Electricity Can Change People's Lives, not only economically but also socially

The Qaleen Bafaan Development Council is the only town for immigrants and returnees in Mazar-e-Sharif. The residents of the CDC which reaches more than 170 households lived on a flat and barren plain dessert and were facing many problems such as lack of electricity, salty water, dry land. ..etc. The vast majority of these people are poor, labors, backers, oven (furnace) makers, shopkeepers, carpet weavers, tailors and wool weaver. In terms of economy, only 7.7% residents of the CDC fall under middle class.

Before CCNPP covers the town (CDC), one of the major problems of the residents as mentioned earlier, was the lack of electricity, which had caused a big challenge for the residents. As carpet weaving is one of the hardest technical jobs, lack of electricity for it in a city with the highest temperature above 45 degrees in summer is a tough task to do. However, with the start of CCAP, the problem of electricity was resolved and the project of the electricity expansion’s network that was originally proposed by the residents was implemented.

Residents of the area are now happily welcoming the extension of the electricity grid. They appreciated the cooperation of CCAP and promised not to spare any help to the program in the future. One of the female members of the CDC who has graduated from grade 12 and has been a member of the CDC for 4 years says: "We are thankful for the CCAP; my father is a local police, we are not in a good stand in terms of economy, when I graduated from class 12, I was very keen to pursue my higher education, but due not being able to afford  the education expenses, I could not continue it. In the early days, men were not very interested in women's literacy but when CCAP came and provided training on gender and capacity building to residents, the men then got interested in girl’s and women’s education. Besides my job as a tailor, I have been a volunteer teacher at Faiz Abad Elementary School for three years, but so far I have not been able to work officially; for the time being, with the support of CCAP, I am ready to open a course in my own home to teach girls and kids to learn what I've learned. “In addition to being a teacher, she is also a good teacher of carpet weaving. She is very happy for the electricity in their area and says: "Electricity is a great blessing, in this hot air of Mazar-e-Sharif, it is too difficult to stay alive without electricity. When there is electricity, people will get used to technology and someday there will be computer training courses in the town as well. "

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