Weeding Roses in Kabul

[polly7]

by Martha Hennessy / June 20th, 2015

Kabul — Outside the windows of the room where I sleep here in Kabul, the Afghan Peace Volunteer (APV) women’s community maintains a small walled garden filled with roses. The community planted tomatoes, cilantro and greens. An apricot tree grows in one corner, a mulberry tree in another. The prayer Afghan Peace Volunteer (APV) call, chanted from a nearby mosque, awakens me just before dawn. Light appears in the sky around four, and soon after, the doves and neighborhood children begin to stir. Normal activities and routines persist here in Afghanistan, despite the decades of war and impoverishment. Military helicopters roar through the skies as sounds generated by ordinary workaday tasks fill the air: the whine of a machine cutting sheet metal mixes with a jingle played by an ice cream cart rolling down the street.

The circumstances are dire for these children. Of the estimated six million child laborers in Afghanistan, 60,000 work in Kabul, competing for meager wages. They sell bread and shine shoes on the streets to support their families so that they may eat. The June 2015 CIA World Fact Book reports that it is impossible to estimate the numbers of children out of school; however, in Afghanistan’s teen and adult population the literacy rate is 38.2%. Among females over age 14, only 24.2% can read and write. How can the street children achieve a better life if they remain illiterate?

Afghanistan’s future could be determined by exploitative corporations eager to profit from trillions of dollars’ worth of resources estimated to lie under its ground. Geopolitical rivalries afflict the country as wealthy transnational elites compete for access to abundant resources. China intends to create high-speed rail from Beijing to Moscow, and has already built significant portions of the “New Silk Routes” which will enable China to access and move materials and products. The rush to continually increase corporate profits lays the groundwork for an intensified cold war between the U.S. and China. What’s more, several recently concluded trade agreements in the region excluded the U.S.

Speaking at Arizona State University’s McCain Institute, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter complained that the U.S. wouldn’t be sidelined. “We already see countries in the region trying to carve up these markets… We must all decide if we are going to let that happen…if we’re going to help boost our exports and our economy…and cement our influence and leadership in the fastest growing region in the world; or if, instead, we’re going to take ourselves out of the game.”

Full article: http://dissidentvoice.org/2015/06/weeding-roses-in-kabul/

These people stopped mattering to those with power a long, long time ago. Kudos to the APV and other organizations brave and compassionate enough to still try to help.

[MisterP]

1. heck, even a trillion won't last that long in today's economy ...