Behroz Khan, a 12-year old boy with curly golden brown hair and light-coloured eyes, offers shoeshine service to every passer-by at a busy city street. The boy, who hails from Swabi, hopes he could make some money before returning to his hometown to celebrate Eidul Azha with his family. To a home where his younger siblings and mother would be waiting for him, hoping he would bring some money for them for the holy day celebrations.
Behroz has been doing this work for two years, since he was ten. He told this scribe that he had to go out searching for work, when his father died in a suicide bombing in Swabi. His younger brother too died in the tragic incident. “Now”, he said, “I’m the sole bread earner for my family.”
The militancy in the north-western province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the so called war on terrorism in Afghanistan has killed many unarmed civilians like Behroz’s father and his brother.
Beroz said the before that fateful day, all his brothers and sisters including him would go to school but after that the lives of the nine surviving members of his family were shattered.
Behroz is seen, carrying a heavy box, which is hanging from his shoulder, and is full with his shoeshine stuff, in the Jinnah Super Market area. His eyes are constantly searching for a costumer.
Nowadays, Behroz is making every effort to find maximum customers so he could have ‘enough’ money for Eid holidays.
He said his family could not afford to sacrifice an animal on Eidul Azha. He said all the festivity on the coming Eid would be because of the family reunion.
“On this Eid, we all will be happy since we will get plenty of meat from our neighbours and family friends. My mother would cook some on Eid holidays while we would store the rest in the refrigerator of our neighbours, to be consumed with ease and convenience later on.”
He said that while working in the city, he was staying in a chapper hotel in Khanna Pul, in a rural area of the capital with his younger brother Musa Khan, who was also in the city to eke out a living. He said there he shared a cot with his brother and that it meant a home for them.
“I had eight siblings; five brothers and three sisters. One died with my father in the bomb blast. One of my younger brothers also works. He sells different small items like ‘rosaries, prayer caps in the streets of Peshawar,” he explained.
He said that Musa was also a vendor and he sold remote controls for TV and DVD players.
“We both manage to earn around Rs 200-300 daily. I don’t have my lunch because it’s very expensive around here but some of the sale guys working at the fast food chains here give me the leftovers that is enough for me,” he said.
He said that many times he had to go without food just to save some more money. “Because I know that the fares on the way back home would be high on Eid holidays,” he added.
Behroz polishes a pair of shoes efficiently only for Rs 10 but many people often give him a tip as well.
Childhood is regarded as the most enjoyable time of one’s life but unfortunately, the same just cannot be said about many children living a life like Behroz’s; who are roaming in the streets of the posh capital to make sure that their families back home would not go hungry.
