As 2022 starts, most Afghans don't have enough food to eat
RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
As 2022 begins, most people in Afghanistan don't have enough food. Millions are facing hunger and starvation amid a prolonged drought and economic crash following the Taliban takeover in August. NPR's Hannah Bloch reports from Islamabad.
HANNAH BLOCH, BYLINE: It's January, and for the overwhelming majority of Afghans, it's bleak.
SHELLEY THAKRAL: There's 98% of people who are just not getting access to food. So they're not having milk, they're not having dairy, they're not having meat because they can't afford it - probably less fresh vegetables, less fruit.
BLOCH: That's Shelley Thakral, the World Food Programme spokesperson for Afghanistan. More than half the population - some 23 million Afghans - are facing what the WFP calls extreme levels of hunger. Malnutrition is soaring. Afghanistan has seen hunger emergencies before, but Thakral says one thing that's different this time is...
THAKRAL: We're also seeing a new urban class of hungry people.
BLOCH: People who've lost their jobs and never imagined they'd go hungry are scrounging and standing in line for food aid.
THAKRAL: So we've been speaking to people who are - have - were schoolteachers or construction workers scavenging for whatever food that they can find.
BLOCH: Some Afghans have resorted to desperate measures, selling household goods, furniture, clothing - in some cases even selling their own children into early marriages. And then there's the winter snow.
THAKRAL: And when that layer of snow - it's brutal, kind of bitter cold. So if you don't have money to buy food, you certainly don't have money to buy fuel or firewood to keep warm.
BLOCH: Which leaves people having to make a terrible choice between staying warm and keeping fed.
THAKRAL: You know, it shouldn't be a lottery of life about who gets to eat, who doesn't get to eat. How do I keep my child? Do I keep my child warm or do I give my child food?
BLOCH: The WFP is boosting its distribution of food rations. Thakral says it needs $2.6 billion, or 220 million per month, to keep Afghans fed.
Hannah Bloch, NPR News, Islamabad.
(SOUNDBITE OF PHELIAN'S "INTRO") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Mwaka 2022 ukianza, watu wengi nchini Afghanistan hawana chakula cha kutosha, RACHEL MARTIN, mwenyeji wa kipindi cha televisheni cha BBC, amesema kuwa watu wengi nchini Afghanistan hawana chakula cha kutosha. Mamilioni ya watu wanakabiliwa na njaa na kukosa chakula kutokana na ukame wa muda mrefu na mlipuko wa kiuchumi baada ya Taliban kuchukua madaraka mwezi Agosti. Mtangazaji wa NPR Hannah Bloch anatangaza kuwa kuna uwezekano wa kuwa na watu wengi wa kuuawa. "Hana Blok: ""Tunaingia mwezi Januari na kwa wengi wa Waafghanistan ni siku mbaya sana." Shelly Thakur: Ninapenda kuwaambia watu kwamba kuna watu wengi sana ambao hawawezi kupata chakula. Kwa hivyo, hawawezi kula maziwa, wala nyama, kwa sababu hawawezi kumudu, labda mboga safi kidogo, matunda kidogo. Shelly Thakral, msemaji wa mpango wa chakula duniani kwa ajili ya Afghanistan "Wanawake zaidi ya nusu ya idadi ya watu, karibu watu milioni 23 nchini Afghanistan, wanakabiliwa na ""kiwango kikubwa cha njaa,"" kulingana na WFP." Ulevu wa chakula kibaya unazidi kuongezeka. "Afghanistan imeona hali ya dharura ya njaa kabla, lakini Thakral anasema kitu kimoja ambacho ni tofauti wakati huu ni... ""Tunaona pia darasa jipya la watu wenye njaa." Watu ambao wamepoteza kazi zao na hawajawahi kufikiria kwamba watakuwa na njaa wanachimba na kusimama katika foleni kwa misaada ya chakula. "Tunapenda kuwaambia watu ambao ni ""walimu wa shule"" au ""wafanyabiashara wa ujenzi"" ambao wanatafuta chakula chochote wanachoweza kupata." Baadhi ya Waafghani wametumia njia za kukata tamaa, kuuza bidhaa za nyumbani, fanicha, nguo - katika baadhi ya kesi hata kuuza watoto wao wenyewe katika ndoa za mapema. Na kisha kuna theluji ya majira ya baridi kali. THAKRAL: Na wakati tabaka hilo la theluji - ni kikatili, aina ya baridi kali. Kama huna pesa za kununua chakula, basi hauna pesa za kununua mafuta au kuni za kuwaka moto. Kwa hiyo, watu wanalazimika kufanya uchaguzi mbaya kati ya kukaa joto na kuendelea kulishwa. "Mimi naamini kwamba ni lottery ya maisha, ""Ni nani anayekula na nani asiyekula?""" Ninawezaje kumlinda mtoto wangu? Je, ni lazima nimweke mtoto wangu joto au nimpe chakula? WFP inaongeza ugawaji wa chakula Shirika hilo linasema linahitaji dola bilioni 2.6 au milioni 220 kwa mwezi ili kuwapa chakula Waafghanistan. Hannah Bloch, Mkurugenzi wa Habari za NPR, Islamabad (Kuchora kwa NPR) (Kuchora kwa NPR)