Parents in Afghanistan Forced to Sell their Children for Food

A mother battling to save her daughter in an encampment of mud-brick buildings in western Afghanistan, displaced by drought and war.

Aziz Gul’s husband sold their 10-year-old without telling her, taking a down payment in order to feed their family of five. They would starve otherwise, he told her. They would starve if he did not sell his young daughter into a forced marriage.

The growing number of destitute people in Afghanistan is making desperate decisions as the country spirals into poverty.

When the Taliban seized power in mid-August during a chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops, Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy was already on the brink. Afghanistan’s assets abroad were frozen and funding was halted by the international community, unwilling to work with a Taliban regime that had once been known for brutality.

A country suffering from war, drought, and the Coronavirus pandemic has suffered devastating results. The government has not paid employees for months. Most of the inhabitants face acute food shortages, and aid groups report that malnutrition stalks the most vulnerable.

Children Suffering in Afghanistan

Children, in particular, are suffering in Afghanistan, said Asuntha Charles, national director of World Vision in Afghanistan. World Vision runs a health clinic for displaced people near Herat, a western city. Seeing the families selling their children to feed other family members breaks my heart today.”

In the region, very young girls are often married off. In most cases, the groom’s family pays money to seal the deal, and the child stays with her parents until she is at least 15 years old. While many can’t afford even basic food, some say they’re willing to let grooms take very young girls, and some are even trying to sell their sons.

It is unusual for Gul to resist in this deeply patriarchal, male-dominated environment. Her daughter, Qandi Gul, is her only daughter, and she says that if her daughter was taken away, she would kill herself.

“My heart stopped beating” when she heard her husband had sold Qandi. “I wanted to die at that time, but maybe God did not want me to die,” said Gul, peering shyly from beneath her sky-blue headscarf with Qandi by her side. “There are many times when I remember that night … like dying and coming back to life.”

When she asked her husband why he sold one, he said it would have saved the others. She told him that death was much better than what he had done.

Forced marriages banned

With the help of her brother and village elders, Gul obtained a “divorce” for Qandi, on condition she repays the $100,000 (roughly $1,000) her husband received. But she does not have the money.

In fear that Gul would denounce him to authorities, her husband fled. Forced marriages were recently banned by the Taliban. She is unsure how long she can fend off the family of the prospective groom, a man of around 21.

“I’m so desperate right now. She said that if she couldn’t pay these people and keep her daughter by her side, she would kill herself. “But then I think about the other children.” she continued. And what about them? “Who is going to feed them?” Her oldest is 12 and her youngest is just 2 months old.

Hamid Abdullah, a father of four who has four daughters, was also forced to sell his young daughters into arranged marriages for money to take care of his chronically ill wife, who was pregnant with their fifth child.

He said he cannot repay the money he borrowed for his wife’s treatments. He received a down-payment for his eldest daughter Hoshran, now 7, when she was arranged to marry an 18-year-old.

When Hoshran is old enough, the family that bought her will settle the full amount and take her home. Abdullah, who is in need of money now, is arranging a marriage for his 6-year-old daughter Nazia for 20,000-30,000 Afghanis ($200-$300).

“We don’t have enough to eat,” and his wife’s doctor can’t be paid, he said. It was a difficult decision, said Bibi Jan, his wife. “I felt like a body part had been taken from me when we made the decision.”

Children crying with hunger

Another displaced family in neighbouring Badghis province is considering selling their son, 8-year-old Salahuddin.

Salahuddin’s mother, Guldasta, said that after days without food, her husband advised her to take Salahuddin to the bazaar and sell him so the others could eat.

The 35-year-old said, “I don’t want to sell my son, but I have to.” The mother said, “No mother should do this to their child, but when there is no other choice, you have to do it.”

The children had been crying for days from hunger, said Shakir, his father, who is blind in one eye and has kidney problems. Three times he decided to take Salahuddin to the bazaar, and three times he failed to do so. Suddenly he felt he had no other choice.

The practice of buying boys is less common than buying girls, and when it occurs, it appears to be families without sons. She thought perhaps such a family would want an 8-year-old.

The desperation of millions is evident as more and more people face hunger, with some 3.2 million children under 5 years old facing acute malnutrition, according to the United Nations.

Charles, the national director of World Vision for Afghanistan, said the country desperately needs humanitarian aid funds.

“It is great to see the pledges,” she said. However, the pledges “shouldn’t stay as mere promises, they must be seen as a reality.”

Source: The Associated Press