Farid Tanha
A family handed over two of its children to another family because they were unable to feed them. The father named Bashir Ahmad lives in Ashaba village in Jabl Saraj District of Parwan province. He said, “I announced my poverty in the Jamay Qal-e-Naw Mosque in Bagram District and some time later a man called Abdul Raziq came and agreed to take away my children and look after them.”
Many poor families across Afghanistan are forced to sell their children due to extreme poverty.
He said he had gone to Bagram to especially ask for help and that he did not know Abdul Raziq at all. His two children are 12-year old Naseer Ahmad and 13-year old Jan Ahmad. The mother of the children was unwell and hospitalized in Parwan Hospital. Bashir Ahmad said that seeing the financial difficulties she had not stopped him from giving away the children but was very sad and cried a lot. “It’s not easy for me to give away beloved children but poverty and financial problems have forced to do so. I work but some days there is no work. It’s hard to earn for a family of fourteen. I am happy that two of my children have been rescued.” His eldest child is a 15-year old girl.
Abdul Raziq who is a resident of Qal-e-Naw of Bagram said that when he heard the announcement from the mosque he felt sorry for the man and so agreed to take in his children. On May 12th he told PAN that the children are living happily. He said he is looking after them like his own children as it makes God happy.
Mohammad Malik one of the residents of the area said, while the father was giving away his children that such a thing was very difficult but that poverty makes a person very desperate. He said that many people face the similar problem.
In December last year a woman in Kunduz who was disabled and had a sick husband sold her four month old daughter for 500 Afghanis (US$10) due to extreme cold and poverty.