Afghan children are starting to help their families by begging and collecting rubbish from the streets.
U's friend, SH, interviewed some of these children in the north of Afghanistan, and U translated the interview into English.
SH: What is your name?
(He is very young, and can’t speak clearly, so his older sister responds to my friend.)
SH: Why are you collecting these things?
Child: (No reply, but his sister responds) To burn.
SH: Why do you burn these things?
Child: To make our home a bit warm.
SH asks his sister: What is your name?
Child: My name is Hasina.
SH: Do you have any other supporter at home?
Hasina: Yes, we have, my older brother.
SH: What's your brother doing?
Hasina: He is a roadside worker.
This is Amirullah, a roadside worker. His father left the family and moved to Iran and no longer supported them. Amirullah has four younger brothers and two sisters, and his mother is very sick (he said his mother has tuberculous). He is the sole supporter of his big family.
SH: What are you doing?
Children: We are warming ourselves.
SH: Why you are here?
Child: We are beggars, and we came here to get some welfare support, and we are the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) of Chahar Dara village of Kunduz province.
SH: Where you are living?
Child: We are living in Gawmalli (the name of a village).
SH: Where are your parents?
Child: My father has a disability and my mother married another man.
SH: This is the situation of our homeland children. See, in such cold and snowy weather, they just came here and are waiting for a piece of bread.
This girl’s name is Rahila. She collects rubbish from the streets in the north of Afghanistan. Her father is a drug addict.
Images from Facebook in Afghanistan.