Winter and Mud

 Written by: Samira Haleemzai

In the winter, snow falls in most parts of Afghanistan. Snow and rain sometimes cause water accumulation in the alleys and down streets and it causes mud. This issue faces the area's residents with some problems.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some people about this issue.

Sadaf, a resident of Maidan Shahr district, Maidan-Wardak province says: “our residential area’s alleys are always muddy during the winter. One night my grandmother became sick. My father wanted to take her to the hospital in the car but the car got stuck in the mud and no one was able to get unstuck it. My father took my mother to the hospital on his back.”

abdul Ahad, a resident of Qarabagh district, Kabul province says: “our alleys are always muddy in the winter and we could not take our patients to the doctor or to a clinic easily. One day, my wife became ill, I wanted to carry him in a car to the clinic but the driver was not able to enter to the alley and we took my wife in a blanket to the clinic.”

What are the causes of accumulating water in the alleys?

Sana, a resident of Qarabagh district says: “we are careless. We do pay attention to our house yard and we plaster it with cement but we do not pay attention to the alley.”

Qahir, a resident of Alimardan village, ninth district, Kabul city says: “most residents of our area are poor and they are not able to pave the alleys. In the winter, when the snow falls, they shovel it into the alley.”

How can people solve this problem?

Muhammad Nabeel Hashmi, a resident Khwjarawash, ninth district, Kabul city says: “the residents of our area collected money from each house and arranged a collective work. The cleaned the alleys first and then everyone paved his house front yard and where there was no house, they paved it together.”

Sana says: “I shared the issue with our school principal and she shared it with the school council. The council suggested to the elders of our residential area to pave to the alleys together. The elders collected money and they paved the alley with a collective work.”