More than 3,500 children in Khost province work in brick kilns. Poverty forces them into work, leaving little hope for education.
In Gurbuz district, dozens of children arrive at a brick kiln before sunrise. They spend the entire day handling bricks with their small hands. Habib Gul, a father, works alongside his five young sons and returns home exhausted each evening.
Habib Gul says, “We don’t have the strength. Otherwise, I would have sent them to school or provided religious lessons. Poverty has made life difficult for me and now it is the same for them.”
Many children dream of going to school but are forced to work to support their families. Zahedullah, a child laborer, says: “I make bricks here. I haven’t attended school and I work in this trade.”
Shah Zaman, who has worked in the kiln for four years, says: “I haven’t received any education or gone to a madrasa. I grew up in this work. I ask for easier jobs for us.”
Akbar Khan adds: “I want to be freed from this compulsion and sent to school. I work here out of extreme necessity.”
These children spend long hours in dangerous conditions, carrying heavy loads and working under harsh weather, with little hope for a childhood or education. As poverty rises, more children in Afghanistan are forced into labor, growing up in uncertainty and hardship.
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