children with adult faces

finally got myself a cell phone with a camera, so expect a lot of grainy pics of kabul from here on. these were two kids i happened to meet yesterday. the boy on the left is a shepherd, i passed him with his father leading a herd of sheep and a few goats down a kabul alley. (The alley near my house turns out to be the main thoroughfare between the squatter homes on the mountain and the street with all the butchers where blood runs down the gutter.) In the kid's hand is a thin tree branch he uses to whip the animals if they fall out of line, though, really there's nowhere to go. I squeeze around the animals copping a feel of rough warm wool as I pass by.

the boy on the right is a chimney sweep I guess you'd say, he cleans out the neighborhood wood stoves (bukari's). I met him this evening in the corner store. I turned around and there's the afghan huck finn at my shoulder just staring at me. His ruddy cheeks are smeared with grey ash. His voice is like a hammer hit hard on iron. He's speaking Dari but I can't understand even a single word he says. He goes over to the cooler and grabs a carton of juice and tips it down his throat. I request a picture. First he says no, then he laughs and says yes. Then he gets shy and hides behind the cooler. This photo was taken during the yes period.

According to the Human Development Index 2007 released last month, life expectancy in Afghanistan is 43 years. That's down from 44.5 years in 2003.

"Afghans live almost nine years less than people in other Least Developed Countries, the report's findings show."