hope

Little Banafsha wakes up in her small mud home, has a cup of tea and braces herself for the day ahead.

She is just 11 years old, but she is the breadwinner for her family. Literally.

Without the bread that she begs from strangers, she, her sisters, her baby brothers and her mom would all go hungry.

[…]

She is not bitter, explaining: “My two younger sisters also work. They beg for bread and sell gum. There’s no choice.”

[…]

“A few days ago, some girls were kidnapped around here, and many people have gone missing. The girls’ mother still comes around here looking for them, but they still haven’t been found,” Banafsha says.

This time of the year, the sun begins to set at 4:30 p.m. in Kabul. But Banafsha continues to roam the dark streets. The 6 o’clock rush hour is her peak business time.

Her eyes well with tears, but she doesn’t allow them to fall, quickly wiping them away and biting her thumb like the vulnerable child she is.

She prays every day: “I say, ‘God, take me out of this poverty and have my father go work so I can go to school.’ ”

[…]

…among the estimated 60,000 other street kids in Kabul, dreaming of a better life.