Young Generation’s Problems

Muska, age 15

We all are well acquainted with the fact that children and youth (the young generation) are the present and future of a country. Unfortunately our young generation is facing a huge range of problems and one of the biggest is unemployment. Due to the lack of jobs, our young generation is compelled to go abroad, particularly to the neighbouring countries such as Pakistan, Iran, Russia, and Tajikistan. The most valuable and biggest wealth for a country is youth, but here our young generation works in other countries to earn something for a living.

Here in Afghanistan the young generation is always insulted by their family, society, or government. There is no facility for them to study in, especially as we have more young people that are graduated from school and are not able to proceed with their educations because of not having the budget or having economic problems at home so they can’t go to university. That’s why they start any kind of business such as: car washing, plastics selling, cigarette selling and also joining some mafia groups. Step by step the country will lose all the excellent young attitudes.

I will ask other countries for help. The young generation is the hope of a country but unfortunately in Afghanistan there is no value put on them. Some of our young boys go to foreign countries, especially to Iran, and when they arrive there they will be jobless for a long time, and they will get involved in smuggling, kidnapping, and selling narcotics. Those who can’t go to foreign countries and don’t have enough money to start a job, they will be stuck in poverty with huge problems.

Unluckily the nation of Afghanistan is also facing poverty. As most of our young generation live in poor financial conditions and unstable economic crisis, most young boys and many girls are obliged to work and contribute to their house’s expenditures through their salaries. This is the story of every home here, that’s why our young generation has been kept at a long distance from education and higher studies, whereas in other developed countries the youth try to get knowledge and education to compete with the world. Unfortunately our youth is caught up with thoughts of earning money and finding a job to provide financial support to their families.

In addition, the education system compared with other developed nations is too weak/old, as we don’t have the latest modern technologies and equipment to do experiments practically. We just study everything orally and we are unaware of the most recent science and technology research/inventions.

One of the other biggest problems in Afghanistan is that many families from different provinces don’t permit their children, especially girls, to go to school and also they marry their young (small) daughters to old men for money.

At the end I want to just mention the main problems of the young generation in Afghanistan: no facility for jobs, economic problems, family problems and education problems. I and every young member of this poor country have this hope and request from the government of Afghanistan to please provide the best facilities for every member of this country so that they live in comfort and spend their lives in happiness and safety.

****************

Life Along the Kabul River

Noman, age 15

Life along the river is a dream for most people. People want to enjoy their summer holidays and other holidays along a clean river with blue water. Afghanistan was very rich due to water and rivers and natural views, but after years of drought and changes of climate, now there is less water in the rivers. A drop of the water means life for humans, animals and agriculture. But unfortunately our people and agriculture are facing issues from the lack of the clean water in our nice rivers.A river is the beauty of the city – once, the Kabul River was one of the most popular and nicest rivers in Afghanistan, but now it has damaged the beautiful view of Kabul city.

Kabul River has contaminated the environment and people cannot go near to the river due to the bad smell and pollution. Kabul River can be a big risk for the health of the people living along the river. Our government should take action and clean the river together with the community. People also can do voluntary work towards the cleaning of the river.

People who live along the river are very poor and most of the families have lost at least one of their family members in these three decades of war. And as we know, water is the most important element in our life and a river for a city should be very valuable and a natural resource for agriculture. But people in Kabul who live along the river, they don’t think anything about the river and they don’t know the value of the river because they are just passing their lives, they are not living their lives.

They are not enjoying life, just they are thinking about their families and how to feed them. Everyone has thousands of problems in their life, so they don’t think about their health and their environmental health, and that’s why people are suffering from the current state of Kabul river. Every day it harms the health of the people along the river, and sometimes in summer when the ice and snow in the mountains melt the river swells so that the water rises up and destroys the houses of the people along the river. In some poor areas of the city, people are using Kabul river as a garbage bin or toilet, which paves the ground for the worsening of germs and disease. 

*************

Bilal's Message for Other Disabled Youth

Bilal, age 15

My name is Mohammad Bilal “Mir Bat Zai”. My father name is Mohammad Dawod and I am from Khost. I was born in Pakistan and I am 15 years old. I am disabled because when I was one year old I got an injection [that ended up disabling the use of both legs].

Now I live in Afghanistan in Kabul. We were refuges who went to Pakistan and when the Taliban skipped from Kabul we came there. And now I am in ninth grade in school. I have also finished an English course and I know computers very well. I get a lot of certificates from different courses and also I study computers in AOAD embassy (Accessibility Organization for Afghan Disabled) and also in CCD (Community Centre for the Disabled). I also learned photography from a German woman who came to Kabul and taught how to take pictures. I have a certificate.

My father is a driver. I have two brothers and five sisters and we are ten people in the family. In the future I want to become a good doctor to help the people. I can also ride a bicycle and I have an interest in sports. My best sports are cricket, basketball, skating, etc. I can speak four languages: Pashto, Dari, English and a little Urdu. I have the second position in school among 50 students. I haven’t any money to get English or computer classes but I have very much interest.

At first I didn’t have any hope for my life because I thought, “I can’t study, I can’t work, I can’t do sports and I can’t play with the other children.” But when I became big and saw other disabled boys and saw the community for the disabled, and sports for the disabled, I found hope that disabled people also can work, can do sport, can play and everything else. I have a message to the disabled that they shouldn’t get unhappy about life because they have a future and can do everything, but only if they try.

I really like skating and in the future I want to become a good skateboarder, I enjoy very much going skating.

Watch excerpts from the 'Skateistan' documentary below. Click here to watch the full documentary.