KABUL - UNAMA photographer Fardin Waezi recently spent six months recording the life of Akram, the oldest son of a displaced Afghan family. Presented here is a selection of images from their time together, with the permission of Akram's father, as well as comments from Akram and Mr. Waezi.  

"My name is Akram. I am 13 years old and I am the eldest son of Salam Khan. He is from Jalalabad and my mother is from Karabakh."
 

"There are nine of us in my family – one sister and five brothers, and my father and my mother."
 
 

"I lost both of my hands in Pakistan. I was there with my family. We moved there during the Afghan civil war as my family was not well off and it was hard to make a living during the winter. Because we were poor, we needed firewood to stay warm during the winter in Pakistan. One day, when I was collecting wood, I did not notice a cable under some pieces of wood and accidentally touched it."
 

"The cable was electrified and the shock threw me 25 metres away, near an old restaurant. A diner there saw what happened, stopped eating his lunch and carried me to his car and drove me to a hospital. I was later told that the hospital would not accept me because I was Afghan, but the diner had used his own national ID card and insisted that I be given medical treatment. After a month, I woke up. When I saw that my hands had been cut off, I started crying. My family were there and they were also crying."

"After three months, my family and I returned to Kabul, where we lived in a tent in an empty area in the front of the ruins of the Darul Aman Palace, on the city’s outskirts, for a long time."

"That was seven years ago. I am still living with my family in a tent in a camp with other displaced persons in front of the former palace, with no support from the authorities."

"My father is unwell; he has mental problems. He cannot work and as I am the oldest son it is up to me to work and provide for the members of my family."

"Every day I go out on the streets and ask strangers for money."

"When I am not working, I like to to play computer games, use a cellphone and do other things that children my age do."

"I really like playing football."

"I also like playing with my friends, like my cousin Alareza. He is 11 years old."

"My friends and family help me to do things that I cannot do alone, like holding a mobile telephone to my ear or putting sunglasses on."

"If I did not have to work, I would really like to study."

"The first day I met Akram, he asked me for money. I asked him about his life and I was intrigued and touched by what had happened to him - but also at his determination to support his family," Mr. Wazei said.

"And yet, at the same time, I was surprised and impressed to see that despite living in such tough surroundings and with such personal obstacles, Akram was just like any other 13-year-old boy," Mr. Waezi added.