I’m sure it will make little sense, but today I felt like a time traveller: appearing out of a sand storm that had reduced our visibility to not more than ten meters, Zindajan suddenly materialised in front of me, as if it had risen from the miles of endless desert. Sand coloured buildings, with flat and domed roofs, narrow streets lined one side with winter barren almond trees, arched doorways leading down into dark homes, overflowing irrigation channels filled with snow melt, vicious winds plunging the temperature and not a person in sight.
I was in the village to meet with the village Health Shura (leadership committee) and to talk with them about the Water Sanitation & Health (WASH) project that is being implemented in theirs, and a number of other villages in the district.
Designed to contribute towards improving the health status of children aged 0-5 years in 285 villages, the project partners are educating parents and children about hygiene and health issues, water purification and storage, water source rehabilitation and security and supplying training and material to enable families to build a pit latrine (550 in all).
A major cause of morbidity in these rural Afghani communities is diarrhoea, caused (in the main) by unsafe water and hygiene practices. But it’s no good just building latrines, people need to understand why age old cultural practices such as open defecation are causing sickness and to want to change their behaviour, and then to be given the equipment and knowledge to make changes.
A vital part of this project (and most work in Afghanistan) is garnering the support of, and partnering with the existing community leadership structures – especially the village Mullah. The Mullah is probably the most powerful influence in any community and through his Friday lesson and other teaching opportunities he has an unrivalled in to the lives and behaviour of the members of his community. So a great deal of time is spent winning and educating the Mullah.
This has happened in Zindajan: today as I sat with the Mullah, the female and male Shura leaders, the Community Health Workers (CHW) and the project managers, I listened to stories of how the simple lessons of hand washing, water purifying from a $0.50 sachet and latrine construction all are coming together in this community to bring resilience and healthy children.And I heard that most important (I believe) of all lessons repeated again: “We trust you because you have done, and are doing, what you promised; and you have stayed, you have been amongst us!”
The method of sustainability in Zindajan (for this initiative) is behaviour change: but the secret to success is: Relationships of Trust - built on respect for the other regardless of religion and race, gender and status - framed within a deep sensitivity to and acceptance of culture.
