Student Bureau: Life is a struggle in refugee camps

BALOCHISTAN DESERT, Pakistan (CNNSB) -- Hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees are expected to cross the border into Pakistan to escape fighting in the wake of the recent terrorist attacks on the United States.

They will join millions already living in refugee camps that first opened when the Soviet military invaded Afghanistan more than two decades ago.

VIDEO CNN Student Bureau's Sid Akbar reports. (September 25) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

Life is a struggle for these people. Many families live in makeshift tents with no running water and only primitive cooking and toilet facilities. Drinking water and food are trucked in by international relief agencies.

Sid Akbar, a Pakistani-American, spent a month this summer working as a volunteer in two Afghan refugee camps near the Afghan-Pakistan border. He took along his video camera and filed this report for CNN Student Bureau.

Sid Akbar, 21, works with Earth Train, an international youth media organization. Sid's father is Pakistani, but he was born in Kenya, his mother's country. He's lived most of his life in the United States.