Xinhua, Kabul :
Ismail, a 12-year-old Afghan boy, leaves his home in western Kabul every morning regardless of the weather, with his black old bag full of brushes, shoe polish and slippers.
After a 30-minute walk, he arrives at a busy street and finds a place to sit down, arrange all his belongings and start his work as a shoe polisher.
“I polish about 5 pairs of shoes and I charge 10 Afghanis for each pair. Most people give me more money even if they don’t ask me to polish their boots. I can earn about 100-200 Afghanis (1.5 3 U.S. dollars) every day. Sometimes I go into restaurants to ask the guests there if they want their shoes polished, but some of the restaurant owners don’t allow me to work there,” Ismail told Xinhua recently.
Ismail said that he has been working on the streets for the past 6 years, yet his income is too little to support his family. Born into a poor family, he has become the main breadwinner. He has 3 sisters, the eldest 16 years old and the youngest just two.
Nazia, 30, Ismail’s mother, has to take care of the baby sister and has no job, neither has his other sisters. His father is already around 70 years old and earns little.
The family rent a small house with only two rooms. In one of the rooms, Ismail and his mother told their stories to Xinhua in a recent interview.
The room is was small, dim, cold and humid with no heating system. The floor is paved with a piece of thin and red carpet. There is a TV in one corner of the room and several quilts in another corner that have been donated by others. A bucket of water near the door comprises all their possessions.
Although he is already 12 years old, Ismail seems much younger, probably because of poverty and malnutrition. Dressed in a worn-out jacket, the bright boy is optimistic and brave. “I have a dream that one day I can become a doctor and serve the Afghan people,” Ismail said.
Ismail, a 12-year-old Afghan boy, leaves his home in western Kabul every morning regardless of the weather, with his black old bag full of brushes, shoe polish and slippers.
After a 30-minute walk, he arrives at a busy street and finds a place to sit down, arrange all his belongings and start his work as a shoe polisher.
“I polish about 5 pairs of shoes and I charge 10 Afghanis for each pair. Most people give me more money even if they don’t ask me to polish their boots. I can earn about 100-200 Afghanis (1.5 3 U.S. dollars) every day. Sometimes I go into restaurants to ask the guests there if they want their shoes polished, but some of the restaurant owners don’t allow me to work there,” Ismail told Xinhua recently.
Ismail said that he has been working on the streets for the past 6 years, yet his income is too little to support his family. Born into a poor family, he has become the main breadwinner. He has 3 sisters, the eldest 16 years old and the youngest just two.
Nazia, 30, Ismail’s mother, has to take care of the baby sister and has no job, neither has his other sisters. His father is already around 70 years old and earns little.
The family rent a small house with only two rooms. In one of the rooms, Ismail and his mother told their stories to Xinhua in a recent interview.
The room is was small, dim, cold and humid with no heating system. The floor is paved with a piece of thin and red carpet. There is a TV in one corner of the room and several quilts in another corner that have been donated by others. A bucket of water near the door comprises all their possessions.
Although he is already 12 years old, Ismail seems much younger, probably because of poverty and malnutrition. Dressed in a worn-out jacket, the bright boy is optimistic and brave. “I have a dream that one day I can become a doctor and serve the Afghan people,” Ismail said.
