Upstream | January 04, 2011 | 25 comments

Five-Year-Old Little Girl Scavenges Trash to Burn to Stay Warm

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EthicalVegan
Child scavenges for family's survival in Afghanistan

By Arwa Damon, CNN
January 4, 2011 3:09 a.m. EST


STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Marjan, 5, scavenges for trash to help keep her family warm in the winter
* Marjan's brother died from the cold and her mother worries for the other children
* UNICEF says Afghanistan is the worst place in the world to be a child
* UNICEF: One in five children in Afghanistan do not live past the age of five








Kabul (CNN) -- Five-year-old Marjan sniffles from the cold as she struggles under her load. Hoisted on her back is a bag almost as big as she is.

Instead of going to school, Marjan scavenges for hours with her 10-year-old aunt collecting trash. It is a heavy burden for such a small child but a necessary one. The trash she collects is what her family uses as fuel for cooking and, more importantly, to fend off Kabul's bitter winter.

It is a matter of life and death for someone so young. Last winter, Marjan's baby brother died from the cold.

"It was dark and cold, and the baby died," she says softly, wiping her running nose. "I saw him dead and I was very sad, and I cried."

"I don't blame myself," Marjan's mother, Zarkharida, says. "We don't have firewood. I set fire to the garbage but it went out and my baby died."


Zarkharida's husband was killed in a family feud over land. She was forced to move in with relatives, already struggling to make ends meet. She built a one-room mud hut on a small piece of land.

"I wasn't able to properly cover the roof, this is why when the cold weather came my son died," she says.

Plastic tarp covers the roof, windows and doorway. She stitched a blanket from scraps of clothes given to her as charity. It is all she has to keep her family warm.

But Zarkharida fears this winter will claim another one of her children.

"Of course I am worried about my children's health," she says. "I am afraid they will get sick."

UNICEF, the UN children's agency, says that Afghanistan is the worst place in the world to be a child. One in five children do not live past the age of five. Afghanistan is second only to Sierra Leone when it comes to child mortality. Most of those deaths are caused by curable childhood diseases and malnutrition, compounded by the security situation, which means that parents are unable to access proper health care.

"It is very hard to put a hard and fast figure to the number of children dying from hypothermia alone on Kabul's streets as there would undoubtedly be other reasons that would make them sick or vulnerable in the first place," UNICEF regional communications chief Sarah Crowe wrote in an e-mail. "Extreme poverty, having lost a parent, being trafficked or displaced, or many other reasons may have forced them on to the streets where they would be deprived of their most basic needs (decent food, health, immunization, protection) and exposed to the extreme cold of Afghan winters."

Marjan is constantly blowing warm air on her hands, which are grimy and cracked from the cold. She kicks off her plastic, torn shoes and tries to warm her feet on the trash fire blazing under the kettle. But it is never enough.

A meal is scraps of bread and weak tea.

Even though she has never set foot in a classroom, Marjan dreams of being a teacher. She also loves to play with dolls. But in one of the world's poorest countries, she is, instead, responsible for her family's survival.
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25 comments // Five-Year-Old Little Girl Scavenges Trash to Burn to Stay Warm

  • sugarlilly
    • 0
      sugarlilly  

    • "Most of those deaths are caused by curable childhood diseases and malnutrition, compounded by the security situation, which means that parents are unable to access proper health care." so would that "security situation" be the tyranny OUR tax dollars are funding to bomb them?

    • 1 year ago
  • JonRaymond
  • fun_size
    • -1
      fun_size  

    • Now i dont want to come off sounding insensitive but there are children just like this girl all over the world. Why is her story special? Because the military is in Afghanistan? How about poor folks living right here in the US? Some people in our own backyard struggle to survive on a daily basis.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • jj2010
    • +2
      jj2010  
    • fun_size:

      We have an organized government, which has many programs to give a helping hand to the poor folk living in America (at some degree). These people have nothing like we do....they don't have a system like ours. I do agree that we need to take action in helping our country first, but are you willing to give a extra tax money to support these programs??? Many wealthy Americans aren't willing to give their hard worked money to poor people cuz they don't feel the deserve it. But the poor have no means to get themselves out of poverty.....

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
    • +2
      keithponder  
    • fun_size:

      Now i dont want to come off sounding insensitive but...........

      STFU then, or try trading places with her.

      Pain and suffering are universal and so is caring.

      I cannot believe just how callous some people on this site can be.

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
    • -1
      fun_size  
    • keithponder:

      And i cant believe how presumptuous and rude people like you can be. Where did i say that i feel no pity for this child's existence? I didnt. Its a depressing story. All i asked was why are we focusing on the life of one child out of millions that are suffering worldwide? Because shes "cuter" than a black baby in Kenya that doesnt have clean water? Or a korean kid who eats moldy rice and rats to survive?

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • jj2010:

      I support welfare programs. Its a tough situation though because they can never be 100% effective. You'll always have freeloaders who try to cheat the system so there need to be regulations in place to curb the amount of people who take advantage of it. But those same regulations sometimes prevent people from getting welfare who need it. Its a vicious cycle.

      There has to be a better way though because if everyone pitched in then we could truly end poverty and hunger. There is more than enough resources for everyone still they just arent properly distributed.

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
    • +1
      fun_size  
    • EthicalVegan:

      I agree wholeheartedly. I havent seen you post similar stories but then again im not on this site nearly as much as i used to be. But i digress, we are ALL humans. Not Americans not Chinese not British but humans.

      Einstein said it best "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind".

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
    • +2
      EthicalVegan  
    • fun_size:

      Oh, gosh, I hope that you didn't think I "SELECTED" this article -- or "SELECTED" the photo -- because I personally think this little girl is "CUTER" (!!!) than a black little boy or an Asian little girl!

      The article jumped out at me when I was in a position to submit it here.

      Frankly, the photo could have been of a DOG, and I would have felt the very same way... but that's who I am.

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
  • EthicalVegan
    • +1
      EthicalVegan  
    • fun_size:

      Please relax, dear fun_size. I seldom have an agenda... at least publicly. I spot news articles, and I copy and paste them to Current.com, and sit back and wait for good thoughts and comments, whatever.

      Needless to say, my clear exception can be within the group "Veganism" -- http://current.com/groups/veganism -- which I started the day I first joined Current.com. Anything relating to animal rights and veganism (one and the same, really) is "my" place to share what affects me so personally. Anyone who truly, truly cares about ALL animals is welcome to contribute whatever may be of help to our understanding the rights of sentient beings.

    • 1 year ago
  • sugarlilly
    • 0
      sugarlilly  
    • fun_size:

      oh for sure jj! i read somewhere that the top 1% of stockholding CEOs could cure world hunger in a snap if they wanted. literally, just a scrape of icing off their 10-teared cakes. it's a tough decision though, giving up that extra vacation home in the Alps complete with personal copter, chef & imported wine & women. tough decision.

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
  • sugarlilly
    • 0
      sugarlilly  
    • fun_size:

      you're unclear & i can only assume you misread both my comment & the one i was replying to. may you note that YOU commented on this completely antiquated 3 month old article too. i've been around here awhile, not that current is some sort of longevity bragging, why bring up jammer? i couldn't stand him & was happy when they banned him. fun_sugar_confusing_lilly_size?

    • 1 year ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • sugarlilly:

      You said jj which i assumed meant J_Jammer. My mistake. And sorry this newer system doesnt accurately show which post you replied to(something they STILL havent fixed). I replied to your post since i have a blackberry on me at all times which usually notifies me when someone responds to one of my posts... like just now.

      As far as your post goes i agree it really would not be difficult to feed, clothe and shelter all the world's poor if money and resources were more evenly distributed. Honestly if it werent for nationalism we could solve most of the world's problems and be exploring the galaxy by now but i suppose im a bit too idealistic.

    • 1 year ago
  • Nephwrack
  • Sparky2U
  • jj2010
  • MrMxyzptlk
  • jj2010
    • 0
      jj2010  
    • MrMxyzptlk:

      "Great Attitude" the power of the mind is more then you give credit to? We can do whatever we put our minds to. This is where Faith and Belief come to mind. I am not a religious person by any means but I am a believer in the power of the mind.

    • 1 year ago
  • keithponder
  • gerardange
    • +1
      gerardange  
    • MrMxyzptlk:

      Hey MrMxyzptlk.... It is real easy to sit around in your underwear on your big fat ass and fling negative jabs from your computer all day and night... Yah, that's the way to do it! Just make rude comments about everything! Regardless if you have zero knowledge or, any of the facts on any of the subjects you comment on... Blah... blah... blah...

      But it still gets down to... What have you ever done... beside making rude comments?

      People on here want intelligent constructive positive thoughts..not by JUST EMPTY BS.

      Maybe you should do more listening and less talking...

      you might learn something.

    • 1 year ago
  • EthicalVegan
  • EthicalVegan
    • +3
      EthicalVegan  

    • .

      Excerpts from the above article, that really dig into my heart...

      "...Afghanistan is the worst place in the world to be a child. One in five children do not live past the age of five. Afghanistan is second only to Sierra Leone when it comes to child mortality."

      "It is very hard to put a hard and fast figure to the number of children dying from hypothermia alone on Kabul's streets as there would undoubtedly be other reasons that would make them sick or vulnerable in the first place," ... "Extreme poverty, having lost a parent, being trafficked or displaced, or many other reasons may have forced them on to the streets where they would be deprived of their most basic needs (decent food, health, immunization, protection) and exposed to the extreme cold of Afghan winters."

      "A meal is scraps of bread and weak tea."

      .

    • 1 year ago
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