Children forced to support families in Kabul
In Kabul, it's not unusual for children to start working at a young age to support their families.
Shapoor, 9, is one of these Afghan children who toils the day in the streets of Kabul to earn bread for their families.
"I have no choice but to work, sometimes from dawn to dusk to earn money and support my family," said Shapoor, who like many Afghans has only one name.
Street children such as Shapoor do odd jobs, from selling shopping bags and toilet paper to polishing shoes and washing cars. These Afghan children are forced to work when they are supposed to be in school or at play.
"In addition to washing cars, selling shopping bags and polishing shoes, sometimes I scavenge from garbage bins to find usable goods to sell," Shapoor said.
"Since the death of my father in a bomb blast two years ago, the responsibility of feeding my family has rested on me, and that is why I have to work hard," Shapoor said.
He said his father, along with several others, was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Kabul two years ago. Since then, he has been doing jobs some may say are more suitable for adults so he can support his mother and four siblings.
Shapoor said his father wanted him to become a doctor, but this is no longer possible.
"Usually I earn around 350 Afghanis ($6) daily to support my mother, three sisters, my younger brother and myself," the 9-year-old said.
Nonetheless, Shapoor has continued his schooling in a government school where he is in the third grade, though sometimes he has to skip classes to work.
Many other Afghan children also work on the Kabul streets, some of them in the markets and malls, carrying bags for shoppers or running errands for customers.
Xinhua
(China Daily 10/25/2013 page11)
