Life in Caves of Bamyan

Bamyan province is one of the largest in the Hazarajat region of Afghanistan. It is located in the centre of the country and the majority of the people are Hazaras. According to government officials, throughout the country, twenty million people are living under the poverty line, from which 40% make a home in Bamyan. Poverty is increasing in this province. People are simply in shortage of food, shelter and warm clothes.

In the 3,000 caves outside of Buddha statue, about 300 families are still living without water, electricity and medication. Seeing these caves, one may hardly think of any human living there, but families are still surviving.
Bamyan province has no infrastructure of electricity, gas and water supplies. Like other provinces, life depends on agriculture, animals, and children’s income. Children, like in other parts of the country, are the money makers in Bamyan. Boys collect grass to feed livestock and girls do washing, ironing and cleaning to boost incomes. The need to support widows and orphan children remains as the province still lacks significant investment on roads, water and schooling.
According to Mohamad Reza, chief of education in Bamyan, from 303 schools in Bamyan only 81 of them have walls, and classrooms to simply run a class. Students are attending classes with out required stationery. They sell the nutrition biscuits distributed by WFP at schools to buy pen and notebooks. Most talented students leave schools and join agriculture, casual work, and even gangs of smugglers. The human rights office is concerned about the future of these children, especially those who join gangs  and become victims of sexual abuse.
Overall, people are not happy about the government. They believe due to their ethnicity, not much attention is given to Bamyan province. They simply believe that trading millions between government and NATO has no positive impact on their lives. They were/are suffering from poverty and can’t feed their children.
However, Mrs Habiba Sarabi, the Bamyan Governor, stated that it’s not the issue of ethnicity, but it is the geographic location, cold weather and roadblock in Bamyan that most impact Bamyan’s economy.

Marzia is one of Bamyan’s resident. She has seven children and her husband is mentally sick. Marzia is renting her cousin’s house for 500 Afghani ($10), but she has not paid the rent for the last 6 years. Marzia’s monthly income is 1500 Afghani ($30) through her husband’s pension, but she says, ‘ it is not enough to run a family of nine and treat my husband too’.
Marzia’s intention was to marry her younger daughter in exchange for 12000 Afghanis ($240) but her older son did not allow her. Instead, he stopped going to school and is now working in a TV workshop and earns $4 a week. During the Mujahidin regime, Marzia’s house was attacked by Mujahidin and one of her sons was killed and her three fingers were cut off. Marzia thinks her life is better in comparison to other families; at least she has bread and sometimes potato to feed the children. However, it is always hard to even find those in winter.
This is life far away from Kabul, the capital which seems to have all attention and life entertainments. People are still living in poverty even worse than what has been explained. Government officials are working with the United Nations on programs to eliminate poverty, but people in Bamyan believe they are behind walls and  stones in caves and its hard to be seen and heard!