First impression of Aman Camp

by Tufail Hussain, Fundraising Officer for Muslim Aid

25th June 2009

Today, I visited Muslim Aid’s Aman IDP camp in Swabi and was surprised that conditions were much better than expected. Every tent had electricity and a pedestal fan that keeps people cool in the stifling heat and many have mattresses to sleep on. The camp is kept relatively clean and hygienic as there are 90 toilet facilities as well as showers for men and women. It’s great that the camp has a children’s playground to keep them amused and they are even organising a volley ball competition between other camps to keep spirits high!

A few hours ago, 7 families turned up in the middle of the night, but there is no space in the camp. They had been walking for 24 hours and were driven from their homes by the conflict. Muslim Aid managed to provide temporary shelter and brought food for them. They were one of the lucky ones, on average 10 to 15 families arrive looking for shelter everyday and there are 200 families waiting to get in.

After an exhausting day, I am staying here tonight. I feel I need to experience just a little of what it’s like to stay here- all the locals think I've gone mad!!

Morning in Aman Camp

26th June 2009

I actually had quite a pleasant sleep at the camp. I felt relatively safe and secure and pretty cool thanks to the fan.  Amazingly, I only received a couple of mosquito bites on the leg! Although the camp is fairly clean, the smell of sewage still floods the tent, and we weren’t anywhere near any toilets. I can’t imagine what the smell must be like for those that live near the toilets.  Local dogs started to growl menacingly at the entrance of our tent in the middle of the night!

I witnessed the distribution of a simple breakfast straight after fajr – consisting of three nan breads per family and two pots of tea. The families here get three meals a day.

We visited baby Aman, which means ‘peace’ (she was the first baby born within the camp) and spoke to her grandmother. The grandmother spoke of the difficult journey endured by the family, especially by Aman’s mother who was heavily pregnant at the time. Aman’s mother was one of 66,000 pregnant women estimated by the U.N. to be among the displaced. Some tragically lost their babies while fleeing the war zone; most have no access to obstetricians.  Aman is a stunningly beautiful baby, mash-Allah Let’s hope that she will grow up not having to experience what many of the children here have experienced-fighting, separation from loved ones, losing their homes and possessions. 
 

I visited the medical centre for Aman camp and met the doctor and nurse. They treat on average 50 patients a day. The people of Swat and Buner-who are more accustomed to cool mountain air-are suffering from dehydration, skin rashes, gastroenteritis and respiratory infections due to cramped living conditions. They have a very small medical store which seems inefficient for the amount of people they treat on a daily basis. There is also an ambulance on call 24/7 which takes the most serious cases to the local hospital.

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Sheikh Yasin camp, Mardan

It was amazing to see the stark contrast between camps. This is huge camp with 12,000 people. The temperature seems to shoot up here- there are women and children without tents who must suffer the most during this heat. We received reports that two young children died because of heat exhaustion within the tent. There is also contaminated water here which caused a recent outbreak of a diahorrea in the camp. Also shockingly, food was found to be contaminated with frogs, rats, sparrows and rocks!

I visited Muslim Aid’s non-formal education centre within the camp which provides basic literacy and numeracy skills, so at least children can have some kind of education. It has only been open for a week but there are two small classes that teach 26 girls and 10 boys. Many children have not been in school for such a long time, they need these classes to brush up their skills and make sure they don’t forget!

Host Family food distribution, Rustum, Mardan,

Today was a little unnerving; we are only a few kilometers from the centre of the fierce fighting in Buner.  We were told that we were not allowed to take the jeep due to the threat of being recognised as NGO workers, so everyone was extremely alert. In this region 60,000 IDP’s live with host families which puts massive pressure on families who are already struggling- the local muezzin told us he was looking after 45 people in his three room house. Women and children were sleeping inside, with the men outside! The sacrifice and generosity shown by the people during these tough times humbles me.

We just learnt that a child has died due to heat exhaustion at our Aman camp. When you hear things like this, the reality of life here hits you hard. Please remember the family in your duas.