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Kabul residents help fellow Afghans displaced by war

 Afghans are joining together to help thousands of displaced families who have fled their homes in the past weeks.

Numazullah and his family are among the many Afghans who have been displaced multiple times due to insecurity. Only in the last three months, the family has fled to safety twice [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
By Enaytullah Azad
Published On 25 Aug 2021

Afghans are stepping up to help their countrymen and women who have been displaced by the conflict in the country.

Extended families and friends are opening their homes to fellow Afghans who have taken shelter in the capital Kabul after fleeing their homes all over the country. Those who arrived without connections have sought shelter in the city’s public parks and sidewalks.

Women, children and elderly people have arrived with nothing but the clothes they fled in.

More than half a million people have been displaced by conflict since the start of the year, with the capital hosting close to 20,000 people.

Afghans have been supporting the displaced with food and drinks alongside the aid agencies.

“We all have to help our fellow countrymen and women during this hard time. You don’t need plenty of money to support, you can help families with the little. This is what makes us a nation… It brings harmony and love among us,” said Islamuddin, who provides free tea for displaced people in Kabul.

Zahra Omari fled to Kabul from Kunduz province with her six children: "When people started fleeing, I took my children and fled. I didn’t even take milk for my ten-month-old daughter. We found a bus going to Kabul that had removed the seats to cram as many people as possible inside. It was full of frightened men, women and children."  [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
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Islamuddin and his friends make tea for the displaced sheltering in Azadi Park, by collecting money from nearby shops and families: "All the neighbours have offered to help. Some prepare food. A friend has a clinic where he gives out medicine for free or at a very low cost. It’s tiny what we do, but we try to contribute with what we can."  [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Abdullah shows the wounds his daughter got when a mortar hit their house in Kunduz Province. "All my eight children got hit as they were sleeping. They were bleeding and screaming and I did not know who to save first." When they fled to Kabul, a building owner offered them some protective cloth to use as a tent to shelter Abdullah’s family, helping them survive in the hot and dusty park. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
"Our car got hit by a rocket when we were fleeing Badakhshan ... I got injured and need to go to hospital to remove the shrapnel from my body," said Karimullah.  [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
The humanitarian community and local residents have responded with latrines, water, food, shelter, mobile health teams and other essentials in the days following the mass arrival of internally displaced into Kabul.  [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
"It was getting overcrowded and smelly inside Azadi Park with so many people arriving at once. This is why we are on this sidewalk for now. We do not have a better option as we spent our money on transportation," said Zilgay, who was displaced from Kunduz province. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
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"We received a lot of support and donations from the generous people of Kabul," said Khiyal, 31, who fled from Kunduz with his family. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Zia Gul rests on the roadside in Kabul as her sister-in-law, Qamar, begs for money from the cars passing by: "I feel ashamed to beg, but I have no other option. I have to take care of the children and the rest of the family," said Qamar. The two women fled Takhar Province on the back of a sheep truck with their children when the fighting broke out. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]
Local residents of Kabul bring hot meals to displaced families in the city’s Azadi Park. [Enayatullah Azad/NRC]