His voice is hoarse. They bother drivers to buy chewing gum, candy, maps, scarves and toilet paper. About once a week, he speaks with his mother on a borrowed cellphone. On the busy streets of Kabul, skinny kids dart among the cars. Children are forced to work in extreme cold or heat. "They must focus on today, not on a future for their children," Hashemi said. He daydreams of graduating from a university and becoming a teacher or engineer. That's our tradition," Mohammed says. Others beg, collect garbage or sell little things on the street. He is a child-protection expert for UNICEF, an aid group in Afghanistan.