Early in the morning in Kabul, a young man who used to cover the news three months ago is leaving his house these days to sell corn in the streets. He once reported on the changes in Afghan politics, but now his life is in the throes of change. He, who has to take photos and videos of the recent political upheaval and the hard life of the people these days, is helpless himself.
Mustafa Jafari has worked as a journalist for about eight years. He graduated with a degree in criminal law and prosecution. However, he chose the journalism profession because he may have thought that he could do more to serve his community and people. Until the fall of the previous government, Mustafa used to record the work and daily developments in the country in one of the private media as a cameraman. However, like a large number of people, he has been harmed by the recent political developments and has lost his job.
As the Taliban took control of Kabul, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs in Afghanistan. Some escaped the country to flee the situation, but many, like Mustafa, became unemployed. Mustafa Jafari has been unemployed for more than three months. According to him, he has used up all his savings during this period. Although he has knocked on every door for the past three months so that he might be able to find a suitable job, he has not received any answer.
Mustafa is married and has two daughters, aged five and three. He is the sole breadwinner of a family of four and lives in a rented house in western Kabul. For the past three months, Mustafa has been forced to choose the job of a corn seller because he has been unemployed and unable to provide rent and other necessities of life. He probably never imagined that after years of effort and education, he would turn to such a job. However, Jafari has agreed to do this to get rid of depression and provide for himself.
“I was suffering from unemployment and I realized that I was getting mental problems as well,” says Mustafa, who still does not know the trick of cooking corn. “I had to and I thought I should do something that would be a source of income.”
“I finally set out to sell corn to make ends meet.”
Unfortunately, selling corn is not very profitable these days, because the price of corn and gas has risen. Recent political changes have also severely damaged people’s lives and they are not interested in buying grilled corn. He cooks corn from morning till night but earns only 200 afghanis. This meager income does not meet his living needs, as Mustafa is forced to pay 5,000 afghanis a month in rent and, in addition, to provide bread and water for his family.
When Mustafa was a journalist, he earned about 20,000 afghanis a month. Now he says he can only take home a few loaves of bread a night. “At least it’s good that dinner is available,” he says. “There is no other choice. I have to do these works.”
Selling corn may be a source of income for Mustafa, but it is unacceptable for his friends. When his friends see him selling corn, they make fun of him. Perhaps his friends do not understand that he was forced to sell corns because of the bad times.
However, he is concerned about the current situation, saying that the international community and the Taliban should not destroy the aspirations of educated youth. He urges the Taliban not to allow the achievements of the youth and the educated civilians to be lost. According to him, they should be provided with employment.
With the collapse of the previous regime, more than 163 private media outlets seized operations and all employees were laid off. In addition to journalists, hundreds of thousands of government employees and NGOs lost their jobs. It is worth mentioning that in the last three months, most of the complaints of the people were about the increase in unemployment and poverty, which is clearly reflected in the changes in the life of Mustafa.
[box type=”info” align=”alignleft” class=”” width=””]Abdul Ahmad Hussaini, Hasht-e Subh Persian[/box]