Saturday, February 4, 2023
Rainbow Radio
  • Home
  • General News
  • Governance
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Economy
  • Home
  • General News
  • Governance
  • Sports
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Entertainment
  • Economy
No Result
View All Result
Rainbow Radio Online
Home General News

Scraps of stale bread are keeping Afghans alive

June 16, 2022

On a market stall in front of a blue-domed mosque in Kabul, large orange sacks are filled with stale, leftover naan bread.

It’s usually fed to animals, but now, according to those selling it, more Afghans than ever are eating it themselves.

RelatedPosts

Paying your landlord two years’ rent advance is not a crime if… Rent Control

Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs resigns

Rev. Kusi Boateng secures injunction against Ablakwa

Shafi Mohammed has been selling stale bread for the past 30 years at Kabul’s Pul-e-Kheshti market.

“Before, five people used to buy this bread in a day, now it’s more than 20 people,” he says.

The market is bustling – and everyone there we speak to complains of the economic crisis that has enveloped the country. Average incomes have been slashed by a third since the Taliban takeover last August, whilst food prices have risen sharply.

Rifling through the sacks, Shafi Mohammed shows me the cleaner, though still stale, bread that customers who will eat it themselves search for, as opposed to even older, mouldy pieces.

“The life of the Afghan people right now is like that of a bird which has been locked in a cage with no food or water,” he says. “I pray to God to get rid of this misery and poverty from my country.”

Humanitarian aid has been delivered in Afghanistan, averting fears of a famine over the winter, but there are warnings it is no longer enough.

In any case, the crisis has fundamentally been driven by the decision of Western countries to largely cut off development aid Afghanistan was heavily reliant on, and freeze the country’s central bank reserves after the Taliban took power.

The move is in part a response to concerns over the treatment of women under their rule – and the new hard-line restrictions by the Taliban, dictating what women should wear for example, make a resolution difficult.

But it’s poor families like father-of-three Hashmatullah’s who are the ones suffering.

He works pushing other people’s shopping around the market, but has seen his already meagre income drop to a fifth of what it was last year.

Buying a shopping bag of stale bread, he tells the BBC: “I’ve been working since the morning and this is all I can afford.”

There’s a small industry behind the stale bread. Scrap collectors pick it up from restaurants, hospitals and individual homes and then take it to middlemen, who sell it on to stallholders.

But with around half the country going hungry, there’s less bread going spare, less everything.

“People are starving,” says one scrap dealer, as he points out a single sack of leftover bread that had been collected over a week. In the past, he says, they collected a sack per day.

“If we find bread that is clean, we usually eat it ourselves,” says another dealer.

Back at his home in a poor neighbourhood of Kabul, Hashmatullah prepares a meal for his family.

He’s doing everything he can to keep his three young sons in school, as opposed to sending them out to work as many other families have done with their children.

But it means surviving almost exclusively off stale bread, cooked and softened with tomatoes and onions.

“I feel ashamed in front of my family, that I am so poor I can’t afford to provide them good food,” he tells us.

Hashmatullah cooks up bread with onion and tomatoes for his sons
Image caption,Hashmatullah and his sons live almost entirely off stale bread with onion and tomatoes

“There’s nothing I can do. Even if I try and borrow money, no one will lend it to me… My sons are really thin because they are not eating well.”

Outside bakeries across Kabul, it’s become common to see groups of women and girls queuing for free pieces of fresh naan, donated in the early evening.

Some bring sewing kits with them, and spend the whole day there, desperate not to miss their chance.

Even when billions of dollars were pouring into Afghanistan, corruption and the effects of the war meant life was a struggle.

Now, the war is over, but in many ways the struggle is getting even harder.

Source: BBC

ShareTweetShareShare

Related Posts

rent-control-department

Paying your landlord two years’ rent advance is not a crime if… Rent Control

February 4, 2023
Ebenezer-Kojo-Kum-750x563-1

Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs resigns

February 3, 2023
Samuel-Okudzeto-Ablakwa

Rev. Kusi Boateng secures injunction against Ablakwa

February 3, 2023
q1

A foreigner is using the Police and other leaders to snatch our lands from us, we’ll not agree – Top Kings

February 4, 2023
AIDS

We’re finding it difficult to buy drugs for HIV+ patients, test kits and others due to lack of adequate funding – Commission

February 3, 2023
gay gey

Casual, anal sex among hetros, same-sex, illegal mining, and tourism are the leading causes of new HIV infections – Commission

February 3, 2023

Recent News

rent-control-department

Paying your landlord two years’ rent advance is not a crime if… Rent Control

February 4, 2023
Ebenezer-Kojo-Kum-750x563-1

Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs resigns

February 3, 2023
Samuel-Okudzeto-Ablakwa

Rev. Kusi Boateng secures injunction against Ablakwa

February 3, 2023
q1

A foreigner is using the Police and other leaders to snatch our lands from us, we’ll not agree – Top Kings

February 4, 2023
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
qz

The appreciation of the cedi against the dollar will be short-lived so don’t over jubilate – Haruna to gov’t

December 17, 2022
z455

Bui Power Authority calls for partnership to do more on climate change program at COP27

November 22, 2022

Rainbow Radio expands its platform presence on 92.4Fm in UK

September 5, 2022
zz

Family of Asuma Banda calls on Prez, Mahama, Chief Imam to intervene so their brother is sent to Kintampo

December 7, 2022

Hello world!

rent-control-department

Paying your landlord two years’ rent advance is not a crime if… Rent Control

travel4

Washington prepares for Donald Trump’s big moment

travel1

CS:GO ELeague Major pools and tournament schedule announced

rent-control-department

Paying your landlord two years’ rent advance is not a crime if… Rent Control

February 4, 2023
Ebenezer-Kojo-Kum-750x563-1

Minister of Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs resigns

February 3, 2023
Samuel-Okudzeto-Ablakwa

Rev. Kusi Boateng secures injunction against Ablakwa

February 3, 2023
q1

A foreigner is using the Police and other leaders to snatch our lands from us, we’ll not agree – Top Kings

February 4, 2023

Stay Connected test

  • 121 Followers
  • 20.2k Followers
  • 185k Subscribers
  • 23.7k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
Rainbow Radio Online

© 2022 Rainbow Radio International

Navigate Site

  • General News
  • World
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Opinion
  • Economy
  • Odd News
  • Culture
  • Lifestyle
  • Lifestyle
  • Governance
  • Technology

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result

© 2022 Rainbow Radio International

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Go to mobile version