By: Ellaha Rasa
Sumaiya Mohammadi sold one of her kidneys to help her family out of poverty. But six months later, they are still desperately poor, and now Sumaiya is also dealing with complications from the surgery.
“My children were hungry, we didn’t have anything, and I had to sell my kidney,” Sumaiya says in a tired voice through the phone.
The 26-year-old received 220,000 afs for her kidney – enough to pay off her husband’s debts that were hanging over them. But she didn’t imagine the painful impact on her body and the suffering she would experience.
“I wasn’t aware of the harmful consequences of this work,” she says.
Sumaiya was 15 years old when she married. Originally from Badghis province, it’s been about 1.5 years since she is was forced to move, due to warfighting, to Engeel district in Herat Province.
The kidney surgery was the most difficult and life-threatening event in her life, she says.
Sumaiya shows the surgical stitches through the video call. The length of the stitched area has caused the permanent wave and bend of the stitch to remain on her skin and probably never disappear.
She says in the six months since her kidney was removed, her body has become weak and she has faced problems even in simple, daily tasks.
“I used to be able to do housework, but now I have difficulty washing clothes and carpets, and I have to work to knead the dough,” she says. “I call the neighbor and then I bake bread in the oven.”
Sumaiya’s husband, who she prefers not to name, is a day labourer but has not been able to find work for a long time. Recently, he crossed the border into Iran illegally to go in search of work. That means Sumaiya has to raise her children on her own.
“I was fine when I had kidneys, but now I can’t properly take care of my children,” she says.
Even before the Taliban, the sale of kidneys by people who are poor was not uncommon. It was more prevalent among internally displaced people, due to poverty and scarcity of work. However, with the return of the Taliban to power and the struggling economy, this has compounded the number of people turning to these more desperate measures as poverty and humanitarian crises grow. According to official international reports, more than half of the people of Afghanistan are facing hunger.
According to public sources shared with Rukhshana Media, dozens of women have sold their kidneys in Qandahariha area in the 10th district, southwest Herat province. The highest price of a kidney is 300,000 afs, an amount equal to US$3500.
Bibi Gul, 25, has four children and has sold her kidney due to poverty. Speaking to Rukhshana Media, she said her husband died in a traffic accident eight months ago. She sold her left kidney for 250,000 afs.
“After my husband’s death, with the children left to me I couldn’t afford our life’s expenses. That’s why I sold my kidney,” she said.
But the earnings only last a short time. Bibi Gul is now begging for help with her two sons on the streets of Herat Province.
She is in pain, and worry about her only kidney failing. Like Sumaiya, she says no one warned her for the consequences of removing a kidney.
Previous Afghan governments had banned the sale of body parts and the leader of the Taliban has also publicly stated that the sale of body parts is prohibited. But the industry appears to be thriving. The kidney removal is usually done in private hospitals. The women interviewed in this report were all operated on in a private hospital in Herat.
Khoraigul made the decision to sell a kidney after living with chronic pain in her leg for many years. She has tried many remedies but not have worked. Unable to cure it, she decided to go to Pakistan to get the opinion of doctors there, but she could not afford the journey. So one year ago, she sold one of her kidneys for 200,000 afs.
“My legs have been hurting for ten years and I sold my kidney and went to Pakistan twice for treatment, but the doctors could not treat it,” she says. “Some say that the bones in my legs are far apart, others say that it is rheumatism.”
Khoraigul has a ten-year-old son and a two-year-old daughter. After her kidney was removed, her pain has only gotten worse and now she can hardly move.
Her son no longer attends school in order to stay home and help her.
“My son doesn’t study or go to school, he looks after her sister,” Khoraigul says.
Nazanin, 30, chose to have her kidney removed to pay off her debts. She has six children – three daughters and three sons.
“My children had no bread to eat and we live in a rented house,” she says. “I have to pay 1400 afghanis per month for house rent. I had to sell my kidney.”
About a year ago she sold her kidney for 300,000 afs. Her kidney removal took place at the same private hospital in Herat that all the other women say theirs was also done. Rukhshana Media prefers not to name the private hospital.
Nazanin also tries to provide for her household expenses by cleaning other people’s houses. Her husband is an addict and doesn’t have regular work.
Organ transplants are often used as the last step in the treatment of organ failure. Most countries have protocols in place to engage in safe and legal organ donation and transplantation.
Afghanistan doesn’t have any protocols in place, but due to the high demand and lack of organs for transplantation, kidneys are commonly sold on the black market of organs.
The demand for kidneys is high. And Herat is boasts one of the the largest kidney transplant centers in the country.
Basir Ahmad,19, is an internally-displaced person from Badghis province and lives on the outskirts of Engeel district, Herat. He has sold his kidney for 250,000 afs and now says he has no other choice but to sell his wife’s kidney as well.
“I borrowed money and went to Iran, but they deported me. I sold my kidney to pay the loan. But now I can’t work,” he says
“We go to bed hungry day and night, and if this situation continues, my wife will sell her kidney to cover our expenses for another year,” he told Rukhshana Media.
Mariana, who also lives in the Kandahariha area, is waiting for her kidney removal operation. She told Rukhshana Media that the blood and radiology tests had been completed in one of the private hospitals of Herat province to confirm her kidneys were healthy.
“They took blood tests and took pictures of my kidney. Now I’m waiting for my turn to sell my kidney,” she says.
As a mother of three and internally displaced from Faryab province, Mariana is trying to help her husband, who has kidney stones, and feed her children.
“My husband is begging and he earns 100 afghanis per day. My husband has 25 mm kidney stones and needs treatment. We don’t even have money to get a prescription for him,” she says.
Mariana doesn’t know the identity of who will receive her kidney, but the 25-year-old says that she’s been told she will get 200,000 afs for it.
“There are many people who want to buy kidneys. But I don’t know the person to whom I am selling it,” she says.
Abdul Manan is an old man originally from Badghis province. He was forced to leave due to fighting. Now he is the Se-Shanbe bazaar’s counselor in Engeel district of Herat. Speaking to Rakhshana Media, Abdul Manan complains and worries about the indifference of the Taliban government and aid agencies to the situation of internally displaced people who are driven to such desperate measure..
“About 115 families live in here who were displaced from Badghis province and took shelter in Herat,” he said. “For the residents of this area, we cannot find a day’s work for 100 afghanis, and we are not paid any attention by the Department of Returnees and Immigrants and supporting institutions.”
According to Abdul Manan, 37 men and women in this neighbourhood, including 14 women and 23 men, have sold their kidneys in the black market. But Rukhshaneh media cannot independently confirm this statistic.
Abdul Manan emphasizes that the poverty and hunger of the people have reached extreme levels.
“If these people are not helped, they will have to sell their children, their kidneys, their eyes… dozens of residents of the Kandahari neighborhood have sold their kidneys due to poverty, but no help has come from anywhere,” he says.
Amruddin, another area councilor of the Kandahari neighborhood in the 10th district of Herat criticized the lack of support for people who are driven to sell body parts.
“Several residents of the Kandahari neighborhood have sold their kidneys due to poverty; But so far, no help has been given to these people from any address.”
Afghanistan is facing a severe wave of poverty and an acute hunger crisis. During the Taliban rule, many reports have been published about the living conditions of people who leave their homes hoping to find work but return to their homes empty-handed.
Farid Ahmad, 25, is one of the internally displaced people in Se-Shanbe area. Eight months ago, he sold his kidney to 300,000 Afghanis during the Taliban rule.
After selling his kidney, he is now unable to work, and if this situation continues, he is worried that he will have to make more difficult decisions.
“Because I have one kidney, I cannot work for more than four hours. If things continue like this, I will be forced to sell my nine-month-old daughter,” he says.
Dr. Abdulrauf Rahimi told Rukhshana Media that those who have only one kidney are more vulnerable to various diseases and should follow a diet under the supervision of a health specialist and avoid physical activities.
“Those who have donated their kidneys, their physical strength is lower than healthy people and they face higher risks of anaemia and also their body lacks calcium. The function of the kidney in the body is to remove waste materials through filtering. When one kidney is donated, the pressure on the other kidney increases, and for this reason, people who have donated a kidney should be more aware of their health,” he says.
Dr. Rahimi emphasizes that those who continue their lives with one kidney should always take medications under the supervision of a specialist that does not put pressure on their kidneys.
Amina, 30, and mother four’s both kidneys have almost failed. Therefore, she can’t work. She says, like many other families, she wants to sell her 8-year-old daughter.
“I want to sell my eight-year-old daughter for my treatment,” she says, adding that she had decided to it some time ago but because of her daughter’s young age, no one is willing to buy.
As the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan grows, more people are at risk of being forced into this terrible choice – selling a body part or a child for bread. But there is little understanding of the harmful consequences of these decisions.
On the other hand, according to Sumaiya, it’s not a choice at all. She feels she had no other options.
“If my husband was not in debt, I would not be willing to sell under any circumstances,” she says.
