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Wednesday, March 29, 2017 *('1L3,HL**H| D/2LC41L3,H)04(LC)0'L03)H0(3)0('*2*'*(1L**,C4H$L"'L0"1C4k' COVERPG STORY 2&3 F*&)(,00K')C1-342H0%310+C"I0)&34342 )3"C4-CL*K)C(LC)0(L*$(L0IC,C410( "*&)(,00KG Q $*)-C4HK0)(*4C,,3/0G 0H40(HC"Y C)1L QY *%0)('*)" L04'L0¡)('HC"*/'L040$(1L**, "0C)('C)'0H34D/2LC43('C4'L3( "0C)YG+3,,3*4I*"(C4H23),($0)0 4*'0#K01'0H'*I034C''04HC410Y I01C&(0*/341)0C(0H%3*,0410Y H3(K,C10+04'C4HK*%0)'"G Bakhti, 13, from the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan, who now lives in Kabul. D/2LC41L3,H)04 '0,,*/'L03)H00K0('/0C)( NYT SYNDICATE and the Taliban intensifies, and Pakistan in northeastern Afghanistan, but her If I don’t go to school, I will become forces Afghan refugees to return home, family members were displaced by nothing in the future; if I go to school, I HEN the first day of the according to Save the Children, an advo- fighting seven years ago. She now lives will become a doctor. I want to become new school year started cacy group. in a refugee camp in Kabul. She went a doctor. in Afghanistan this year, We spoke to five of those children. to school for three years before being We live in tents here; we have two 3.7 million boys and girls Here are their stories in their own words. pulled out. tents. I sleep with my five brothers were not expected to be in They have been translated and edited. I loved going to school, but we don’t and sisters in one tent, and my father, attendance, because of increased vio- have enough money to buy notebooks mother, and two small sisters sleep in lence, displacement and poverty. The and other things. Our relatives are angry the other. total number — roughly 1 in 3 school-age ‘I loved going to school, but we at us for leaving school, but without For breakfast, if something is left Afghan children — is expected to grow this don’t have enough money’ notebooks it was not possible to study over from dinner we eat that. If not, year as violence between Afghan forces Lina, 12, is from Kapisa province and do homework. we eat bread with tea. After breakfast, *%0)('*)" 0H40(HC"Y C)1L QY I bring water from the well, which is a not behave well; they were very violent. one-hour walk away. Providing drinking They would call me the “strange girl.” water for our home is my responsibility, I also stopped going because my two and I bring water in a wheelbarrow, in brothers are alone. I am afraid they will these small barrels, two or three times a get lost — I have to stay and look after day. I also collect small pieces of wood them. If my mother was around, I would and plastic to burn for heating our study. But now I can’t. home. My cousins go to school. Those who go to school, they look good. I also want to go to school, but it is not going to ‘If you go to school, you will have happen. a good future’ Zahid, 8, is from Surkh Rod, a district in eastern Nangarhar province. ‘I am happy when night comes’ He and his four siblings help his father Imamuddin, 15, is from Charchino collect metal scraps in Jalalabad, a district in Oruzgan province. After nearby city. intense fighting in the district, which All members of my family sleep in is now controlled by the Taliban, his one room that we rent for $25 a month. father moved half of the family to Tirin After waking, I wash my face, then I eat Kot. my breakfast, which is tea with bread, I studied up to fifth grade in our and then I take my sack and go to the district, but schools closed a year ago bazaar. because of fighting, and now the Taliban During the day, I collect scraps of control our village. There was fighting metal, wood and paper. For lunch, I wait every day, and I wasn’t even able to leave in front of a bakery — the baker himself our house. or someone else gives me a loaf of bread Zahid, 8, from Surkh Rod, a district in eastern Nangarhar Provincein in Afghanistan. My mother and five sisters are still in that I share with my friend or my cousin. the district; we are trying to bring them We sell the things we collect during here soon. We live in a rented house, the day for 20 cents, and then I bring the which has three rooms, and we pay money home and we buy tea, sugar or about $60 a month for rent. My father, something else with it. In a whole day, two brothers and I share one room. It’s the most I earn is 50 cents. winter, and to keep a room warm needs I do not go to school because we a lot of wood, and we can hardly make don’t have money to pay school expens- one room warm. es. The 20 cents I earn is to pay for sugar Life is hard for me here because I and tea. do nothing. I am very bored. But I am My relatives and friends are going happy when night comes, and at least I to school, and when I see them, I wish I can go to sleep. would be able to go to school and do my I really want to become a doctor and studies, too. If you go to school, you will serve the people. I am asking my father have a good future. If you don’t, you will to send me to English classes in Tirin not. Kot, but my father cannot afford the fees. I am studying my old books from school, and I have completed each book ‘If my father were alive, I would many times. not be spending the day in the I may start working, or move to bazaar’ another province where we can find a Raqibullah, 12, is from a village on better living. I am worried about my the outskirts of Tirin Kot, a city in Oruz- future and education. Life was good back gan province in southern Afghanistan. in the district — we had a good living, His father was killed a year and a half we had land and orchards and schools ago by a blast from a roadside bomb. and fellow students, but here you do not Raqibullah then moved to Tirin Kot. know anybody. Fighting deprived us of When I was in the village, I was going everything. to school, but there are no schools there anymore. I only studied up to fourth Raqibullah, 12, from a village on the outskirts of Imamuddin, 15, from Charchino District in (Cover: Lina, 12, from Kapisa Province in grade, but I can still read and write. Tirin Kot in southern Afghanistan. Oruzgan Province in Afghanistan. northeastern Afghanistan.) In the city, I sell sweets from a cart to feed my siblings. I have three broth- should be going, too. But I have to earn sweeping inside and outside, wash- FAHIM ABED, MUJIB MASHAL AND ZAHRA NADER ers and three sisters, and we all live money in order to feed my family and ing the dishes. If there is a carpet in FROM KABUL; TAIMOOR SHAH FROM KANDAHAR; together. My oldest brother is 14 years afford the rent. progress, then I get to help weave the NAJIM RAHIM FROM KUNDUZ; AND KHALID ALOKOZAY old, and the youngest in our family is carpet. FROM JALALABAD CONTRIBUTED TO THE REPORTING. my 4-year-old sister. My older brother is From each carpet, I get about 80 also working with me. ‘My two brothers are alone’ cents as a tip. The rest of the money goes If my father were alive, I would not Bakhti, 13, is from the northern city to the house expenses. Last time from be spending the day in the bazaar selling of Mazar-i-Sharif. Her mother died of the 80 cents, I bought a comb for myself things. hepatitis B three years ago. Her father, and socks for my brothers. My cousins are still in the village who works as a day labourer in Iran, When I lived in Mazar, I studied until where there is no school. But my neigh- left her and her younger brothers in fourth grade. When we came to Kabul, bours here — they attend private school Kabul with their uncle. I went to school for about three months and government schools. When I see I wake up around 6 am After break- but then stopped. The classes here were boys going to school, I really feel like I fast, I do the housework — cleaning, not like those in Mazar. The students did 0H40(HC"Y C)1L QY Group photo with attendees. NC'C)*)2C43(0($*)-(L*K*4 I&3,H3420#')0+0,"H&)CI,0(')&1'&)0( TRIBUNE NEWS NETWORK by revealing ancient construction tech- nology for building extremely durable HE Qatar Chapter of the structures that lasts for centuries. Institution of Engineers India Among the distinguished guests were (IEI) organised a workshop on Indian Embassy in Qatar First Secretary ‘Building Extremely Durable Dinesh Udenia, Al Fardan Group Chief De- Structures that last for 500 to velopment Officer Fayad Mohamed Khatib, 1000 years by revealing Ancient Con- and Qatar University Civil Engineering As- struction Technology’.