On the Afghan Side

At the Border Crossing

There are two main crossing points. There is a vehicular crossing point very near a tall Pakistani watch tower. Three hundred meters or more away is a foot and wagon crossing that leads directly into the Killi Faizo Refugee Camp compound. Refugee families usually cross together at the latter crossing, and what luggage is not carried in hand is often brought over by donkey cart. (# LP18.001-02)

Toes in the Water

As the Afghan refugees wait outside the proper refugee camps in their precarious shelters, the children have freedoms denied the adults. A water tanker truck was parked just inside the crossing point into the refugee camp itself, on the Pakistani side of the line, and children brought plastic containers to this water source. (# LP18.001-05)

The Water Source

Many men stand all along the line beyond which the refugees waiting outside are not allowed to cross, but the children come and go. This scene with the children made this border crossing less tense and dangerous than the main road crossing. It seemed more difficult for tensions and frustrations to build with the frequent sounds of the children. (# LP18.001-06)

Water Carriers

When water must be carried it takes a lot of a community's energy just dealing with water. In this case, however, it is probably useful for the children to have something to do while everyone waits. (# LP18.001-07)

Crossing into Camp

Several hundred meters from the road crossing area is another crossing point that opens directly into the Killi Faizo Refugee Camp. Families that have waited for days to cross finally come over together into Pakistan and into an organized camp with tents, food distribution, and limited sanitation and medical facilities. (# LP18.001-03)

Donkey Carts

Families come across the border carrying children and personal possessions. Donkey carts loaded with the belongings of the refugees go and come across the border every day. Families come across with chickens and sheep. (# LP18.001-08)

The Moving Company

In a few days these people will have to pack up and move again, but for the moment it must be a relief to move into the Killi Faizo Camp after life beyond the fence in the make-shift conditions there. (# LP18.001-09)

WFP Food Storage Tents

In the distance are large temporary storage buildings, large tents, in which the World Food Program stores sacks of grain and flour and cooking oil for distribution to the refugees. (# LP18.001-12)

Moving Day

The Killi Faizo Refugee Camp is a great improvement from life outside of the facilities of the camps, but it is only a holding place where people get sorted out and paperwork is started. Soon they move on in busses to a more permanent and better equipped camp at Roghani, forty-five minutes away. Their possessions are first loaded on large trucks that will follow the busses to the new camp. (# LP18.001-14)

Waiting to Go

The families are moved from Killi Faizo to Roghani Refugee Camp in large Pakistani busses, and refugees must wait near the busses until everyone is ready, names have been checked off lists, and luggage has been secured on top. (# LP18.001-15)

The Chicken

The ride to the Roghani Camp usually happens in late morning, but often groups have been packing and waiting since early in the morning before they finally drive away amid a swirl of dust, the cries of children, and the indignant clucks of the chickens. (# LP18.001-16)

Arrival at Roghani Refugee Camp

The drive to the new Camp takes less than an hour. The new camp is in a more dramatic location on the landscape than is Killi Faizo, for Roghani Refugee Camp is at the base of the mountains with an elevated view across a broad valley toward Afghanistan. (# LP18.001-19)

Woman in Red

The tribal women and those from small, remote agricultural settlements rarely wear the burka. That is a garment whose origins lie in the veils of medieval cities, Christian Byzantium as well as in Muslim Baghdad. It is a city fashion that originally spoke of privilege and leisure. (# LP18.002-01)

People Arriving

(# LP18.002-02)

Boy in Pink

I noticed this little boy several times. He always seemed this happy, like a small light in the darkness. (# LP18.002-04)

Babe in Arms

Afghanistan has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. In some areas as many as a quarter of all babies die during the first year. (# LP18.002-05)

Tired Children

This was the holy season of Ramadan in the Muslim world. The people do not eat or drink anything from sunrise until sunset. (# LP18.002-06)

Pregnant Woman

Eventually, however, the busses are unloaded groups reform and then move toward the registration. Pakistani employees of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) who speak the Afghan languages will register the new inhabitants of the camp. (# LP18.004-12)

Crowd Near the Tent

The chaos of the arriving busses is quickly sorted out, and with remarkable speed for such events, the refugees move in small groups into the registration tent. (# LP18.004-11)

Registration Table

Many Afghans use only a single name, and many, if not most, are illiterate. Identification is done by listing ones home village and ones parents names. (# LP18.004-13)

White Burkas

Slowly all the refugees come through the registration tent where they are assigned to tents by UNHCR staff, most of whom are from nearby Quetta and other parts of Pakistani Balouchistan. Everyone is very subdued by this time, for they are tired, and there is only this one last formality before they can go to their place in the camp. (# LP18.002-15)

Medical Tent

LP18.004-17

Finishing Registration

At last the registration process is over. Tents have been assigned, and refugee families are nearly ready to move in. (# LP18.004-08)

The Baby's Eyes

(# LP18.004-06)

Unpacking

Once the families reach their assigned campsites they begin to unpack and set up camp. (# LP18.005-03)

Cloth

(# LP18.004-03)

Woman with Chickens

(# LP18.004-01)

Boy with a Chicken

(# LP18.003-18)

Baby with Painted Eyes

(# LP18.003-17)

Baby and the Veil

(# LP18.003-16)

Boy with Tears

(# LP18.003-13)

Moving into Camp

At last everyone in the group is moving across the camp to their own tents. (# LP18.002-16)

Boy on a Donkey

(# LP18.002-14)

Woman Supplicant

Many Afghan men have been killed during the last twenty years. Many women and children have died as well, but there is a very large number of widows. (# LP18.002-18)

U.S.A.

After many years of drought, food in Afghanistan is running very low. (# LP18.003-04)

Man in the Sunshine

(# LP18.003-10)

Three Boys

(# LP18.003-08)

(# LP18.003-06)

Children with a Lantern

Inside the tent as parents sat filling in registration forms with the UNHCR registration staff, children waited nearby. It was an important moment when they were almost there, almost settled in a proper refugee camp, but most people were preoccupied and a little frightened. (# LP18.003-11)

Bad Hair Day

For days the refugees have been in make-shift shelters on the other side of the fence in Afghanistan with little chance to wash. (# LP18.003-01)

Unpacking

Once the families reach their assigned campsites they begin to unpack and set up camp. (# LP18.005-05)

Preparing to Make Camp

It has been a long day getting moved from Killi Faizo to Roghani Camps, but gear must be unpacked before beds and food can be prepared.(# LP18.005-06)

The Wheelbarrow

As things settle down a new life in the refugee camp begins to emerge. (# LP18.005-07)

Man and Boys

(# LP18.005-10)

Refugee Girl

An entire generation of Afghans is growing up now with little knowledge of Afghanistan before the war years. Children often have parents who remember little of the old days. (# LP18.005-11)

Playing with a Hoop

(# LP18.005-12)

LP18.005-17.jpg

Young Girl Waiting

(# LP18.003-12)