12 - The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, September 29, 2002

H omrof the T1M
Irmages from P itan and Afgha~nistan

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Photo
essays
by

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Waj
Syed
"Collateral Damage"
The story of a displaced nation
Life in the refugee camps introduced me to an entirely new concept: a state within a state. For thousands of
these Afghans, Pakistan will never be home. At the same time, unless a stable peace flourishes, Afghanistan
will never be home either. Many of these Afghans were born and raised in temporary settlements; many have
never seen their country of origin. The feeling of standing amid row after row of canvassed tents can only be
described as eerie; but even that description fails to properly capture the reality'of humanity, or the lack
thereof.
ABOVE: Afghan refugees, most of them former farmers who depended upon their own land for sustenance, queued up
for food supplies at the United Nations camp in Chaman, Pakistan. Camp life is regimented as such; the cycle of
cultivation and harvesting replaced by the cycle of rationed food and imposed order,
BELOW: A tea-vendor at a makeshift stall in Spinboldek, Afghanistan. Tribal links in these regions are stronger than
international borders; when asked, the tea-vendor identified himself as an Achakzai - his tribal nomenclature, not his
nationality, came first,
LEFT: An Afghan infant in Spinboldek. Given her status as an orphan, she would be surprised to consider herself lucky.
But in a nation where there have been 2 million deaths, roughly 10 percent of the population, in the last 20 years -
many of them children torn apart by the endemic land mine threat - her very ability to cry in the streets can be
considered nothing short of fortunate.

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I

GO GREEK!

Leadership FRAT ERNITY RUSH! Brotherhood
If you missed the Mass Meeting, you can still register for RUSH at
www.umich.edu/~ifc

CHAPTER RECRUITMENT EVENTS:
7:00pm to 10pm each night

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