Parwana: The Afghan Girl Who Was Sold At 9 Years Old

The little girl that was sold for two thousand dollars, in the end an NGO was rescued, and her childhood was returned to her

What would you be able to do out of hunger? In Afghanistan, as everyone knows, the political and social situation has deepened the crisis, to the point that families have chosen to sell their young daughters to continue subsisting.

Such is the case of Parwana Malik, a 9-year-old girl who was sold by her father for $2,200 to a 55-year-old man. Although this was not the first time that the father carried out this inhumane act, since a few months before he had sold his other 12-year-old daughter, the case of Parwana was different because it was recorded on camera, which made it go viral.

In the video, you can see the little girl trying to resist so that the man named Qorban would not take her away, however, the buyer roughly takes her by the arm and forced her to walk to take her away, then he climbs her into his car and leaves the place.

The total payment of the 2,200 dollars was not only in cash, but a part was supplied with animals and land, but the truth is that the payment obtained from the sale of the little girl would only be enough for the family to survive a few months, since the life of this family has been aggravated since the arrival of the Taliban to power, a reality from which a great majority of Afghans do not escape.

"I will not marry her"

Qorban, the man who bought Parwana, later said that he was not buying her to marry her, since he has a wife, who would take care of the girl, and explained that he agreed to the purchase because it was “cheap and her father, who is very poor, he needed the money”.

Likewise, he explained that the 9-year-old girl would put her to work at home, and asserted that he would not beat her, and on the contrary, he would treat her kindly as one more member of his family.

However, marrying off children under the age of 15, something that is prohibited in Afghanistan, has become almost a normal practice in rural areas of this hard-hit country.

In the case of Parwana, although the buyer assured that he did not want her for marriage, in the video you can see when his father gives her, and with tears in his eyes he tells the man "this is your girlfriend. Please take care of her. You are now responsible for her, please don't hit her", which casts doubt on Qorban's assertion.

Parwana's dream is to be a teacher

In that painful moment, Parwana's innocence and dreams may have fallen apart, experiencing a situation as horrible as it is that your father decides to exchange you for money because he does not have enough to eat is not an easy thing.

Parwana, like the children of the rest of the world, had dreams, in her case it was to be a teacher, to be able to teach other children different knowledge.

A happy ending for Parwana

The fact that the sale of little Parwana was recorded on camera made the case go viral and sparked an international outcry. The pressure was so strong that the buyer had to return the girl to her family.

Subsequently, the non-profit organization Too Young to Wed (TYTW) in the United States, upon learning of the case, relocated Parwana Malik and other sold girls, their brothers and their mothers to a safer home.

After the rescue, the 9-year-old girl said that her father had sold her because they had no rice, no flour, or bread at home, "he sold me to an old man," she said, while expressing that the NGO freed her from an old husband, so she expressed her happiness at being rescued.

Girls and women the most vulnerable in the crisis

With the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the violation of the rights of women and girls has been the most violent, since they end up suffering the hardest part of the crisis: being sold for various reasons, and a strong yoke that attacks their freedom of expression.

A very sad case was that of a girl of about 5 months who was sold by her father for only 500 dollars, since they did not have enough to eat, or that of a child under 6 years old who was exchanged for a goat, rice and oil.

According to reports from non-governmental organizations fighting in Afghanistan to enforce human rights, 15% of the women in that country under the age of 50 have been married before reaching 15 years of age.

Although the reasons for underage marriages vary widely, in the last year the main reason is hunger, in fact human rights groups point out that approximately 39 million Afghans will face high levels of hunger in March, when the winter is raging in the country.

A report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (CIF), which is responsible for assessing food insecurity, indicates that more than 3 million children under five years of age suffer from acute malnutrition, for which various human rights organizations have called on the international community to take action.

What will be the end of the Afghan social situation? This could be the question that many of us ask ourselves when we see the suffering of the inhabitants of this country, especially the youngest, who in the end are the most affected, who see their dreams and future truncated.

The answer to the previous question, the truth that no one can give it for sure, since the Taliban regime has deepened its power, however, Afghan history has shown that this situation is cyclical. It will only depend on the reaction of the international community and the Afghan people.