By: Ali Sadeqi
The only government-run orphanage in central Ghor province has closed its gates to 187 orphans due to lack of funding. Most children who lived in Mastoora Ghori Orphanage are now working hard labor jobs in Firozkoh, the capital city of Ghor.
Faiz Mohammad, 16, and his 11-year-old brother lived in the orphanage for four years after their father died of cancer. The orphanage provided them a safe home. They were fed, given clothes and sent to school to make them hopeful about the future.
But everything came to an end in August 2021 when the Taliban toppled the former Afghan government.
“Orphanage children were the smartest students in the provincial level,” Mohammad said. “We were working hard to seize the opportunities and always be among the best students at schools.”
“But now, we are among the most deprived,” he said, adding that most orphanage children are working, and those who can’t find a job are begging in the streets.
Mohammad said he immigrated illegally to Iran to find a job to support himself and his family soon after the closure of the orphanage. But he was deported from Iran. Now, he and his younger brother are working in a restaurant as waiters in Firozkoh, each getting paid monthly 750 Afghani, an amount equal to about eight dollars.
“I take leftovers to eat at home at night,” he added.
Despite all these challenges, both brothers still go to school for half of the day, and work in the other half. They live in an uncle’s house for now.
Orphans, and children of physically disabled parents or poor families were admitted to Mastoora Ghori Orphanage. Like Mohammad, 186 other children including 23 girls, who lived there, have been forced to leave the orphanage to work or beg.
UNICEF has said recently 1.1 million children under the age of five face acute malnutrition in Afghanistan. Save the Children said earlier this month that 9.6 million children are not able to eat on a daily basis in Afghanistan. Mohammad Rasool, a 13-year-old orphan, and his siblings may be among them.
Rasool makes less than a dollar daily, shining shoes in Firozkoh. He and his two younger brothers were forced out of the orphanage when it was closed.
“I dreamed of becoming a doctor after I finish my studies,” he said, “I didn’t want to shine shoes.”
Rasool and his brothers lived in the orphanage for three years after their father got killed in clashes between the Taliban fighters and the former Afghan government forces. Despite the daily struggles, all three brothers haven’t lost hope, and they are still going to school, chasing their dreams.
14-year-old Ghulam Sakhi and his 12-year-old brother lived in the orphanage for four years after the death of their father. They also lost their mother last year. With the closure of the orphanage, they both work in the streets during the day, and stay with a relative during the night. Sakhi gave up going to school because he has to work. But his younger brother is still going to school.
Ghaws Mohammad Sohail, director of the Taliban’s Labor and Social Affairs department in Ghor who also oversees the operation of Mastoora Ghori Orphanage, said he has asked the local Taliban governor and international NGOs to fund the orphanage several times, so he can reopen its doors to children once again. But he has not been successful so far.
“The situation of the orphanage children is worrying, most of them have resorted to hard labor after they left the orphanage,” he said. “Orphanage was a safe place for the children to grow, the government and child support organizations should help reopen it.”
