Because countless parents in Afghanistan have to watch their children starve to death, they sell their organs on the black market. Since the Taliban took power, the country has descended into chaos. A German is determined to give the families new hope.
“I have four children. I sold my kidney because of poverty, I couldn’t earn any other money”. Afghan Azita lost her husband, he died in one of the battles with the Taliban. Now she is a housewife – and penniless.
After seeing an advertisement for the sale of kidneys on TV, she decided to have the organ removed. The operation was carried out in Herat, a provincial town near the Israeli border.
Now save articles for later in “Pocket”.
The stronghold of illegal kidney transplants is said to be there, which is why the city is now also referred to as the “one-kidney village” by locals. Since the operation, Azita has had a racing heart and is out of breath after just half an hour of doing household chores.
The money, the equivalent of around 1200 euros, was only enough for a few months. Now she’s poor again. Nevertheless, she would also have the procedure carried out in retrospect – otherwise, she says in an RTL documentary, she would not have been able to earn any money at all.
Almost a year has passed since the radical Islamist Taliban overthrew the government in Afghanistan on August 15, 2021. In response to the coup, the international community imposed severe sanctions, and the country’s economy and infrastructure have been in chaos ever since.
The consequences are now being borne by those who are least able to do anything about the precarious situation: the civilian population. According to a survey by the United Nations World Food Program, 59 percent of the Afghan population suffer from acute hunger.
“We are observing an escalation of humanitarian need in Afghanistan at a speed and to an extent that we have never experienced before,” says Christina Ihle, Managing Director of the Afghan Women’s Association in Germany, in an interview with FOCUS online.
“Until now, there have been two actions families could take to get out of their emergency situation. They either sent the father or the older sons to earn the necessary money as day labourers. Or they sold what little belongings they had”.
Surf tip: You can find all the news about the corona pandemic in the FOCUS Online news ticker
However, the daily wage sector has now collapsed due to the freezing of funds by the international community. Crockery, jewelery and clothing have run out – if you no longer have any private property, you can’t sell any.
That’s why many fathers and mothers are now resorting to drastic measures: “We spoke to families in which one or even two children starved to death in the winter months. So that their other children do not have to die as well, the parents decided to remove a kidney.”
The organs are believed to be sold to an international mafia organization – where exactly and to whom the donor organs go is not known. Many patients, who are often malnourished and in poor health, have to contend with significant limitations after the two to three hour operation.
“With the procedure, the donors risk long-term health problems,” internist Nasir Ahmad from the Afghan Aria Hospital in Herat confirms the precarious situation to “Euronews”. Despite this, more and more people are taking this life-changing step out of sheer desperation.
An exact number of kidney transplants performed so far cannot be determined. Organ donation for money is also banned in Afghanistan, so there are no official figures.
“We can only support these people with survival aid in an acute situation,” says Christina Ihle. The aid organizations cannot take concrete action against the trade in organs either.
Nevertheless, they do everything they can to offer families in need an alternative to selling organs: “Teams of helpers from our association go from house to house on site and distribute vouchers with which food and household goods can be purchased during the distribution of aid supplies,” reports Ihle.
The Afghan Women’s Association has already been able to support more than 500,000 people, especially in the rural provinces, with donations of food and goods. In addition, the aid organization is involved in the construction of drinking water wells, medical care for the sick and the reconstruction of the war-torn country.
There is still a long way to go before the country’s infrastructure and economy are restored. Until then, every euro, every contribution, no matter how small, will help to save families in Afghanistan from starvation and the trade in their own bodies.
Afghan Women’s Association Commerzbank KoblenzInternational BLZ: IBAN DE28570800700680850500SWIFT-BIC.: DRES DE FF 570
