Written By: Zahra Rashidi
Today, the cold winter winds have arrived, causing a frail elderly woman to shiver as she bears the weight of her suffering daily, with the wear and tear of her life’s journey behind her.
She is an elderly, delicate woman who shoulders the responsibility of her family all alone. Amidst the other challenges of life, her greatest fear is the arrival of the winter season. She often says, “If hunger doesn’t kill us, the cold certainly will.
As the winter season approaches, the concerns of the impoverished segment of society grow increasingly severe, and 50-year-old Reza Gul is among those who consider winter a “life-threatening disaster” for the poor.
Reza Gul, just a few days before the rise of the Taliban, had become a refugee in Kabul from Herat due to the war. The passage of time and her displacement without proper shelter have gradually pushed her towards a slow and agonizing death.
Signs of destitution manifest in every corner of this family’s four walls: signs of illness, despair, and the hardships brought by the advent of the Taliban administration in Afghanistan. She sits in a cold room, narrating the highs and lows of her life. The lines and wrinkles on her forehead bear witness to the hardships and injustices that have unfairly burdened her.
Mohsen, Reza Gul’s husband, cannot work due to his advancing age and the loss of physical abilities. This has led Reza Gul to take matters into her own hands. She uses a handcart to sell various plastic items in the city and the market.
Reza Gul lives with her sick husband and two children. Parviz, her eleven-year-old son, is battling stomach cancer, and his condition deteriorates daily. His illness has prevented him from attending school, and he works as a porter with a handcart, earning 50 Afghanis a day.
Reza Gul says that Parviz’s illness is worsening every day. He loses weight daily, and doctors have diagnosed his condition as cancer. The lack of financial means and access to healthcare facilities has made Parviz vulnerable to the disease, and his mother watches as her son takes steps closer to death each day.
Parviz says, “When I come home from outside, I wish we had good food. We could have lived well. We could have had a good home.” Parviz last had a proper meal at one of their relatives’ homes, and it has been at least three months since then.
A young girl in tattered clothes is visible on the other side of these four walls. They call her Parveen. She is the youngest member of the family and the only one with an education. While her eyes are filled with tears, she expresses her wish for a life like others, having a home where they could sleep peacefully without the fear of winter, rain, and the ceiling collapsing.
The four walls, devoid of doors and windows, where Reza Gul and her family live, have been entrusted to them by a man, according to him, as a form of charity for a specified period. Previously, these four walls were used to shelter animals like sheep and cows, but now they serve as a refuge for Reza Gul. The allotted time for living in these four walls is until the end of the winter season.
Reza Gul says, “When the sky becomes cloudy, my fear starts because our room lacks doors and windows. Rainwater easily enters the room, and my little daughter and I throw the water outside with a bucket and flatten the rugs and mattresses again.”
She says that after displacement and life’s hardships, she couldn’t provide household items like rugs, mattresses, and blankets for herself.
Reza Gul continues, “If we had shelter, we wouldn’t need to worry day and night about covering the gaps, cracks, and holes in the roof of these four walls without doors and windows. I could go to sleep with peace of mind.”
Reza Gul, who is in a dire economic situation with her family, appeals for help from humanitarian organizations. She says, “We don’t have enough food to eat, and we don’t have wood or coal to heat our home. My sick husband needs warm air, but our house is cold. My children eat in the cold every night. I don’t have the means to treat my son, who has cancer, and every day, he gets closer to death, and there’s nothing I can do. I can only watch, and I can do nothing for my son.”
Reza Gul says that if their life continues this way, the cold weather will eventually lead to the death of her and her family.
