Impoverished Pari, her children direly need help to survive

KABUL (Pajhwok): Gul Pari, a mother of two children, is living at her father’s house and says she started begging to earn livelihood for her children.

Hailing from the Bagram district of Parwan province, the husband of Pari, 27, went missing seven years ago.

She is spending her days and nights at her father’s house with her two children — one four and another six years old. Her father is old and her teenage brother is jobless to support the parents.

She said in the past she worked at the house of a family which had left Kabul therefore she was facing economic hardships.

The room where Pari lives is very cold. She started crying while referring to her children. “Few days back we had nothing to eat and I had no option but wear my veil and stand in front of a bakery. People gave me four breads and I returned home.”

For few seconds she was unable to speak due to the severity of her pain and sorrow but continued by saying that her husband was addicted to drug two years after their wedding.

“I put pressure on him to stop using drugs but he did not accept and the situation got worst to the extent that he sold household items and even my jewelry.”

She said seven years ago her husband told her that he was going to Nimroz for work but he did not return since then and left her to the difficulties of life alone.

She installed a manual heater at her room but said she could not put fire all the time because they don’t have wood and coal to burn them.

She hoped if she managed to find work at a house against up to 2,000 afs then she may bring old material from that house and burn them to heat her room.

She said when they have firewood they heat up water and put it in a container and then they cover the container with a blanket and that container water provide them heat.

She said local elders had registered her for aid but until now nobody had provided them aid.

Pari said: “Today the situation is not sound, people are in trouble, the government should extend a helping hand and provide support to the people.”

Pari’s mother SabzPari was also sitting alongside PariGul and said: “She is my daughter, I feel painful for her, after her husband disappeared, I brought her and gave her a room. She is living here with hope”

She said her 16-year-old son ran a hand-cart in the city and they try to manage living accordingly.

She, while suffering from a worsening economic situation, said the government should provide support to the masses.

The people of Afghanistan are facing acute humanitarian and economic problems after the fall of previous government. The US imposed sanctions and frozen Afghanistan’s reserves that further complicated the situation.

nh/ma