Documentary Photography Project.

Story Name: Victims of war

My name is Akram. I am 13. My father’s name is Salamkhan. My father is from Jalalabad and my mother is from Karabakh. There are nine of us in the family, one sister and five brothers, my father and my mother. I lost my both of my hands in Pakistan. I went to Pakistan during civil war. My family was not well off and it was hard to live in Afghanistan during winter so we moved to Pakistan. Because we are poor we needed to collect wood for winter and once when I was collecting wood, there was a cable under woods, I did not notice it and when I touched it shocked me. When I was shocked by electricity, I was thrown 20 or 25 meters away. There was an old restaurant there and some guy had come to eat lunch there and finally he saw me and took me and put me in the car and took me to the hospital. The hospital would not accept me because I was afghan. The guy had an ID and he was helping to put me in the hospital with his ID. After a month, when I woke up and when I saw my hands were cut I was crying, my family was crying. There was no chance, there was only hope and I could not do anything. After three months my family and I returned back to Kabul. Seven years ago I returned from Pakistan and I am living in an IDP camp in front of Dalaman. My job is to collect money, be a beggar, asking money from people. I am responsible for the nine members of the family and I am going to collect money by begging for money and go back and help the family. And my father is little bit crazy and he can not work and only I am responsible to go and collect money and help my members of family. I am the eldest son of Salam Khan. I really like to study and I also like to play computer games, play on the cellphone, like to ply football and other things. 

For seven years I have not received any support from the government. My name is Alareza and I am Akram’s uncle’s son. I am 11 years old. Akram has a lot of problems because he lost his cat and he can not play, go to work, he’s very sad. There are a lot of tents in front of me. There are a lot of kids playing. They are in very bad condition. Akram is living under the tent. There is a pace 100x200m place, different families put a tent and there is no place for kids to play, there are no schools, there is no water, conditions are very bad. - Taliban will come and the war will start and no one will help us. One of his brothers’ name is Ikramila his sister’s name is Simogol, his father’s name is Salamkhan, other bother’s name is Bilal, another brother’s name is Didar, another brother’s name is Satar, little brother’s name Ghafar, mother’s name is Zarmina.

 "My name is Akram. I am 13 years old and I am the eldest son of Salam Khan. He is from Jalalabad and my mother is from Karabakh."

  "There are nine of us in my family – one sister and five brothers, and my father and my mother."

 "I lost both of my hands in Pakistan. I was there with my family. We moved there during the Afghan civil war as my family was not well off and it was hard to make a living during the winter. Because we were poor, we needed firewood to stay warm during the winter in Pakistan. One day, when I was collecting wood, I did not notice a cable under some pieces of wood and accidentally touched it."

 "The cable was electrified and the shock threw me 25 metres away, near an old restaurant. A diner there saw what happened, stopped eating his lunch and carried me to his car and drove me to a hospital. I was later told that the hospital would not accept me because I was Afghan, but the diner had used his own national ID card and insisted that I be given medical treatment. After a month, I woke up. When I saw that my hands had been cut off, I started crying. My family were there and they were also crying."

 "After three months, my family and I returned to Kabul, where we lived in a tent in an empty area in the front of the ruins of the Darul Aman Palace, on the city’s outskirts, for a long time."

 "That was seven years ago. I am still living with my family in a tent in a camp with other displaced persons in front of the former palace, with no support from the authorities."

  "My father is unwell; he has mental problems. He cannot work and as I am the oldest son it is up to me to work and provide for the members of my family."

 "So my job is to beg."

 "Every day I go out on the streets and ask strangers for money."

  "When I am not working, I like to to play computer games, use a cellphone and do other things that children my age do."

 "I really like playing football."

 "I also like playing with my friends, like my cousin Alareza. He is 11 years old."

 "My friends and family help me to do things that I cannot do alone, like holding a mobile telephone to my ear or putting sunglasses on."

 "If I did not have to work, I would really like to study."

"The first day I met Akram, he asked me for money. I asked him about his life and I was intrigued and touched by what had happened to him - but also at his determination to support his family," Mr. Wazei said.

"And yet, at the same time, I was surprised and impressed to see that despite living in such tough surroundings and with such personal obstacles, Akram was just like any other 13-year-old boy," Mr. Waezi added.