Due to an accident, Halima was no longer able to walk. Her family had been displaced and was facing severe financial difficulties. Thanks to the INTERSOS project, funded by AHF, the little girl can now walk better and is more at peace.
25 Kilometers far from Kabul City, on top of hills and among many mud made traditional homes, lives Halima, a 12 years old girl with her 10 family members, a victim of natural disaster and prey of life inside an enclosed piece of land which does not even belong to them. They were displaced from their homeland; Paktia province, when their home was burned and the flames ash their lives.
Afghanistan is vulnerable to natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, droughts, dust storms, extreme cold, snowfall, and heat. These natural behaviors have forced millions of people to flee their homes for safety. The country is already overwhelmed by multiple crises and cannot overcome these catastrophes without help from the international community.
As she grew older, Halima struggled to walk properly. Her family was relocated to a corner of Kabul city, where they continued to live in a tent. Her father’s advanced diabetes kept him bedridden at home, while her mother worked for a few cents a day, scraping by to provide for the family. Her brothers collected trash, sometimes to sell, other times to burn for heat, doing whatever they could to survive in their harsh circumstances.
They discovered an INTERSOS clinic nearby, funded by the Afghanistan Humanitarian Fund (AHF), in their area. Hoping for a solution to help Halima walk again, they decided to visit the clinic. INTERSOS assisted her by referring her to a partner organization and supporting with transportation costs, dignity and hygiene kits. Thanks to this support, she can now walk with the help of her plastic leg. Additionally, the family used the cash assistance to buy some essential household necessities, and used the items from the kits to improve their daily life.
Halima’s story is more than just a tragedy. She was trapped in a home that was set ablaze, which then collapsed on her, leaving her with multiple injuries at just one year old.
“We had already lost everything. We weren’t sure if Halima had survived when people pulled her out of the rubble,” her mother recounted.
This tragedy marked the beginning of a long and difficult journey for Halima and her family. She was moved to a foreign country by an aid organization for treatment, with the hope that she would return after a few months. However, four years passed before she came back.
All we knew was that she was doing well; we had no further contact with her while she was in Germany receiving treatment. The aid organization brought our daughter back to the country when she turned five, added Halima’s mother. Now, she lives with a differently shaped leg and a single kidney.
Halima’s mother added: “Thanks to INTERSOS, they did not hesitate to do whatever they could. Besides assisting Halima, the additional support they provided has slightly changed our lives in this difficult time.”
Afghanistan is home to approximately 22.3 million people who are reported to be in need of various types of protection assistance in 2025. With funds from AHF, INTERSOS is reaching 1,700 individual monthly through its three health facilities located in populated areas of Kabul, Afghanistan, to provide dedicated protection services to address some of the needs of the population under its activities.
This project helped Halima not only to walk better but also to find a ray of hope amid the challenging and disappointing circumstances she faced.