Gholam in Shikhan, he is one of the people already visited by the photographer in 2001. He lost his eye sight during the war. A landmine exploded and he became blind. He is the head of the household which now consists of sixteen persons. In the summer of 2001, Gholam's brother Zaffar left the village to find work or food. That spring two of Zaffar's daughters had died of hunger. "It is better to die than to live under these circumstances. We have no life left. Here, nothing is possible and it is unsafe because of the war." he said then. Over the past few years, there has been some improvement in the village of Shikhan according to Gholam. The landmines have been cleared from the mountain slopes and with the majority of the men returning from their quest for food and work the newly available land is now being cultivated.
Food supplies remain precarious, however. The harvest has been washed away by the floods.