These three small children--(from left) 8-year-old Sanjeeda, 7-year-old Nagina, & 8-year-old Parwana--work in a brick factory in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, a district known for brick manufacturing. Many of the children are debt bonded labor who earn $2 a day for 8 to 12 hours of work. The brick factory owners loaned their families money (most often to return from Pakistan as refugees from the war) & then indentured them for loans often as small as $800--but crippling debt in a war economy. Entire families must work a lifetime to pay them off.
Brick yard work is heavy labor especially for children (who start work as young as 4-years-old). Injuries & broken bones are common & children are expected to work even with untreated injuries (leading to permanent impairment). Emissions from brick kilns include fine dust particulates, several toxic chemicals, carcinogenic dioxins (if kilns are fueled by tires), carbon monoxide (if fueled by coal). Epidemiological studies link brick kiln emissions to heart disease, lung & respiratory disease (bronchitis, asthma, emphysema, rhinitis, coughs), eye irritations, & fibrosis.
Children interviewed at brick yards understand their misery & many speak poignantly of their desire to go to school, some of their desire to become teachers. (The oppressed have always viewed education as emancipatory. The desire for access to education is a compelling force in women’s struggles. There are also powerful stories of Black slaves in the Americas struggling to read & write--which explains why under Black Reconstruction the new Black governments in the US South pioneered free public education for white children as well as Black.)
US & UN agencies boast of the millions of dollars invested in the Afghan education system after the US-NATO occupation: new textbooks, upgraded curriculums, back-to-school programs, construction of new schools & repair of war-damaged schools, technical & vocational training. But since over 40% of Afghan children have been orphaned or left homeless in the war, many are forced to work to support themselves & surviving kin. UNICEF estimates up to 30% of primary school age children are working, often as the sole support of their families.
So now is the time to ask the question of UNICEF, other UN agencies, & the army of NGOs operating in Afghanistan: why don’t you fork over some of the billions you’ve received for humanitarian aid to pay off those lousy debts so the kids can go back to school!? Why don’t you stop issuing manifestos & reports & instead put your money where your mouth is!? Why don’t you speak out volubly against the US-NATO occupation which has reduced Afghan children & families to such penury!? Why not join us in demanding the immediate, unconditional withdrawal of all US-NATO troops from Afghanistan!? (Photo by Rahmat Gul/AP)
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