Survival and Dignity in an Afghan Winter

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/10/30-7



Children at Charahi, Qambar refugee camp


Survival and Dignity in an Afghan Winter
by Kathy Kelly
Published on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 by Common Dreams

~snip~

There were many such casualties, the New York Times reports, in the deadly January of 2012, Afghanistan's coldest January in 20 years. The United Nations notes that, in camps around Kabul, as many as 35,000 refugees from the fighting had only tents and mud huts to protect them from the cold. In those camps alone, 26 Afghan children froze to death this past winter, with nationwide casualties in triple digits.

Among Afghanistan's ongoing burdens of destitution and war, of course temperatures are now dropping again.

~snip~

It is a sign of desperation that families have allowed the women to gather each morning at the Afghan Peace Volunteer home to try to eke out a living. Several of the participants had already told me that they felt like they were losing their minds, "going mad,” or becoming mentally unstable from the crushing knowledge that they could not adequately feed their families, that with rising costs even a diet of bread was escaping from their families' grasp.

~snip~

In this election season, here in the U.S., it can seem as if there are few choices but hard compromises having little to do with peace. But, if we look past the distractions, we can remember that there are always ways to act for peace, even in strangled political climates such as that under which the Afghan Peace Volunteers are working. They hope to build options for impoverished people when they cannot work directly to bring justice to all Afghans. We will continue supporting them in their ceasefire campaign, and we have hope that Afghans and internationals will be eager to help fellow human beings live with dignity.