KABUL (Khaama Press): Poverty and unemployment have created numerous challenges in the lives of people in Afghanistan. Rahela, dealing with these difficulties, is searching for her son who disappeared after the Taliban takeover. She says, “My son had no enmity with anyone, and we don’t know if he is alive or not.” Rahela wanders from alley to alley, selling matches. Now she roams the streets, begging for her necessities and those of her grandchildren.
Rahela’s weary eyes narrate her anticipation for the return of her lost son. This elderly mother now takes care of her three grandchildren and begs for their sake. Rahela’s son, leaving her with three children, disappeared about seven months ago.
Sixty-year-old Rahela, accompanied by her daughter-in-law and grandchildren, lives in a crowded area of Kabul. She says, “I start each day with the hope of hearing news of my son.”
This elderly mother complains of diabetes, calcium deficiency, and bone pain. Nevertheless, every morning she hits the streets in search of a piece of bread.
Rahela is a familiar face in her neighbourhood. Since her son’s disappearance, she has become a familiar face, asking everyone about her son.
Rahela is left with a daughter-in-law and three children from her lost son, the youngest being nine months old.
As Rahela remembers her last conversation with her lost son, tears fill her eyes as she says, “I have no solution other than prayers and waiting.” She adds, “My son said goodbye like every morning, then left for selling matches, said goodbye again, and never returned. God knows what I’ve been through during this time.”
Rahela says she had only one child, and she has neither a sister nor a brother. Her only possession was her 30-year-old son, who never returned after saying goodbye.
The only thing Rahela has been doing since her son went missing months ago is saying, “I go to the streets and markets where my son used to sell matches and ask people and shopkeepers about my missing son.”
She says her son was neither a government employee nor had enmity with anyone: “I don’t know what happened to my son. With months passing since my 30-year-old son disappeared, I wonder what became of my helpless and labourer son.”
While laden with the burden of waiting, Rahela still hopes for any clue or trace of her son’s fate. She worries about her grandchildren and the wife left behind by her missing son.
She says at night, after buying 20 Afghanis bread and dry bread, she returns home to share a meal of bread and tea with five people, including herself, her daughter-in-law, and three children left by her son.
Rahela stands daily at a specific spot on the roadside, begging from people. She says she often faces humiliation: “Black-windowed cars hurl five Afghani notes from a distance onto the road and mock me.”
While eight months overdue on rent, Rahela is constantly waiting for the landlord’s response. She says, “The landlord has repeatedly demanded rent from me, but seeing our dire situation, his son gave us a grace period, which has been months, but I couldn’t pay the rent.”
Rahela has leftover bread from yesterday in her hands. Her daughter-in-law and three grandchildren, left by her son, cough because of the cold and lack of heating.
She says they have neither food nor household items. If forced to leave their home, they have nothing but a mattress and a few pillows.
Rahela mentions that winter is approaching, but they will have to endure it without coal or firewood to warm their home.
It’s worth mentioning that the security authorities of the Taliban government have not helped Rahela in finding her missing son.
