He says when he set out of home for the first, he felt fear along with sadness, but in contrast, family’s poverty forced him to find a way to succeed in big and crowded city of Kabul.
The tailor of Laghman says that separation from his family was really difficult for him in younger age, but he says that business moves people to one side or other.
“I was so young when I came to Kabul from Laghman. I was 7 when left home, actually it was difficult. I came because of economic problems.”
Elham says that, not only working and learning were hard for him at the beginning, but sometimes he also longed his parents, but he has concealed all this pain and suffered alone.
“First time was unbearable. I missed too much my parents. I was hiding all the pain. I have tolerated all the pain alone and never let anyone to know about it.”
Elham adds that his family did not want him doing hard and heavy work when he was young, but since his brother became paralyzed on one leg; so, he better assumed earning sustenance for his family instead of his injured brother and not stretched out his hand to anyone in need.
Elham is not a child anymore, but a 16-year-old boy who knows good and bad, and fulfills his responsibilities well, but he still loves his family as he did when he was a child, and he is a younger tailor among people, even his is called senior tailor.
“They all love me so much. Prepare everything for me, because I am a passenger, people call me younger tailor and sometimes call me senior Elhamuddin. It really makes me happy.”
Like other children, Elham has a deep love for sports and cricket is his favorite sport. He says that Rahmanullah Gurbaz, the strong batsman of the Afghanistan national team, is his favorite player in cricket.
“I play cricket, I can ball and bat. I am very talented among my peers. I schedule time for cricket every Friday, but when work load is more; then my cricket is left.”
his senior tailor, Khalid Al-Kozai, says about him that he is very clever and his work is impressive.
“Ma Shaa Allah, Elham was a very talented student, now he has become much better and when he sews clothes; his clothes sewing style look better than most of the senior tailors and people wonder that how he became good at sewing in such a young age.
Not only senior tailor Khalid praises his work, but also senior tailor Rahimullah Khalis accepts his work.
“Elham is not only a brilliant tailor, but he is also talented in education. He is in 11th grade and wants to become an engineer along with tailoring in the future. Elham is also a good cook and his cooking is very outstanding.”
Elham hopes, if the government creates an opportunity for all the children who work because of compulsion and have missed educational opportunities, Afghanistan will soon reach the stages of development and self-sufficiency.
Translated by Muhammad Yousuf “Zakir”
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