Quatra quatra darya mesha (5)

17th May 2007

Jelle advised me to visit Aqtepa again. I was thrilled – what had happened during those seven months since autumn? Sayeed Husain (6) escorted me; he is a gentleman with excellent manners. How can it be that after muddy walks his salwar khameez (7) is neat, while my cloths are spattered with dirt? It is a mystery to me. I was also accompanied by engineer Safiullah (8), a well-trained English speaking young Afghan, who studied in Japan.

It was quite hard to recognize the area. Firstly, the horizon was hazy; it was windy and rainy and, secondly, the landscape looked different; as if a crazy titan had been playing garden design. I remembered an aqueduct made of concrete; now it was gone. The new canal building is taking place on the same spot. One can see two high concrete walls rising – it is the beginning of the canal. We walked around the building area. There were no signs of builders. Only a small pump was working in the bottom of a huge hole, filled with water.

Local farmers have a good understanding about irrigation; in this area the irrigation canals have been built for more than 2000 years. The main problem was that while using traditional materials there was no possibility of regulating the quantity of water that brims in the canals. It was easy to understand that new irrigation canal building is needed: modern canals have gates so farmers can easily regulate the flow, according to need.

We walked over dams, which consisted of piled up sand bags. Dams are a defense against water. So far as I could see, the plain was flooded. High rampant reed was swaying in the wind. I couldn’t even make out the location of the riverbed. In Kabul area floods are in April and May. Amu Darya watershed floods are common in June and July, while snowcaps of the high mountains are melting.

While the new canal building area was deserted, the mouth of the temporary canal looked like a popular picnic place. There were lots of local farmers, but mirab Tarhan Pahlawan, his assistants and everybody else were obviously not in a party mood. They complained that the constructor had started the work three months ago, but that not much had been done. The situation was becoming even more complicated because rising water threatened. The villagers were afraid that floods would break through the dams, crash the aqueduct and overflow Aqtepa.

Farmers built the dams by placing 4000 sand bags. Only 1000 sand bags have been donated by government and money for the remaining bags was collected by the villagers themselves. There were around 5000 villagers with 20,000 more in th surrounding areas. Everyone had been asked to contribute. Poor households gave 10-20 Afs (9); prosperous people gave more.

The mirab had two assistants, a Pashto, Amir Muhammad, and an Uzbek, Hadji Takamurod (10). It is common to find different ethnic groups in this region. They have lived peacefully here for a long time side by side – at least in Aqtepa. As early as the 19th century King Abdur Rahman settled pashtos here. At the beginning of the 20th century the price of land was quite cheap. The population increased due to newcomers from the Hindu Kush, but there were refugees from the Soviet Revolution as well.

Amir showed us crude ropes - made from reed - and snags. Because of the rising water the walls of the temporary canal are under high pressure – the aqueduct was in danger as well, so they used ropes and snags to strengthen the walls. Timber is very expensive in Afghanistan, the cost of one snag is 500 Afs (11), complained Amir. He calculated that 10 000 Afs (12) had been spent already to reinforce the temporary canal, but obviously it was not enough. Tomorrow, hundreds of villagers would be there to continue strengthening canal walls, said the worried man.

I clambered down to the mouth of the temporary canal, accompanied by the warning glances of Afghans. Water pressed into the canal so vigorously, that the edges were full of cracks. It seemed likely that the walls could fall down at any moment. The canal was deep, around 6-7 m, but water had risen almost up to ground level. Villagers had piled the snags up to the canal mouth in order to slow down the water flow. To demonstrate the pile of snags below the water level, one of the villagers jumped into the foaming flow and walked as if on invisible ground.

We left the villagers to their fight with nature and followed a hospitable farmer to his house. We were offered the typical selection of a daytime meal: naan, chai and mast (13). Food was placed on the oilcloth which covered the floor. Sayeed joked that the Uzbek city of Buhhara was once conquered because the guards were having teatime. Whatever happens, teatime is the most important he says with a sly smile.

I asked our host about life in Aqtepa. He praised the living standard which had improved during recent years. Because of good security farmers now had a choice: either sell the crop at a Kunduz bazaar or in the village. Each year farmers tried to predict what crop would be most profitable; so crops varied every year. This year it was popular to cultivate rice, wheat and soya bean.

Everyday life had improved as well: there was a new schoolhouse on the edge of the village; soon the hospital would be ready as well. Even mobile phone calls were now possible. In short, it seemed that the only remaining problem was the building of the new canal.

On the way back we stopped to look at the other new canal building in Askalan. This village was well known because of a special delicious sort of melon. Unfortunately it was so fragile that one could not transport it. You have to visit the village at the right time, explained Sayeed.

The building site in Askalan looked like an ants nest. An excavator dug the ground, dozen of builders were working around it, and other machines seemed to be waiting for their turn. Some villagers were sitting on the top of the hill monitoring the situation. No problems with supervision.

Back in the office, the constructor of Aqtepa canal, Turamurod, talked with engineer Dinesh (14). I knew Turamurod from last time I was in Aqtepa. After meeting in the village, Tadjik kindly offered a meal to Jelle and myself – we had fun during this meal as Turamurod did not speak English and Jelle did not speak Russian, so I tried to act as a translator, but because of crafty Tadjik wine I mixed the languages up like a hotpot.

Jelle looked at my photos taken in Aqtepa but he was not satisfied with the constructor. Why had so little been done? Turamurod gave explanations; but the reality was not that clear. Jelle decided to drive to Aqtepa as soon as he could, to see the situation on the ground.

I can say in advance that Jelle will be satisfied with the Tadjik building company’s work. It is true that not much had been done, but the quality of work was good. Other canal building was done by Afghan companies and the quality left much to be desired, Engineer Dinesh explained to me.

(5) Many drops make a river (proverb in Dari language)
(6) Sayeed Husain Hashimi – KRBP national community development consultant
(7) Salwar kameez is a traditional dress worn by both women and men in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
(8) Eng. Safiullah – KRBP TL Counterpart
(9) ca 20-40 US cents
(10) His name (Hadji) indicates that he has done the pilgrimage to Mecca.
(11) Ca 10 USD
(12) 200 USD
(13) Bread, tea, and yoghurt in Dari language.
(14) Dinesh Kumar Shrestha – KRBP Supervision Engineer