Rubber Washer

Written by: Yama Rahi

Over the past decade, many manufacturing companies have started to operate in various cities of Afghanistan.  Most of them import raw materials from abroad but Khadim Ali is a resident of Kabul city who makes different materials from old rubber.

 Khadim Ali says about his work to the writer/producer AEPO:” I have started to make rubber washer from old tires since 1972. These washers are using in vehicles and some other machinery. We perform about 80-90 percent or our work by hand and the remaining is done by the machine.

The raw materials are preparing by wanderers from around the city. We make 100 pairs of the washer from each old tire in different sizes. The price of each washer is between 100-200 Afghanis and our daily incomes reach to 700-800 Afghanis.

Mineral Water Supply:

In many parts of the Kabul city, people have problems with drinking water and most of them buy mineral water from shops and some families have problems delivering water to their homes. Abdullah Popal, a resident of Kabul city has found a way to solve this problem and to improve his economy.

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to him.

Popal says: "We wanted to attract the attention of the people to our services and we started free home delivery of mineral water.  The water is produced by a company and we have an agreement with them. They deliver the water to us and then our employees deliver it to our customers’ houses by motorbikes. Our customers have our mobile phone number and whenever they need water, they call us and we deliver water to them. The water that we deliver to them is cheaper than the shops’ water.

Currently, we have covered two districts in Kabul city, and after evaluating the other areas, we would also provide these services around the city. Our daily selling reaches 40 to 50 bottles of water”.