Feature: Afghan orphans yearn for care, peace

KABUL, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- "War took everything of me. I had no close relatives to take care of me. So, I was brought here a few years ago," Abdul Razzaq, a teenager at the Tahaya-e-Maskan Orphanage of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, told Xinhua.

The dream for Razzaq and his friends is not in sight in war-torn Afghanistan, where the last 20 years of war and violence created a vicious cycle that impacted civilians, especially children.

Children in war zones and areas of armed conflicts have not lived normal lives, as they have seen homes destroyed and family members, neighbors and friends injured or even killed in the protracted fighting.

What happened to the Afghan children - violence, bombing and devastation - has inexorably traumatized them. The only things that would be shared are bitterness and sadness.

"War took my father nine years ago. It destroyed my childhood memories," said 15-year-old Razzaq, who was taken from the northern Badakhshan province to the orphanage when he was six years old.

Desperately with an ambition of becoming a doctor in the future, Razzaq hoped that peace would be restored in the country.

"War means bloodshed, enmity, discord and unemployment," he said from inside a dormitory in the orphanage.

Children living in the orphanage were part of thousands of orphans in the country, who are in an urgent need of help.

"No one wants war in his or her homeland. War should be over. I don't want others to lose their fathers or any of their family members, like me," said Sultan Ahmad, who also lives in the orphanage.

Originally from the northern Takhar province, Ahmad played football with his classmates on the playground, saying that he hoped to become a teacher if the situation allowed him to continue study.

The orphanage provides shelter, safety, food and education to 189 children who are at age of four to 18, said Abdul Mubin Attazada, director of the charity facility.

"We need domestic and foreign support for now, as currently food is provided by the United Nations children's fund (UNICEF) to the children living in the orphanage," Attazada said.