One of the worst times was the fasting month of Ramadan in 2008.

2008年的斋月是我记忆中最凄惨的日子。

During Ramadan no food or drink can pass a Muslim’s lips in daylight hours.

斋月期间，穆斯林白天不能吃也不能喝。

The Taliban bombed the power station so we had no electricity, then a few days later they blasted the pipeline so we had no gas either.

塔利班炸掉了发电厂，所以我们断了电力；没过几天，他们又炸毁了输气管道，于是我们又没了燃气。

The price of the gas cylinders we used to buy from the market doubled so my mother had to cook on a fire like we did in the village.

市场的燃气桶价格翻了一番，母亲只好像我们还住在乡下时那样生火烧饭。

She didn’t complain – food needed to be cooked and she cooked it, and there were others worse off than us.

她没有半句怨言——需要人煮饭她就去煮，还有很多人的日子过得比我们更糟。

But there was no clean water and people started dying from cholera.

由于缺乏干净的饮水，人们开始死于霍乱。

The hospital could not cope with all the patients and had to erect big tents outside to treat people.

医院无法收容所有病人，只好在医院外搭起大帐篷为患者治疗。

Though we had no generator at home, my father bought one to install at the school, and fresh water was pumped from a bore-hole, which all the children in the neighbourhood went to collect.

父亲买了一台水泵安装在学校，水泵从地底打出干净的清水，附近邻居的孩子们都来这里取水。

Every day there would be lines of people waiting to fill jugs, bottles and drums.

每一天，等着用水壶、瓶子或铁桶打水的人们都会排起长龙。

One of the neighbours got frightened.

对此，有一名邻居感到很害怕。

‘What are you doing?’ he asked.

你在做什么？他问，

‘If the Taliban find out you’re giving water in the month of Ramadan they will bomb us!’

如果塔利班发现你在斋月为大家提供饮水，他们会来把我们都炸死！