GHOR (SW) – Leaving behind his past profession of journalism, Gul Ahmad now spends more than five hours a day gathering firewood to bring home for the harsh winter in his native Ghor province.
It is cold province that has winter for several months, more than many other provinces in Afghanistan. “We move towards the firewood at three o’clock at night, and at eight o’clock in the morning we reach the mountain and start collecting firewood”, said the former journalist.
This is the daily life of someone who before the fall of the previous government, instead of collecting firewood, collected information to publish it through various media in a bid to narrate the tales of Ghor.
Now, Ahmad has become a narrator of Ghor himself. A painful story that sums up all the effort to collect firewood for the harsh winter days.
Gul Ahmad, who used to earn a living as a journalist, now lives in his neighbor’s compound, and his only income is via collecting firewood. “In the past, we used to earn a living from journalism, we used to support our children, and now we are facing many problems.”
Although Gul Ahmad has lost his job and has embarked on a new job with great difficulty, he urges the international community and the Islamic Emirate of Taliban not to ignore and I stead support the achievements of journalists and the media over the years. “Our request to the Islamic Emirate and the international community is not to abandon the media.”
Gul Ahmad is not the only journalist in Ghor who has turned to physical and difficult work due to losing his job as a journalist.
Zabihullah Wafa is another journalist in the city of Feroz Koh who has resorted to bricklaying to make ends meet.
“We lost our jobs and are currently unemployed,” he said. “We are in a very bad economic situation, but we have to work to find food. I used to work as a journalist in Ghor province and worked with various media outlet, but not anymore.”
Mansour Khosrow, head of the Ghor Journalists’ Association, says the recent developments have had a negative impact on the work of people from all walks of life, including journalists.
“Unfortunately, the recent developments in the country have left thousands of Afghans destitute, including workers of the media outlets in Ghor province, and several media outlets have been shut down. More than 14 journalists and media workers have gone missing and at least 10 of them have moved on irregular routes to Iran”, he said.
According to officials of the Ghor Journalists’ Association, more than 29 journalists and media workers have left Ghor due to recent developments in the country, and five female journalists have lost their jobs.
With the rise to power of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, thousands of people in the country have become unemployed. According to the reports of the institutions supporting journalists, with this, more than 70% of the country’s media have ceased to function and many journalists have either lost their jobs or have been displaced.
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