NPR journalist Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson documents a matriarchal family in Afghanistan struggling with an addiction to heroin and opium. According to the United Nations, at least 1 in 12 people in Afghanistan abuse drugs and the numbers are increasing. Many of the addicts are women who feed their habit in private family compounds.

The impact on children is enormous as they are often sent out of the home alone to purchase the drugs and remain in  close quarters with addicted relatives as they use. Furthermore, some parents desperate to feed their addiction have resorted to selling their children for money. Learn more about this tragic pattern by listening to the report as well as viewing a photo gallery at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102984398.