Iraqi Boy Works in the Streets-Fears Attack, Sexual Abuse While Selling Trinkets to Help Feed Family

[babylonsister]

http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/3181/Iraqi_Boy_Works_in_the_Streets

Iraqi Boy Works in the Streets
Fears Attack, Sexual Abuse While Selling Trinkets to Help Feed Family
Posted 5 hr. 1 min. ago


BAGHDAD: Mahmoud Rafid, 13, says he is afraid to go on selling goods on the streets of Baghdad, after being sexually harassed and abused.

He lost his father a year ago and his mother has cancer so Mahmoud, his two sisters, 14 and 11, and brother, 9, had to find ways of feeding themselves. After selling many of their possessions to raise money, they can now be seen at traffic lights selling chocolates, newspapers and pens.

“My mother is very sick and if we lose her our situation is going to be even worse. We were all forced to leave our school to help boost our household income but the situation is dangerous and sometimes I have the impression that one day I won’t return home.

“My sisters are the ones who suffer most. There are many very bad men in Baghdad who want to do bad things to them. They stay near me when we are working and I always carry a knife with me to defend them in case someone wants to sexually abuse them. I have suffered that, and don’t want this to happen to them too.

“I have to keep working to help my family despite being abused. Our relatives have turned their back on us and my father didn’t leave us enough money.

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“I hope one day we can have a good and safe life again. I would like to see my brother at school again and eat a nice piece of meat. But until this happens, we will keep working, trying to afford some food for my mother in her last days.”

[Cronus Protagonist]

1. Sad story

The children are always the most frequent victims in a war.