88.5 WFDD Web Archives
WFDD Archive
Main WFDD Website News Archives Triad Arts Archives Real People Archives Sports Commentary Archives Business Report Archives  

You are visiting the WFDD web archives.

Click here to return to our main website with the latest news from WFDD and NPR.

Search the WFDD archives
Listen (mp3) Listen  

The Struggles of Kabul's Child Laborers are Being Recognized in the Triad (Part 1)

April 19, 2012 | David Ford

There are approximately 1.2 million child laborers living in Afghanistan today. Many are forced into work by the age of five or six due to the disabling or death of a father. Their mothers, who are often uneducated, find it extremely difficult to find a job. In these cases, the children, who are pulled from school, become the sole bread winners for their families.

Wake Forest University junior Jawad Wahabzada has seen first-hand an entire generation of young Afghans lose out on their chance for an education, and the deteriorating affect it’s had on the society. Starting at age seven, shortly after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, he was forced to work eight to nine hours a day as a child laborer in Kabul.

To raise awareness about this issue, the sophomore communication major has teamed up with Wake Forest documentary film graduate John Bougher to create a new documentary film Children of Kabul. Wahabzada says that unless the Afghanistan government and international community provide financial incentives for families to keep their kids in school, the entire country faces an uncertain future.

Children of Kabul screens at RiverRun International Film Festival on Friday night, April 20.


<< earlier stories later stories >>
<< November 2024 >>
Su M T W Th F Sa
     12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

Show month: