Reportages of Balkh region IX: Hard life in Keshendeh

Even though Ghulam Rassul is only in the fifth grade, he has a specific goal: he dreams of becoming a teacher. Today he is the class president and assists the teacher. He studies with great care, especially mathematics and physics. Ghulam Rassul is sure he wants to become a teacher in his village: the teachers of Apkupruk boys’ school in Keshendeh are mostly elderly and lack education.
In his free time Ghulam Rassul like every other school boy dreams of playing football. There is never enough time to play as much as he'd like, because he has to help his parents and brothers. He has seven brothers and they often need help working on the small plots of land around the village. Here they grow crops that don't require much water, like watermelon and melons.
Keshendeh village is 80 kilometers away from the center of the province Mazar-e Sharif, it takes four hours to drive there. A river must be crossed. There is no bridge and when the water is high then it's impossible to reach the village. On the narrow bumpy gravel road you meet a few trucks and village men on horses or camels. Because this year there has been plenty of rain, the hills are green and much grass can be gathered. Only the rain waters the hills. Rain water is gathered to keep in the sides of the mountains in special containers called kandas. Although the inhabitants of Keshendeh work very hard, they still face a poor life style – regardless of all their hard work, they only have one yield a year.
Different color fields form the Keshendeh braes just like a colorful quilt. Cultivating these little fields is very hard work. Usually this is done by hand. Sometimes donkeys can be seen plowing the fields. Stubborn donkeys are not a suitable animal for plowing, which is why usually oxen are used in Afghanistan. But what can you do when you are desperate and unable to buy an ox....