At just 16 years old, Ahmad Reza starts each day burdened with a responsibility no child should have to carry. In the quiet village of Zargaran, nestled within the mountainous region of Bamyan Province in Afghanistan, he struggles to survive as an orphan whose young life has been shaped by significant loss and daily hardships. Reza has become the sole support for his family following the devastating deaths of both parents.
In 2023, his mother, Mah Jan, passed away at age 40 due to severe jaundice. The grief was overwhelming, yet there was little time to mourn, as two years later, in June 2025, his father, Sayed Ahmad, died at age 75 from complications related to high blood pressure. He was a shoemaker, which was the family’s main source of income.
Orphaned, Reza found himself thrust into the role of protector and provider for his siblings—Jafar, aged 11, and Ahmad, aged 7—at a time when most boys are still focused on their own education and dreams.
Shortly after Reza’s mother died, his older sister, Nikbakht, then 19 years old, married. She lives with her two-year-old son and her husband, Taqi, who works far away in a coal mine, enduring dangerous and exhausting conditions for long periods. However, his earnings are barely enough to cover even basic needs. The family resides in a rented house and is constantly worried about unpaid rent and rising living costs.
Now, Reza lives with his older sister Nikbakht and takes on the responsibility for her, her son and his two younger siblings. The family has no dependable source of income and relies on occasional help from relatives, neighbours and humanitarian aid to get by. Each day involves making tough decisions about food, rent, fuel and the children’s education, with limited resources.
Sadly, experiencing such a loss in a short period, combined with stress, left Reza dealing with psychological distress. He had to drop out of school after Grade 6 to support his family. Now, he works as an unpaid apprentice at a vehicle repair garage, walking nearly five kilometres. Despite the physical exhaustion, he remains determined and dreams of a brighter future for his loved ones by gaining mechanical skills that will help improve his family’s living conditions.
“I have suffered deeply since losing my parents,” Reza shared quietly, “but I walk this long distance every day with hope that I can learn a skill and one day support my sister, my little brothers and our home.”
“For this winter, we have almost nothing to eat. Our remaining food is just 700 grams of cooking oil and 16 kilograms of flour,” he added, tears in his eyes. “Every day when I return home and hear my little brothers crying from hunger or see them unwell and needing medicine we cannot afford, an unbearable burden presses down on my shoulders. I feel so helpless, so incomplete, as if there is no path to rescue us.”
When a local partner surveyed Reza’s village as part of an emergency food assistance project, they identified the family as a recipient of the project supported by PWS&D. He was informed that he would receive monthly cash assistance for five months during winter.
Hope and happiness returned to the family.
“For the first time in months, the constant worry about where our next meal will come from has eased. For five months, we can breathe more easily and focus on healing and moving forward. I am deeply thankful,” Reza shared.
His younger brother, Jafar, also shared, “I feel that we will not be hungry for the next five months. Thank you for choosing our family.”
This story was written by PWS&D’s partner in Afghanistan, with minor additions and edits by PWS&D Communications.
