Medair – Afghanistan

It is ten years since the Taliban lost power in Afghanistan. Over 800 billion dolllars worth of aid has flooded the country since the coalition forces took control.

But despite this Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 92 % of the population having no proper sanitation; and four out of five people having no access to safe drinking water. Cholera, diarrhea and dysentery are common, and over twenty percent of children under the age of five will die as a result of water related diseases.

In October, 2011, Kate Holt was asked to travel with the international NGO, Medair, to photograph their Water and Sanitation (WASH) programmes in the province of Bamyan in Western Afghanistan. The communities visited were extremely remote and most would be cut off from the outside world for nearly seven months once the winter snow fell in November.

For the last two years Medair’s WASH teams have assisted over 40,000 people. They have provided communities with hygiene education, protected fresh water springs from contamination, built wells, latrines and stand pipes and encouraged communities to develop hygenic practices as part of their daily lives.

This project was produced into a multimedia slideshow for Medair that was translated into four languages using subtitles. The photographs were also complied into a slideshow for Guardian Development and the photos were used extensively by Mediar in marketing and communications publications.

ClientMedairServicesPhotographyYear2011Linkrelief.medair.org

Watch the video

See the slideshow featured on the Guardian

Community members participate in a WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) meeting in the village of Talaqul, Bamyan, Afghanistan.

The shoes of community members who are participating in a WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) meeting are left behind at the doorway, in the village of Talaqul, Bamyan, Afghanistan.

A view down one of the valleys in which Medair work near the the village of Talaqul, Bamyan, Afghanistan.

Small houses dot the landscape in valleys in which Medair have WASH projects throughout Bamyan, Afghanistan.

Yousef, who has six children, holds up his harvest of potatoes at his house in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Afghanistan. As a result of a prolonged drought his crop is not as good as it has been and he has had to buy in a lot of food for the winter.

Women collect water from a stream in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Afghanistan. Their village has never had WASH but have heard of the benefits and would like to see the programme implemented.

A young girl feeds her goats in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Afghanistan. Her village has never had WASH but have heard of the benefits and would like to see the programme implemented.

Masomah, who was widowed when her husband was killed during the war with the Russians, sits with her two grandchildren. She is a beneficiary of Medair's vulnerable persons programme as she has no means of income or place of her own to live.

Masomah, who was widowed when her husband was killed during the war with the Russians, stands with her two grandchildren. She is a beneficiary of Medair's vulnerable persons programme as she has no means of income or place of her own to live.

A woman watches her child who is suffering from acute diahorrea in the district hospital in Panjob in the province of Bamyan, Afghanistan. A doctor in the hospital noted that villages in which WASH programmes have run have much fewer cases of water related diseases.

Community members participate in a WASH (Water Sanitation and Hygiene) meeting after which they receive red plastic buckets to help them implement what they have learnt in the village of Talaqul, Bamyan, Afghanistan.

Women take part in a WASH training, organised by Medair in the village mosque in Obuqa, in the region of Bamyan, Afghanistan.

A young girl herds her sheep in the evening light near to the village of Bostock, in the province of Bamyan, Afghanistan.

A girl ploughs fields with her father in a village in the region of Bamyan, Afghanistan. As a result of a prolonged drought the harvest this year is much less than previous years and many people are worried that they may not have enough food to see them through the winter.

The wife of Yousef, who has six children, washes potatoes at their house in the village of Borlak Paein in Bamyan Afghanistan. As a result of a prolonged drought his crop is not as good as it has been and he has had to buy in a lot of food for the winter.

Photos of the prophet Mohammed decorate the walls of a mosque where women take part in a WASH training, organised by Medair in the village mosque in Obuqa, in the region of Bamyan, Afghanistan.