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Children Stories

When I grow up

A young boy came to ASCHIANA to begin his education;

Eng. Yousef asked him to draw a picture of what he would like to be when he grew up.

The boy drew a picture of an aeroplane. 

Eng. Yousef responded, “A pilot that is a good job, why would you like to be a pilot? Is it so that you can see many countries?”

“No” responded the boy

“A jet flies very fast, is this why you would like to be a pilot?”

“No, I want to be able to fly so that I can drop a bomb and kill the person who killed my father”, said the boy.

“This is not good. Did you see the man that killed your father? how will you find this man?” asked Eng. Yousef

The boy was silent for several minutes, finally he replied, “I will drop a bomb like they did to my family as long as someone is killed.”

After some time at ASCHIANA, attending programs and meeting with other children who had lost members of their family Eng. Yousef again asked the boy to draw a picture of what he wanted to be when he grew up. 

The boy drew a blackboard.

“You do not still want to be a pilot?”

“No Eng Yousef!  I don’t want to kill anyone now. I don’t want any other boy to have no father and be like me.  Now I want to be a teacher.”

Greetings from Sher Khan

Greetings from Sher Khan to my dear friend, 

First, I send you my respects.  I hope that you are well.  I want to tell you about my life.

In the olden days, when there was a lot of war and destruction, we used to live in the neighborhood of Gozarkah.  My mother and father had gone to the market to run errands for Eid (religious holiday).  There, a rocket fell and my parents and other people were hit and died.  Since then, my maternal uncle has taken care of me and my two sisters.  My uncle’s economic situation was not too good so he put me to work as an apprentice at the baker.  There, every day I was paid 30 or 40 Afs (about 70cents).  I didn’t take the money, instead I took bread back home so that my sisters and my uncle’s son, who was still a baby, could have something to eat.  I did this for a year.  Afterwards, I got fed up and quit.  I quit and started to sell water.  It was better than working at the bakery.  I also started to gather paper and plastic.

Then I met by chance a person by the name of Ustad Hayatullah Khan and he told me: come, son, I’ll take you to a place called Aschiana where they will give you food at lunch.  He took my name and those of my two sisters.  When we went there, we saw that a lot of orphan children and we saw that they were getting a lot of help.  This is when my life improved. 

During two years, I took classes in basic reading and writing, then I joined the course of calligraphy and I learned the Nastaliq and Shekasta scripts very well.  I had to miss class often so that I could work and raise money.  My teacher talked to other teachers and they gathered some money and gave me a shoeshine box.  By 8am, I leave home and work and work and work.  Then I come to Aschiana where I eat lunch and attend class, then I go and work till the  evening.  I can gather up to 60-70 Afs (about $1.30). 

Recently, my sister was enrolled in a sponsorship program through Aschiana and she receives a monthly stipend of $20 so she can stop working and enrol in regular school.  I have also moved from the calligraphy course to the course of music and theatre and now I am learning music and I want to excel at it like calligraphy.

I have seen a lot of war and injustice.  I am tired of war. I don’t want any more war to happen in my country, I want peace and calm, and I hope from God that He doesn’t make anyone an orphan.

Sadar's Story


Greetings from Sardar, student of Aschiana to my unknown friend,

I hope that you are well. I am well, thank God.

Dear friend, I want to tell you about my life in Kabul, Afghanistan. I was very young, maybe 3 or 4 months old, when because of the war, a bomb fell from a plane on my house. My father and my mother became martyrs with 30 other people. I was with them but after their death I was separated from them and I don’t remember exactly what they looked like because I was very young.

Since their death, I have lived with the family of my maternal aunt’s husband. As I grew older, I was able to help by bringing them water or paper and wood so they could prepare tea or food because I couldn’t myself work as I was only 4 or 5 years old.

When I became 9 or 10 years-old, our neighbours would find work for me. In each house where they kept a sheep, a goat or a cow, they would give me their animals to keep from morning till evening. This was my work.

One day, when I was with my flock in the mountain, I suddenly stepped on a mine and lost a leg, Today, I have only one leg. After that I could no longer carry on with this work because I only have one leg. And now in Kabul I stay with my aunt’s family and I have been enrolled at Aschiana for three years.

Today in Afghanistan

In the name of God. Greetings to my dear friend,

I am enrolled in Aschiana in the course of painting and that of theatre. Today in Afghanistan I live with my father and mother. I love Afghanistan. We children hate war. We want peace. I want in the future to become and artist and a painter, a very good one, so that my mother and father can be spared the worries of homelessness.

My favourite colours are green and aqua and I like football and gymnastics. I would like to travel to a place where I can work and I can send money so that we can solve the problem of not having a home of our own. I come to Aschiana from very far. At home I have a little brother that I love to bits. At Aschiana, I like my fellow students.

Homelessness really bothers me. My father does not like me. I like him. My mother also works somewhere but I cannot help her. I work on the street and so does one of my brothers. He sells dailies from the AINA office (a media centre) so that he can raise a little money so that we can eat. When my mother goes to work we get very upset. When I go to Aschiana and think of the state of my mother I become very sad.

There is one thing that really worries me and it is not having a house. My mother works in a house in Macroyan (a housing complex) and brings a little bit of money. We live in a rented place. When the landlord comes, he asks for money and when I hear him I become very unhappy. If you are a good friend please tell me what would be the solution so that our trouble of not having a house can be over?

Children Storeis

  • When I grow up
  • Greetings from Sher Khan
  • Sadar's Story
  • Today in Afghanistan