Compelled Street Kid: A True Story of a Cruelled Afghan Kid Who Turns into a United States Armed Forces Interpreter in Afghanistan

By Aurangzaib Sharifi

This is a true story of an Afghan kid who was compelled to work to support his family in the cage of exile with all the difficulties and cruelty (being beaten and threatened) by the people when the domestic war and massacre began in Afghanistan back in the 1990s. He had a dream to become well-known and educated, but his hopes and will were killed by his family, his situation, and the cruel people. But this man never stopped reaching for his goal. He struggled and crossed the most dangerous and hardest obstacles in his life to achieve his goals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 14, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503599413

Aurangzaib Sharifi

Aurangzaib Sharifi is born on November 11, 1984, in Kabul, Afghanistan. He graduated from Journalism Institute in Kabul, Afghanistan. He worked for national TV of Afghanistan and for a local radio station in Kabul. He moved to the United States of America in August 2014.

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Copyright © 2015 by Aurangzaib Sharifi.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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Rev. date: 12/18/2015

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Preface

Dear readers, I write this book with the great tragedy and tears in my eyes.

This is the real story of an Afghan child who faced a lot of difficulties and hard times in his past, and he is still struggling for a bright future, wishing to have an enjoyable and prosperous life.

This book contains the decades of domestic war in Afghanistan, Afghan culture and people, a father’s cruelty, and a struggling and hardworking child who gives sacrifices for his family since he was eight years old up until today, but his destination was always changing, from selling toys in the bazaars, being beaten by some people, and being frustrated to being successful in his profession.

This man was having a hard time and facing cruelty, but the man never stopped struggling to make a better and prosperous life for his mother, his brothers, and his entire family.

He always thought about the kids who were suffering from the same problems that Sharif experienced and tried to find a way to save them from this situation.

The life of this man is full of tragic memories. The only purpose of the author is to share this man’s memories with the people of the world to let them know that there can be thousands of children who are still in hard times. But no one pays any real attention to them.

I hope you read this book and like it.

PS: as English is not my native language, please disregard my mistakes in any kind.

The year 1992 was the start of the domestic war in Afghanistan and the beginning of the displacement of people and cruelty of the different armed groups to innocent people of the country.

When the government of Dr. Najibullah was handed over to the mujahideen, with mediation of the United Nations, after a few months passed, the central government collapsed, and the armed groups started fighting against one another. The beauty of Kabul turned into mess and destruction, and the bloodshed began in the country. The people were displaced, they lost their beloved ones, the women were raped, and the national treasure was looted by different armed groups. The loot was not only limited to the national treasure. Even the electric piles, the power cables, and the wooden doors and windows of the offices and houses were broken down and taken to Pakistan for sale.

Sharif was only about eight years old from the day his bad luck started. Before the mentioned day, he had a very good life, going to school and having fun with friends his age all the time, and he was first in class and very intelligent. Sharif had an uncle who was a military officer, and he was killed in his unit in the beginning of the revolution long before 1992. His wife became Sharif’s mom. In Afghan culture, when a brother dies, his wife does not have the liberty to make her own decisions in her life. One of the brothers of the dead person marries the widow. Same thing happened with this widow. When Sharif’s uncle was killed, his wife got married to Sharif’s father, although he had a wife too.

His father was a military officer for the government of Dr. Najeeb. When Dr. Najeeb resigned from his post and the internal war between mujahideen groups began, Sharif’s father left his job.

The fight became very hot and serious; Sharif’s family left their way of living and moved from one part of Kabul City to the peaceful part of the city. No one was able to take even their extra clothes with them in that situation, so they couldn’t take anything with them too. They stayed in there for around two months. It was very hard to live in the country because there were clashes everywhere, and the official works were shut. The only thing the people could do was own shops and do private business, even with the great fear.

Sharif’s father tried to find a job, but he was not successful in finding a job by then. Sharif was told by his father that he needed to work and support the family. The situation is getting worse, and I am not able to find a job. Your family will starve from hunger. You are going to save them and yourself, as some of the other kids are doing the same thing, helping their fathers to support their families, said the father. At that time, Sharif was around eight years old. His father decided that Sharif would open a business of selling gas. His father went to the bazaar and bought some gallons of fuel for Sharif to sell in front of the apartment building as a retailer. He bought five twenty-five-liter gallons to sell, which was very hard for him to carry from home—from the second floor of the apartment building to the front of the apartment building—and set up in a stall.

It was winter, and the cold was more than minus ten degrees, but Sharif was compelled by the situation to take responsibility of at least feeding his family and to stand outside to sell fuel with his bare hands, although the other children at his age were warm at home. He wished to stay warm too even only for one hour, but he couldn’t do that. He was scared that if his father came and saw no one was standing to sell fuel at the stall, he would be beaten by him very badly.

Sharif woke up early in the freezing mornings of winter without any days off to take his fuel gallons out for the stall. At that time, all the people—even the elderly, not only kids—were asleep, but poor Sharif was compelled to get up and go to work. His only wish was to sleep a little longer in the morning like the others, but that never happened because he was not allowed and he needed to get to work. If he did that, he would have been punished and beaten by his father. Although it was very hard for him to take the gallons out and bring them back home because they were very heavy, he was compelled to carry them. Sometimes, his mom would help him a little, but she was not allowed to help Sharif in carrying the gallons all the way to the stall because the women were not allowed to go out and do physical works.

In the evenings, all the boys played soccer. Although Sharif had good talent for playing soccer, he was not allowed to play. He was willing to play, but he was scared that if his father caught him playing while no one was standing at the stall, he would be beaten by his father. His father mostly watched him from the apartment’s balcony. Sharif watched the boys play. Everyone was very happy, and some of them came and picked on him and said that he was not allowed to play. Everyone was very happy to go home and watch their favorite cartoons. But poor Sharif stood at the stall with frustration and, sometimes, tears in his eyes, talking to God about what happened to him. Everyone is going home and watching cartoons, and I am standing in the cold to sell gas! he talked to him.

This process lasted for more than two months with the worst memories.

The days and nights passed like that. One of the worst memories that he always remembered was a winter afternoon while the war between the armed groups was going on, and there was no electricity in any part of the country, and the people were using traditional lamps for lighting their homes. A friend of Sharif’s father came to buy a liter of fuel from Sharif for his lamp. He gave him the fuel because he had due respect for his father and his father’s friends. Sharif didn’t take money from him. Because it is the culture in Afghanistan for a person who knows you or is one of your friends to come to your shop if he or she wants to buy something, you need to offer him or her once, then it is common for him or her to insist in giving you the money and then for you to take it. Sharif did so, but the man took the fuel himself by only one offer. Say hi to your dad for me! said the man. According to the Afghan gallantry, he couldn’t ask him for money. When his father came and knew about the issue when he was back from the market and bought the grocery for home, his father was very angry on Sharif and started beating him. Then Sharif escaped, but his father ran after him to catch him, but he couldn’t. Then he started throwing stones at Sharif and said, I won’t let you go off like that! Sharif didn’t return to his stall because he knew if he went back, his father would trick him and catch him and beat him badly. He watched the stall from a far distance and didn’t go close to it in order to make sure that no one took the gallons away. So the day passed like that. He didn’t even have lunch for that day for fear of being beaten. It was getting dark, but this time, he saw his father take all the gallons back home for the day, but Sharif couldn’t dare to go home.

It was getting late in the evening. Sharif was hiding around the apartment building, peeking to see if his father was looking for him. Sharif’s father thought if he looked for him more, Sharif wouldn’t come home. It was about 9:00 p.m. Sharif moved slowly toward his home. He climbed the stairs very slowly, scared and making sure that no one was there. As soon as he got close to the apartment door, he didn’t knock on it. He pressed his ear to the door to find out if his father was sleeping. When he found out that it was calm and everyone was sleeping, except his mom, he knocked on the door very slowly with a scared