The children of Kabul

This morning I have been reading a report by Save the Children USA on the Children of Kabul, which is full of the most moving and piteous stories. The report is based on hundreds of interviews with children and their families, and is full of inspiration and bravery as well as sorrow. Here are a couple of extracts:

"Once my son went to the shop and asked for chaff because we didn’t have any flour or bread. The shopkeeper told him, ‘Don’t buy the chaff because it has medicine for killing the mouse. Maybe your family will eat it and they will die; instead of bread you will get death,’ and [so my son] didn’t bring the chaff. That is how hard our life is — faced with a choice between death by chaff or death by starvation." - Mother

"When I am afraid, my mother sleeps with me and takes me in her arms and says that we mustn’t be afraid because Almighty God will pity us." - Boy, aged 7

"We have seen so many wars, so we are not afraid of war anymore. During the bombardment I heard an interview with an Afghan man who was saying to the western countries, ‘These bombs are just like potatoes to us! War is nothing to us!’ He was right!’" - Girl, age 17

"I love going to school, and in the morning I just wait impatiently to go ... ." - Young girl