JALALABAD - Like many Afghan returnees, when Sayd Arif returned to Afghanistan in 2005 his main concern was where to live.

Arif said he could have never afforded to buy a plot of land and build a house on his own. He was among the lucky ones who received a plot distributed to returnees by the provincial Department of Refugees and Repatriation in Nangarhar. The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), partner organizations and international donors provided him with resources to build the home.

“I received the plot but would not have been able to build my house without this assistance,” said Arif.

The 35 year-old now lives with his five children in a home in the Shekhmisri Returnee Township in Nangarhar.

During the last ten years UN-HABITAT provided shelter materials to a number of returning families in Shekhmisri township and Chamtala Desert Camp, according to Muhamad Zameer Faruqi, Acting Head of UN-Habitat in Nangarhar.

UN-HABITAT works in partnership with other UN agencies and programmes in the province to help returning families assimilate back to life in Afghanistan.

Muhamad Abas, 13, a fifth grade student at Shekhmisri School who was walking and studying geography to prepare for his upcoming final exams, said he and his peers receive necessary notebooks and pens from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and biscuits from UN World Food Programme (WFP) on a regular basis.

Nazia, a nine-year old second grader at Shekhmisri School, added that in addition to paper and biscuits, “all girls in the school also received cooking oil from WFP.”

The cooking subsidy is often an incentive for families to allow their girls to study. Literacy among Afghan refugee women is particularly low as about eight out of ten women aged 15 and above are illiterate, according to UNHCR.

In the last decade, more than 1,100,000 Afghans returned voluntarily to eastern provinces with the UN’s assistance, said Esaq Shirzai, Assistant Field Officer UNHCR Sub Office Jalalabad.

The returnees received initial repatriation assistance upon arrival in the country which includes cash assistance, medical check up, vaccination, mine-awareness training and other assistance.

Similar programmes are underway in Heart and Kabul. The Government and partners work together to provide for the basic need of returning families.

By UNAMA Jalalabad