Kabul's unwanted children

Friday, 1 February, 2002, 15:04 GMT

By BBC News Online's Marcus George in Afghanistan

Abdul Qahar was crouched by the fire keeping his tiny legs warm. This was his sixth year away from his family. Behind him rows of iron-framed beds had been pushed tightly together.

The fetid odour of the blankets was barely indistinguishable from the smell coming from the toilets further down the corridor.

Street children are warned of the danger of mines

It was a grey day outside and it cast its dull shadow over everything. These rooms were grey, the bedding grey and the dirty faces walking, talking, sitting around me were grey.

This was one of two state orphanages in Kabul. It was home to over 400 children, between the ages of three and 14 years old.

Ray of hope

But life is better for these children following the fall of the Taleban. Donations from aid agencies are arriving in the form of clothes, exercise books, reconstruction of drainage canals and much more.

Children rush to leave the orphanage for a day

But, contrary to general opinion these youngsters are not orphans. They are Kabul's unwanted children - the majority abandoned by their one remaining parent because they cannot be provided for.

"Their mothers often remarry because their husbands have been killed in the wars," Director of Orphanages Abdul Habib Sameem says.

"When they get married again, their new husbands often refuse to accept any former children and they are forced to take them to an orphanage."

A mother waits to take her child home for a weekly visit

As we spoke a large queue of hundreds of children was forming at the gate. It was a mass exodus to their families for Friday, the Islamic holy day.

One by one they were being led away by women clad in burqas, the traditional Afghan head covering.

Orphanages in Afghanistan were a direct product of Sovietisation during the 1980s.

Before 1981 no such institution existed but, with decades of war in Afghanistan, an abundance of genuine orphans has been created.

Children queue to go home for Friday

Concerns are now growing among aid agencies that these institutions have no future in Afghanistan and organisations are attempting to shift the focus of their assistance to the families of these children.

It is believed that with direct support to their mothers, Kabul's unwanted children could be returned to the community.

On the other side of the city, classes for street children are being held in a rundown house near to where US bombs blew craters in the streets.

Art amidst misery

Dirty street "urchins" are stooped over benches, concentrating hard on carving flowers into pieces of wood.

Inside, landmine awareness courses are being taught to girls and boys. Defused mines are passed around the class. "These are killers, killers of children who forage in disused areas for wood, metal anything," said the lecturer.

The children's paintings reflect the trauma of war

This is one of Kabul's child drop-in centres, run by the charity Ashianah, for orphans and street-working children.

The carpets are worn, the paint is peeling off the walls and the odour of the rooms is equal to that of 30 street children.

But they are learning and are happy. This is their schooling and their therapy for years of loss, misery and distress.

Pictures drawn in crayons adorn the walls of the classrooms. Described as "trauma pictures", some portray the bloody events that had brought tragedy to these children.

Healing the scars

Their purpose was to heal young minds scarred by atrocities in the past. And, by all accounts, it seemed to work.

Painting is an escape from misery for this 14-year-old boy

Some children were crouching in the open, painting on wooden boards. An older boy was painting a picture of the Kabul citadel.

The hardship of the city streets was a world away from the delicate strokes of his brush. He was engrossed and I was dumbfounded as I watched a 14-year-old with so little opportunity produce so much skill.

Back at the state orphanage, tears rolled down the face of one tiny boy as he was led away by his mother. He will return 24 hours later.

And every week this emotional saga will continue, probably for the next 10 years.