World Vision Afghanistan: Re-shaping life stories

In a village in a remote part of Ghor province, Afghanistan, everything appears tranquil and pastoral: birdsong, the gentle bleating of sheep, the murmur of flowing water and the smell of homemade bread. But the lives and experiences of two village women, Sakina, 40, and her 22-year-old daughter Shamail tell a different story.

The mother

Sakina looks older than her age. She lost her husband to a heart attack eight years ago, and has since been playing the role of mother and father to her four children including Shamail, the second oldest. Her first born, Akbar, is preparing for university, and the two youngest are both in school.

“I raised my children by sewing,” 

“I raised my children by sewing,” Sakina says, wiping tears away with her scarf. “I was sewing until midnight. I didn’t have any other relatives to help me. I was a single woman [caring for] four kids.” 

Lacking money, Sakina pulled Shamail from school and pressured her into marrying at 17. “I had to do it,” she says. “I fed [the children] with difficulty. I thought by forcing [Shamail] to get married, she could have a good life in her husband’s home, and…the number of mouths [to feed] could be reduced.”

The daughter

Sitting on the floor, Shamail tries to calm the baby in her lap. “I didn’t want to get married. I wanted to go to school like my older brother, but I accepted [marriage]. I thought I could help my mother,” she explains. She looks at the floor, tugging a thread on the ragged carpet.

Shamail’s husband, a drug addict, abandoned the family more than a year ago, leaving the young mother to provide for the children alone. “I don’t know where he is now. I don’t even know if he is alive,” she says quietly, shrugging.

“I didn’t know any [skills or have an occupation] to work and earn income."

Shamail had no choice but to move back into her mother’s home with her two young children. “I didn’t know any [skills or have an occupation] to work and earn income. I just knew how to look after my family and cook food.”

Life gets harder

Sakina’s plan had backfired. Instead of reducing the number of dependents in her household, she now had two additional young children to feed and take care of.

“I eagerly accepted Shamail and her children,” she explains. “I forced her to get married and it was a mistake. By accepting [them], I wanted to make things right.”

Sakina found it difficult to feed these extra mouths, so she had to increase the number of hours she sewed and was even considering removing Akbar from school to help earn income for the family.

A World Vision Afghanistan (WVA) project provides hope

With funds from World Vision Australia, WVA initiated a new project, “Ghor Technical Education in Extreme Contexts (Ghortex),” aimed at supporting female-headed households, disabled people, youth and poor farmers in remote areas of Ghor province through income generating agricultural activities.

The project provided farmer training for 480 villagers, including Sakina, in such diverse areas as cultivation of different seeds such as okra, tomato, cauliflower, turnip and more. Trainees also received farming implements like shovels and weeding tools.

At first, Sakina wasn’t interested in joining the project. “I thought that instead of wasting my time cultivating different types of vegetables I could sew.” She smiles. “I asked myself, ‘who is going to buy vegetables?’”

Sakina earned around $1.50 USD a day sewing, but since attending skills training through the project she is able to make an additional $3 – $10 USD a day through cultivating vegetables.

“I [set aside] some of the food I produce for my children and Shamail’s children. I have learned that vegetables are very good for your health. But most [of what I grow] is sold in the market,” she says.

Before WVA’s project Sakina’s family didn’t eat many vegetables. “We either couldn’t afford to buy them or didn’t know the [health benefits] of vegetables,” she says. The project has not only taught her good cultivation techniques but has helped her find ways of selling the vegetables that she has grown.

With the money that she earned selling vegetables, Sakina was able to buy a motorcycle, which Akbar will use to get to school. “My son is very happy,” she says proudly, “he doesn’t need to walk three hours to get to his university.” Because of the project, Sakina no longer feels like she needs to pull Akbar out of school to help with the family’s finances.

Some of Shamail’s burdens have lifted as well. If her children get sick she doesn’t need to worry like before because they now have a motorcycle to get to the clinic, and if necessary, there is money to buy medicine.

This year Shamil, like her mother, will acquire the skills to farm and cultivate vegetables. She is currently participating in trainings that the project team has designed for newly selected beneficiaries. “I am very excited. I will have my own money in just a few months,” she says.

 “We have been told that this project is funded by Australia,” Shamail says shyly. “We don’t know them, but I request you to say our regards to them and on the behalf of all of us say thank you.”

The Ghortex project provided farmers with training sessions on marketing and ways of making connections between suppliers and vendors. According to Mr. Sarhsar, World Vision Ghortex Project Manager, “through selling vegetables, the [project] farmers saw an average increased income of $450 USD per family, which helped them [cover household expenses], ensured their children’s access to basic education, and allowed them to provide for their children in general.”

The project has established small hoop tunnels for cultivating seedlings. Through this new method, farmers can produce vegetable seedlings earlier in the season than if they were planting in an unprotected area. When farmers cultivate vegetables using seedling tunnels, they can sell at markets earlier and at a higher price.

As part of the project implementation, 160 students from the Ghor Agriculture Institute have received technical training in agriculture, learned about the cultivation of new vegetables, and have acquired networking skills to link their markets with others.

Graduates of the programme will return to their home villages throughout the province to continue working on farms and put into practice what they have learned, directly benefiting their families. This initiative increases the sustainability of the project as students will have the opportunity to impart their skills and knowledge to current and future farmers in their communities.