Over the last six months Afghanistan has undergone some big changes, with a transition in leadership and economic turmoil; seeing as many as one million children being put to work, to provide for their families.
A Breakdown of AFGHANISTAN SIX MONTHS ON:
- 1/5 of starving families are sending their children to work due to plummeting incomes.
- 1/3 of families have lost their entire household income since August.
- 3/4 of families are borrowing to buy food (from better-off families and purchasing food in the market on credit) – an increase of 26%.
WHO IS 12-year-old LAILA* AND WHAT’S HER STORY?
“I worked because I had to. I would go and bring home 10 Afghanis ($ 0.10) and buy tea with it for my family," Laila describes.
She lives in displacement camp in the Balkh province in northern Afghanistan with her family, after fleeing her home in Balkh province after her father was killed and following a forceful marriage her mother faced.
Laila's mum Shugofa*, 36 explains further:
Margaret is leaving a gift in her will to Save the Children
“How can I feel when a piece of my heart goes out and works for others? But what could I do? I felt sorry that my child must work cleaning people’s rubbish and dirt.”
"Not having a breadwinner and having five children without a father, you can imagine how difficult it is … We sometimes eat only once a day, and other times we eat bread on its own, three times a day. I make the children eat less or once a day so that the food lasts for one more day. And we cook smaller quantities, to avoid running out of food for the next day. My children are weak and skinny.”
WHAT WE ARE DOING TO HELP AND THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK:
This used to be 12-year-old Laila’s daily reality, but now she attends our Child Friendly Space, a children’s centre where she learns and plays alongside other girls from the camp!
Laila and her family now live in a camp where families are kept warm from the harsh winter with underground homes and Laila’s mother earns around 200 Afghanis (approx. US$2) per day working in a greenhouse close to the camp.
We are providing families with urgent cash assistance mitigating the need for families to turn to child labour, early marriage, and reduced meals.
Since September 2021, we have reached 763,000 people, including 430,800 children, and provided more than 127,000 people with multi purposes cash transfers and cash for food.
HOW CAN I HELP?
Since August, rates of malnourished children visiting our health clinics has more than doubled and 14 million children are likely to face potentially life threatening levels of hunger this winter.
To help more children like Laila, affected by the crisis in Afghanistan, you can donate to our Afghanistan Crisis Appeal.
