Focus on Kabul street children

Nine-year-old Ehsan doesn't know his father. Despite occasional letters and small remittances from Iran, where he works as a labourer, the family can barely cope, much less pay the US $7 a month rent on their home. Unable to provide food for her six young children, Ehsan's mother sent him and his brother into the streets of Kabul to work 10 months ago. He told IRIN he collected firewood, paper and rubbish, but his friends giggled at the notion. "He's a beggar like us," they jeered. Ehsan is not alone. Children are the most vulnerable members of Afghan society, particularly in the capital Kabul, where thousands of inhabitants of the city have been killed or disabled. Driven by the forces of war and drought, street children abound in the city, a social problem set to worsen despite a greater assistance presence in the city. According to a 1996 survey conducted by the Afghan NGO Aschiana, the German aid group, Terre des hommes, and the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), about 28,000 children were identified as "street working children" in 10 populous districts of Kabul. Although their exact numbers remain unknown, Aschiana head, Mohammad Yusef, envisages their number now to be 60,000. If his estimate is correct, the situation has dramatically worsened. "The majority of children lost the breadwinner in their home, or were put on the street to work," he told IRIN. Most work as shoeshine boys or porters, washing cars, burning incense, selling small items, or collecting metal, he explained. More still resort to begging, but, like Ehsan, rarely admit it. Such acts are considered shameful, and Ehsan cried at the accusation. Street children are hardly a new phenomenon in this war-ravaged city of two million. The children, both male and female, often assume the duty or responsibility of earning income for their families after the main bread winners are killed or disabled. For many children in Kabul, the families are unable to provide even the basics. To support the family, the children have to work to earn something for food, often under particularly dire conditions. Although many of the children have lost both parents, most were on the street during the day, but returned to stay with relatives at night. "These children have families - they simply do not have the capacity to take care of them," Yusef explained. With its five "drop-in" centres, one health clinic and 17 home-based schools for girls, since 1995, Aschiana has been in the forefront of caring for such children. In an effort to provide some kind of sanctuary for the children, the centres, located in the more populous residential areas of Kheyr Khaneh, Deh Afghanan, Shahr-e Now and Micro Rayan, are easily accessible as the usual working areas of these children. In the beginning of 1998, the number of street children registered in the programme was 650. Of the 2,006 children now registered, ranging from seven to 16 years of age, 30 percent are girls. While most come from Kabul, many others are from the surrounding provinces - having come in with the thousands of displaced who came to the capital seeking assistance or work. Children permitted by their families to attend and be admitted into the programme are given courses at the centres in basic reading and writing, as well as arithmetic. The children are also provided with health education and vocational training, including woodworking, calligraphy, painting, electronics, artificial flower-making and tailoring. Arranging a bouquet of artificial flowers, 10 year-old Rawi from Kabul told IRIN he hoped to work in a shop one day to help his family. "I'm happy here, but not on the street. I want to learn something for my future," he said. Indeed, learning is the main impetus for the children attending the centres. "Most of the children want education. That's why they are here," Ahmad Shah, a health education instructor, told IRIN. Children joining the programme are given the option of attending either the morning or afternoon session, during which they are provided with either breakfast or lunch. However, many of the children coming in were not getting proper food at home - making it difficult for them to learn, Shah noted. However, the programme is not without its challenges, and keeping the children in the programme is not always easy. As part of its outreach effort, each centre has a social worker who maintains contact with the children at their work sites to discuss whatever problems they might have. "Our objective is to keep the children involved," Yusef said. "If we don't give them time to still work, they will lose their source of income and not participate in the programme," he explained, adding that keeping their families involved as much as possible was critical to the child's attendance. Aschiana also provides skills training for the mother or sister of the child as well. "If we give them a skill, and they receive some income from that skill, the child's future will ultimately become more secure," Shah said. It is difficult to fully understand the plight of these children - their needs are so great. Aschiana has to give mine-awareness training, as many of the children are working in junk yards collecting metal after class. Children as young as six are being warned of the dangers of narcotics. Earlier, many street children in Kabul took up arms during the 23 year-long conflict in the country, just to eat. "There was no other way for them to survive," Yusef said. Others grow up on the street without family guidance, education or skills development, making them easy targets for drugs and sexual abuse. With so great a problem, the room for larger international involvement is huge. Aschiana aims to provide these children with the opportunity of becoming healthy, contributing members of society, but with limited funds and their numbers so vast, the challenge is daunting. "I know we are only reaching a fraction of the children, but it's a start," Yusef said. "I just wish we could do more."