Kaihan, 16 years old

As we all know, Afghanistan is a country affected by war and is very poor where people, including the young generation, face lots of problems. I’m one of those who have left my school for my family to work and find food for them and I am also thinking of proceeding with my education. We have had no way to study and proceed with our education because of having economic problems at home.

I was selling water on the road to earn money and support my family. An organization by the name of SVF, which is funded by Save the Children Afghanistan, had recently started their vocational training program. They interviewed me and I told them my problems. They collectively have supported me and brought me to that organization and as a result I’ve joined to learn something there. 

After learning and successfully completing the adult literacy and vocational training program, I was admitted to the formal school where I joined grade 5. As I mentioned above, I was asked by my parents to work for my family, so I decided to continue my education and also to work to support my family and solve our economic problems. So, now I am working in a tailoring shop part time, where my boss gives me my daily salary. When I get the money from my boss and give it back to my parents, I see that my parents and brothers are happy and have no financial problems and then I also become very happy.

Security is also one of the big challenges in Afghanistan, so at the beginning I just hoped to live in comfort and spend my future life in peace, safety and security, but now I wish and hope to continue my school and education as well.

The greatest challenge in my life is that I cannot study hard because of the pressure on me to both study and work.

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Leema, 16 years old

Our young generation, and girls in particular, is facing huge problems. One of the biggest is security and a weak level of education that result in unemployment and then poverty. So, parents want us to work at home and earn money and it is difficult for us to continue our education. Sometimes we are even insulted by our family, and being women, we cannot work like men in our society.

We have no facility to study and to proceed with our education because of not having the financial support or having economic problems at home. We understand that we and our country are very poor – so myself, I teach other kids in the lower grade and earn money to continue my education and also support my family. And even we don’t know when our parents will decide to marry us and with whom, and whether they will want us to continue our education or not – so we have undetermined futures. When we see that our parents and brothers are happy and don’t have financial problems, then we are also happy.

Most young boys, and some girls, are obliged to work and contribute to their livelihoods. As I mentioned above, the education level is too weak, and we have private schools but it is very expensive to go to those schools.
 
So, it is most important that other countries support our country until Afghans’ lives became stable, economic problems are solved, and there are job opportunities for our parents to work and contribute to expenditures through their salaries. And, it’s important for the young generation also to continue their education and higher studies, whereas in other developed countries the youth get knowledge and education.

The main problems of our young generation in Afghanistan are lack of security, in particular for girls, lack of access to education (because of longer distances and security issues for girls), no facility for jobs, economic family problems and education problems. And the government is also weak and is poor, so by supporting and helping our country, we hope and request that the government of Afghanistan can provide facilities for every member of the country and let them to live in comfort and spend their future lives in safety and security.