Parwez Khan: A Young Vendor
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Cigarettes! Cigarettes,” shouts Parwez Khan to attract the attention of his customers. He hobbles along a dusty road in the southern suburbs of Kabul city where he sells cigarettes from a tray hanging from his neck. The left leg of Parwez Khan's pant is empty.
Khan is an eleven year old Afghan boy who attends school in the mornings and sells cigarettes in the afternoons to support his family. Wearing a worn out blue sweater over his gray clothes, he said, “I am a fourth grade student and want to continue my education, even in very difficult times, to become a doctor.”
Supporting his body on a crutch, Khan says he thinks he would be able to best serve the needy people in his country by becoming a doctor. Khan is living in a house with his family, who have been raising hens so they can sell the eggs to earn money. “Once when one of the hens was out of the yard,” Khan said, “I ran out just a few meters away from my house to catch the hen and bring it back to the yard. Suddenly something went off.“
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I didn't know what happened,” Khan recounted in a sad voice said, "I was unconscious. My father immediately reached the site and took me to an ICRC hospital where I underwent treatment for 35 days."
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I don't know, as an innocent child, what my sin was?” Khan asked, playing with a box of matches in his right hand. “They took away my little leg and I will never get it back in my life time.”
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