by Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Well-being of children worldwide is the main aim of the UN Universal Children's Day but in war-ravaged Afghanistan, many children are facing miserable life.
Protracted and ruthless war, according to Afghans, could be blamed for the negative phenomenon in the war-torn country.
Hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have left their houses from war-affected areas for safer places want to rescue their families and children.
To survive, many of the displaced families regularly send their children to collect garbage like plastics, dried bread and other usable items to earn some cash for their families.
Living with his family in Chaman-e-Babrak, a makeshift camp in the western edge of Kabul, where more than 700 of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) families have been living over the past eight years, Muzammel, a seven-year-old child, has already been a bread-winner of his family.
"We have nothing to eat. No flour, no rice and no cooking oil, no one has so far cooperated with us. I go to the market, collect plastics, collect discarded onions and potatoes and bring home to cook and eat," Muzammel who like many Afghans goes by one name whispered in talks with Xinhua.
Sitting around a dining table-like tablecloth with his siblings to have a lunch of only some pieces of Afghan traditional bread (nan), Muzammel murmured that he and many more children from the makeshift camp collect usable goods from garbage dump everyday to support their families.
Muzammel's father Ghulam Ali complained about what he described as a "miserable life."
He said that no one has assisted him to support his children ahead of winter which is getting closer by each passing day.
"We are a 15-member family, including my 13 children. I am a handcart vendor and can only earn around 200 afghanis (some 3 U.S. dollars) a day, the lowest income to support such a big family," Ali said.
Ali also alleged that street harassment in Kabul has added to the suffering of displaced families, saying many families including his can not allow their teenage daughters to go to school due to the stigma of street nuisance.
"My six children are going to schools, but I can't allow my three elder daughters to continue their education because of street harassment. I am a poor man and have no car to take them to school and bring them back home," Ali said.
Another displaced person and resident of the same camp, Mujahid, 28, said he can not support his six-member family as he can no longer work hard due to the wounds he received in one of his legs in war.
"No one has so far assisted us, neither the government nor other institutions. I have been working as a street vendor and can't carry heavy loads due to wounds in my leg," said Mujahid who earned some 150 to 200 afghanis a day.
In addition to deprivation of school and hardship in living, Afghan children, mostly from poor families, are also suffering from diseases.
According to UNICEF, diarrhea-related diseases claim the lives of some 9,500 children each year in conflict-hit Afghanistan. (1 afghani equals to 0.014 U.S. dollar)
