Perseverance of an Afghan Family: Grappling with Food Insecurity

At 42, Khadija* is the backbone of her family in Gorab village, Sighan District, Bamyan province, Afghanistan. Since her husband, Ewaz*, was disabled by a severe injury when a stone fell on his left leg, she has taken on the role of the family’s sole provider. Raising and supporting five daughters, a son, and a daughter-in-law, Khadija* faces daily struggles to make ends meet, with no stable source of income, land, or livestock to rely on. 

Ten years ago, the accident changed everything. Ewaz previously earned AFN 400-500 (approx. 6-7 USD) per day as a daily wage labourer through irregular work.  Since his accident, it has been Khadija’s* untiring efforts that keep her family afloat in the face of hardship.

The family faces poverty because they don’t have agricultural land to grow food or any other means to run a business. The only work available for Ewaz in the village is shepherding. He takes the villagers’ sheep to graze in the mountains where he must stay day and night. For this, he earns up to AFN 40,000 (approx. 582 USD) annually, paid in two installments; 50 percent at the start of the Afghan New Year in March, and 50 percent during the harvest season in early fall. The second installment is often received as agricultural products such as wheat and potatoes. Despite the difficulty navigating the mountains, Ewaz* is satisfied with the work, as it is his only source of income.

Back home, Khadija* takes care of their children and occasionally works for local landowners, helping to weed their farms in exchange for food. Wheat and potatoes are the main crops in their village. Two of their children, aged 8 and 10, attend school in grades 2 and 4 respectively, while the others help their mother with household chores. Their eldest son sometimes finds work as a daily labourer, earning AFN 300-400 (approx. 4-6 USD) per day, but employment opportunities are scarce. He primarily works during the spring and late summer when agricultural work, such as planting and harvesting, is available. However, he finds work for no more than 30 days a year. Agriculture dominates the community’s work with people engaged in plowing, irrigating, harvesting, and collecting fodder for livestock. During the winter, when the mountains are cold and often snow-covered, the farmers use the fodder to feed their animals at home.

Despite their best efforts, the family struggles to make ends meet. They mostly eat wheat bread for two meals a day and can rarely afford more filling food like rice, potatoes, or pasta. Such meals are only possible when Ewaz* receives his wages in the fall after the villagers harvest their crops and give him a share of the yield. Khadija* carefully stores this food for later use. “Food is our most pressing need at all times, as we have no consistent income,” Khadija* shared.

Fortunately, Khadija* was chosen as a participant in a Cash For Work project by Community World Service Asia (CWSA), supported by CWS Japan and Japan Platform (JPF),  as her family is food-insecure, has a low income, and includes a disabled member. The project aimed to improve the resilience and livelihoods of climate-affected families. It ran from October 2023 to September 2024. From February to March 2024, Khadija* worked as a labourer for 40 days, weaving gabions following a training conducted on 14 and 15 February 2024. She earned USD 200 for her work.

“This was a very good opportunity for me as I could work in my village and earn a living. Also, I now have a new skill—gabion weaving,” Khadija* said.

“My elder son and I purchased plenty of groceries like pasta, flour, oil, rice, pulses, and many more with the wages I earned. I anticipate that it will last us for four months. Now I feel less pressured, and my children have nutritious food on their plates,” Khadija* added.

Due to careful management, the family has avoided debt, though they continue to live with limited food supplies. According to community mobilisers, Khadija* spent all her earnings from the program on food, as it remains the family’s most pressing need.

The gabions woven by Khadija* and others were later used by laborers to build check dams in flood-prone areas, helping to slow down the water velocity and protect the village from flooding. 

Alongside Khadija*, five other women with similar stories participated in the gabion-weaving project. Khadija* expressed her gratitude to humanitarian organisations for their continued support and urged them to create more job opportunities for women in rural areas.