Child's Eye in Afghanistan: Afghan children speak
What is daily life like for Afghan children behind the headlines?
Issa works to support his family. Read his story.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Media headlines about Afghanistan currently focus mainly on the coalition military strategy and casualties. But what is daily life like for children behind the headlines?

“The worst pain is in my knee. When I get tired, it swells and pushes on my nerve. I can’t stand on my feet. I scream with pain.”

Issa Khan spends a lot of time on his feet, walking the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif, selling cups of water or bread. Ever since his father was shot while sleeping on the roof of his house one night, Issa has become the family’s breadwinner. He is also responsible for his brother who has suffered from mental health problems ever since their father’s murder.

We only know about his father’s murder through Issa’s testimony. Stuart Shahid Bamforth, who works for Save the Children and filmed Issa, points out that capturing children’s life stories is key to the Child’s Eye project, produced jointly by the Guardian and Save the Children.

“We want to reflect how children see the world. We might want to put them in a certain political or economic context but really this series is about how the children see themselves.”

Bamforth believes the murder is part of the legacy from decades of war. “With a higher number of guns per head than almost any country in the world, local disputes are often resolved at gunpoint,” Bamforth says.

Issa, who is Pashtun, faces discrimination and abuse on a daily basis, possibly because of a skin condition caused by sand flies, which has left his face pock marked, or because of the menial nature of his job. “[People] beat me and call me dirty, and they laugh at me.”

Issa is one of thousands of working street children in the country. The boys often work in the public sphere as mechanics repairing punctures on bikes and cars or serving tea in roadside cafes. The girls tend to work behind closed doors carrying out sewing, embroidery or stripping peas from their shells, leaving them with stained green fingers.

Save the Children has set up educational centres for working street children. After working for a few hours, they drop by the centres to learn how to read and write. Many of the children are the only breadwinners for their families and have no choice but to work.

Life may not be easy for Issa. But now that he’s learning maths, at least he knows if he’s been short changed or not. Earning around only 30 — 40 Afghanis (40 pence) per day, every bit counts.

See more testimonies of children who are at the sharp end of war, natural disasters and poverty all over the world.