard of the economic growth and boost in living conditions that occurred in Afghanistan in the 2010s, and like many other Afghans, moved back to his family’s old village in the hope that he could build a better life. “It’s been about ten years since we returned to Afghanistan.”

Things had been going well for the family until a couple of years ago, when the withdrawal of international troops, recurring droughts and collapse of the banking system precipitated a dire humanitarian crisis across the country, causing unemployment, food insecurity and household debt to skyrocket. This meant that Zaunuddin’s daily wage from labouring work, on which the family relied for their daily income, suddenly dried up. Most of the families in the village were left in similar situations, and in increasingly challenging circumstances.

At the beginning of 2023, Afghanaid met with the Community Development Council in Zainnuddin’s village to understand the assistance that was most needed by community members. As well as outlining that families were struggling with a lack of income, the council also raised that they had never had access to clean water.

Zainnuddin’s wife, Zulikha, recently gave birth to their youngest son, and she expressed how challenging gathering water was whilst she was pregnant.

“This past year, collecting the water was very difficult because the cold weather meant everywhere was frozen and everyone was slipping. I slipped so many times. It was too difficult.”

In order to avoid this dangerous journey, many families ended up relying on rain and flood water that ran into rivers in the village. “We used to just have a hole that collected the flood water, and when it looked clear, we used it as our drinking water.”

But, as Zainnuddin explained, the water was not safe for drinking. “Because of this dirty water, we all got kidney stones. Also, two of my children fell into the river while they were collecting flood water.”

Recognising that this village had a dire need for both safe water and employment opportunities, Afghanaid created a project aimed at tackling both issues.

By employing Zainnuddin and over 600 other villagers on a cash for work scheme, we have been providing a crucial daily wage to families in exchange for their support in building a large-scale water supply network, which will bring water points to over 53 homes in the area.

“Firstly, Afghanaid worked with us to make a deep well, then we built a tanker and connected it with a pipeline which works with solar power. Water goes from the well to the tanker. Next, we are connecting a pipe to every street and house. And this pipeline will go all over the village.”

“It also provides us with a job opportunity - so many of us are working with Afghanaid right now and so got a job through this. We have an attendance sheet and we receive 400 afghanis salary per day and this helps to solve our primary problems.”

Over the past two years alone, Afghanaid has supported over 45,000 households with these cash for work initiatives. For many families, this employment has been a lifeline, ensuring that they can meet their urgent needs and get back on their feet despite the ongoing crisis.
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“We’re doing a great job. We are so happy and thankful.” Zainnuddin added.

“When this project is finished, all people, both adults and children will support and keep the new infrastructure safe.”