Kabul Kids

Kabul October 30, 2009





There are children everywhere in Kabul. In 2002, according to the latest statistics I can find, 43% of the population was under the age of 15. With an average fertility rate that hovers around 7, I can only assume that the statistic has not changed much in the past 7 years, even with an above average infant mortality rate.

Every day when I am driven to campus I hold my breath and watch school children cross busy Darulaman Road, sometimes across 4-6 individually defined lanes of buses, cars, vans and motorcycles. There are no traffic lights, crossing guards or sidewalks. Those children who do attend school go 6 days a week. The boys in my area wear blue shirts and black pants, girls all over Kabul wear black tunics, black pants and white head scarves.

Children who do not go to school, at least the ones that I see, work herding sheep, clerking in their parent's shops, or they wander in traffic begging, selling gum or phone cards. It is a harsh way to live. Laws to protect children in the labor force are controversial primarily because working children are frequently an important contributor to the family income. The government does not provide financial assistance to needy families.

In my neighborhood there are lots and lots of kids and like kids everywhere they play and cry. Fight with their siblings, fly kites and run around the dusty streets. We all live in close proximity here so I hear all their comings and goings. The city is dangerous, bombs, grenades and rocket fire disrupt the lives of many but here in my neighborhood life continues uninterrupted. If the wind is blowing and you are home from school and have a kite to fly, you do regardless of the crumbling violent world around us.