Poor Afghan Families Force Kids to Work to Earn Food
Safia Al-Asmari; 23/5/08
Across the Kingdom, solemn looking and shabbily dressed Afghan children often sell gum to diners and shoppers leaving restaurants and supermarkets. While many people harbor ill thoughts about the parents who send their children to work on the streets, very few understand the poverty that forces these parents to do so. Afghanistan has seen conflict for decades, leading to thousands of Afghan refugees coming to Saudi Arabia. Although many Afghans here are legal, others reside illegally. Arab News met a number of illegal Afghan families who use Makkah’s winding alleyways and poor neighborhoods to hide from officials from the Passport Department. Mariam Muhammad, an Afghan woman, had come to live in Makkah with the help of smugglers two years ago. She traveled from her native Afghanistan via Pakistan and Yemen to join her husband who had come here four years before her.
See: http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=110171&d=23&m=5&y=2008
Tags: Afghanistan, Children, Refugees, Saudi Arabia, Workers