Wahida and her family have worked hard all their lives and fought for a better life. She was the only one in her family to attend public school through 12th grade, but due to the family’s difficult financial situation, they were unable to finance her further education. Her two brothers and three sisters are illiterate because there was no money available for their schooling.
Her father was a simple, hard-working man who earned most of the family’s income as a day laborer. At the age of 40, he fell seriously ill. Without money for treatment, he died, leaving behind a mountain of debt that the family could only repay by selling their house.
Wahida’s mother worked as an employee at a state girls’ school, but was dismissed after the regime change and her pension was also canceled. She earned additional urgently needed money on the side by doing cleaning jobs. However, she is no longer able to do this either, as she suffers from rheumatism and asthma.
As the eldest child, Wahida was forced to work in various offices as a service provider to support her family with a very small additional income. Until about a year ago, she even worked as a teacher at a private school, which has since been closed by the Taliban.
Due to serious family problems, Wahida’s brothers went to Iran in the hope of making their way to Europe. For four years now, there has been no information about the fate of one brother. The second brother is still in Iran, but tragically has fallen into drug addiction.
The entire responsibility for supporting her mother and three sisters rests solely on Wahida’s shoulders. While the four women continue to live in rented accommodation in Baghlan, Wahida waits in a hostel in Kabul for odd jobs to earn money for her family. Sometimes she washes clothes or does heavy work in private households, sometimes she doesn’t even have enough money to buy bread.
Wahida concludes her story with these words:
My days and nights pass in extreme hardship, and the heavy burden of responsibility has left me deeply exhausted. Despite all these challenges, I still have hope that with the support of kind and compassionate people, a door of relief will open for us and I will be able to provide for my family with dignity and stability once again.