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A plastic bag flutters in the chilling wind brushing a desolate Afghan landscape. A young  boy grasps a string that not only keeps the bag from flying away but also provides a tenuous grip on his fading childhood. For Afghan children, kite flying keeps memories of family, friends, and their once-promising future aloft. The children salvage remnants of their war-shattered lives, even if it’s just with a dirty plastic bag that can barely stand up to the breeze.

 

The harm inflicted by four decades of war on the people and the country of Afghanistan has been cumulative. Afghan statistics are shocking. Civilian casualties in 2019 were three times higher than in either Syria or Yemen, and 41 per cent of those killed or wounded were women and children. Food insecurity is worse than in South Sudan. In the last six years, poverty has grown in one of the poorest countries in the world. Already more than 60 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, with further pressure put on the system by the 400,000 displaced Afghans who have returned from Iran and Pakistan.

 

Torn by violence, the young boy and his mother fled the violence in Helmand after their fathers kidnapping with nothing more than the clothes on their backs to the capital, Kabul, in search of a better life. Their harrowing ordeal of survival is etched in the child’s face where lines are forming across his brow. He worries about taking care of his distraught mother. His days of running down the hallways of his school and running down the streets playing with his friends are replaced with cautious steps through traffic and the constant threat of a suicide bomb. He spends his days playing with sticks strewn on the busy streets of Kabul,  where he and at least a thousand other families are on the street and begging for a piece of bread. He pretends twigs are pencils, like the ones in school. His delicate fingers trace the Farsi letters on the pattern of the rugged blanket that he and his mother used for warmth during the winter nights. He had dreamt of one day becoming a journalist and sharing his story with the world. Now, he shrugs and whispers: “I have nothing to say.”

 

“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness”

— Desmond Tutu

 

Unfortunately, the young boy isn’t alone, more than 4 million children are out of school in Afghanistan – with almost 60% of them being girls. For many of the country’s children, completing primary school remains a distant dream – especially in rural areas and for girls – despite recent progress in raising enrolment. Poverty, conflict and humanitarian crises that Afghanistan faces critically affect a fragile and underfunded education system. Natural disasters such as floods and landslides as seen recently in Parwan and the constant threat of suicide attack exacerbate the situation for all children. If it, not the children begging on the street to stay alive rather than attend school, it is these factors that raise parental concerns about safety and can prevent them from sending their children to school.

 

We at The Green Village believe that access to education is a right for every child. If we were not fortunate to leave Afghanistan when we did, we might have ended up in the same position ourselves. Therefore, we may not be able to do much to reduce the threats of a suicide attack, but we can definitely support the young boy and his mother in putting a roof over their head and food on the table. Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness. You can be that light, for the price of three Starbucks Grande Cappuccino, you can provide them with accommodation and food for one month. You can take away the worry of surviving the day and allow him to pick up his pencil and live his dream. We all wish to live our childhood dreams, so why not support children like the young boy not to hope of his life, but to have the best chance to live his dream.

 

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