Forgotten Afghanistan: Zarghona


  • Photographer
    Gloriann Liu
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Date of Photograph
    2013-2014
  • Technical Info
    Nikon D4

I began working with a woman, Zarghona, the prior year in January, 2013. Zarghona was a child bride at age ten, 41 years ago. She has eight children, one who is disabled and is now eighteen. When I meet her last year she was begging on a busy street in downtown Kabul. She must sit with her disabled son Barialy for several hours every day, long enough for her to collect ten to fifteen dollars. This amount will enable her to buy the food for her family that day. Zarghona is now working in a different location.

Story

I returned to Afghanistan in February, 2014. I began working with a woman, Zarghona, the prior year in January, 2013. Zarghona was a child bride at age ten, 41 years ago. She has eight children, one who is disabled and is now eighteen. When I meet her last year she was begging on a busy street in downtown Kabul. She must sit with her disabled son Barialy for several hours every day, long enough for her to collect ten to fifteen dollars. This amount will enable her to buy the food for her family that day. Zarghona is now working in a different location, in front of the Justice Department. I was not able to take photos at that site. Zarghona and part of the family moved away from the Old City and are now in a rental apartment in the Shah Said District. The Old City is where the home was that she lived in last year. That home was destroyed in a snowstorm when the roof collapsed. The Afghan Army Center is across the street from the new apartment. We had to be extra cautious with the photo equipment when entering and leaving the apartment. Photographs are forbidden in the area surrounding the center. There are three rooms for ten of the family members. The cost is ninety dollars ( 5,000. afghanis) per month plus fifty dollars for utilities.

I asked Zarghona if we could see her husband, son Zalmy, daughter in-law Camilla and family. She invited us for a Friday outing. I also asked if we could see the old home, she answered “of course”. Zarghona found out that night that her husband and son had sold the property and had not told her. Now, with an aging husband of ninety-one, an invalid son, one young daughter, and several grandchildren to support, she now has no property and has become severely depressed.

After lunch on Friday, we went to Carmilla’s house, in The Old City, to visit with her family and her husband, Ghalam- Faroq. Zarghona was surrounded by four of her children and five of her grandchildren, all playing and talking around the sanderlay.

The next time I saw Zarghona we went to The Shrine of Hazrat e BaBay Khode Saib, who lived a thousand years ago. We went to the shrine so Barialy and Malalai could have Dam, a healing, and so Zarghona, her daughter and daughter-in-law could pray. Parwiz was the man performing the Dam and reading verses from the Holy Quran.

I saw Zarghona several more times. Once in a hospital, where her daughter Malalai had become extremely ill from a respiratory illness. There was nothing that could be done, so she decided to return to her home in Kandahar. Another time I took Zarghona to a market to purchase a few items in a large quantity, which she usually can not do because she has to walk or ride in a taxi. We took her home and said our goodbyes for now.

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