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Afghan Families Sell Children to Survive Since Taliban Takeover

This is just so sad. OMG. Prayers for Afghanistan.

HERAT, Afghanistan—Desperate to feed her family, Saleha, a housecleaner here in western Afghanistan, has incurred such an insurmountable debt that the only way she sees out is to hand over her 3-year-old daughter, Najiba, to the man who lent her the money.

The debt is $550.

Saleha, a 40-year-old mother of six who goes by one name, earns 70 cents a day cleaning homes in a wealthier neighborhood of Herat. Her much older husband doesn’t have any work.

Such is the starkness of deepening poverty in Afghanistan, a humanitarian crisis that is worsening fast after the Taliban seized power on Aug. 15, prompting the U.S. to freeze $9 billion in Afghan central-bank assets and causing a halt in most foreign aid.

With the financial system and trade paralyzed after the Taliban takeover, prices for basic food items like flour and oil have doubled since mid-August. The lender offered early this month to write off the debt if she hands over her little girl.

They have three months to provide the money. Otherwise, Najiba will be doing household work in the lender’s home and be married off to one of his three sons when she reaches puberty. They are not sure which one. The oldest is now 6.

“If life continues to be this awful, I will kill my children and myself,” said Saleha, speaking in her tiny two-room home. “I don’t even know what we will eat tonight.”

“I will try to find money to save my daughter’s life,” added her husband, Abdul Wahab.

Rap Mogul Jay Z Teams With The Innocence Project To Raise $1M To Investigate Wrongful Convictions In Midwest

Hip Hop Wired — According to The Huffington Post, Jay-Z has once again partnered with The Innocence Project.

This time their focus is on the Midwest. According to the announcement Team Roc, the criminal justice division of Roc Nation, has helped raise over one million dollars for the non-for-profit organization.

Tricia Rojo Bushnell, Executive Director of the Midwest Innocence Project, called the effort “a huge investment”. As per the press release the funds will ultimately strengthen their ability to look at these cases which is going to shine a light on what the group needs to do to provide a just criminal legal system in Wyandotte County.

Back in September Team Roc filed a lawsuit against the police department in Kansas City. “The KCKPD is entrusted by the public to help maintain peace in the community. Yet, for years, it appears that officers have abused their power and engaged in wrongdoing,” the filing read. “To the extent that the KCKPD did not take any steps to remediate these issues, the public should have a right to know so they can organize and take appropriate steps to effect change.”

You can learn more about The Innocence Project here.