He was walking in the cold weather of Kabul winter with running nose. He lived in the neighborhood of Sakhi Shrine. His messy clothes and old shoes reflected deep poverty and deprivation. The wistful expression on his innocent childish face mirrored his misery. He was carrying wax and brush imploring the pilgrims to get their shoes polished in return for 5 or 10 Afs. He was going from person to person asking if they had their shoes polished, but their negative answers were compounding his chagrin.

“Do you go to school?” I asked. “Yes, I do and I am in 4th grade.” He answered. He introduced himself Haider and he was 11 years old. “What does your father do?” I continued. “He is jobless.” He replied. I asked if he had brothers and if his brothers worked. He said that he had brothers and they were also busy in the same way as him in banal tasks.

Then I saw many children of his age busy with those activities, such as polishing people’s shoes, carrying carpets to rent out to the pilgrims in return for 5Afs, selling gums, cigarettes, etc. They looked deeply worried seeming the only bread-winners of their families.

The poignant pictures touched me. Some of my bitterly childhood memories flashed through my mind. I sat in silence and went deep in my past memories. Although I was rolling my eyes to the passersby, my mind was absent. It was neither a fantasy nor a dream, but bitter experiences of my past.

If you walk in Kabul streets, you will see many children worried about their life struggling from dawn to dusk to make the ends meet. For example, if you park your vehicle somewhere in the streets, you will see children start cleaning in return for a penny. Likewise, if you stop your vehicle in a taxi stand or bus stop for passengers or commuters, you will see a child comes to you and start calling loudly to attract passengers. Then he takes 5Afs and leaves for another vehicle. Hence, these are their daily activities just to find a morsel of bread and survive the peril of misery.

It is not only children but also men and women. It is really daunting for me to see the women beggars sitting in the streets in the cold morning of Kabul winter. They sit on the humid surfaces and perhaps their feet will feel numb with cold. Some of them also carry their children in the same cold weather! Isn’t it difficult to imagine such a life?

It is a matter of great surprise and concern for me that how do they survive poverty? The frigid winter and high inflation, especially the high price of fuel, challenged their life seriously.

One day, it was about five thirty in the evening and darkness had crept into the city. A female beggar could be seen shivering with cold, drenched in rain walking and imploring more people for charity. When she stretched out her hand to me, my emotions prompted me to ask her about her life conditions. Even though, I was touched by the picture, nonetheless, I repressed my feelings and breathed no word. She continued wandering from shop to shop and street to street. The rain and cold gave her no mercy. Such sad stories are always been repeated around us.

Presently, we see more female beggars in Kabul city and it is believed that many of them are those who have no bread-earners in their families. They struggle to nourish their children. Therefore, begging is the only way left for them. It is beyond doubt that begging is disgrace for women and that is why they put on burqas while begging. Ill-fatedly they are with no choice other than accepting this humiliation.

Currently, the deaths of the poor who lose their lives in the cold winter make the headlines on the newspapers. There are some people, displaced internally, live miserable life under tents suffering from food and fuel shortages. The only glimmer of hope they maintain is the government and charitable organizations to send them financial aid.

Administrative corruption is a great factor in poverty across the country. It is beyond doubt that billions of dollars poured in the country within a decade or so were pocketed by the powerful officials and members of Mafia.

Economic insecurity is one of the factors which affects our life. Three decades of war have affected the life of people badly. This results in serious economic pressures. The trace of war is still felt tremendously in the country; however, insecurity exacerbates the situation. Insecurity limits job opportunities for the heads of families. Sometimes the bread-winners lose their lives leaving large families behind without any economic supporters. Moreover job insecurity compounds the challenge. Hence, insecurity is one of the factors which disturbs the flow of economic process across the country.

Poverty with all its many factors will give birth to many other challenges in social and individual life. I express that the youths will show higher tendencies towards crime and corruption by the economic pressure. Moreover, many of our youths and children will abandon the idea of going to school or university due to poor life condition. Illiteracy will be one of the issues to be given birth by poverty and support crime and corruption across the country.

Poverty will also lead to violence in the family life. When there is not found a morsel of bread in the house, conflicts will emerge between spouses. Furthermore, the children will be forced to do back-breaking jobs or even be sold, as common in the country, so as to alleviate the economic pressure of their family.

I hope this article, which is to reflect the miserable life of Afghan women and children makes our officials feel the anguish of the poor families and make them feel their religious and moral responsibilities towards their poor compatriots.