When looking for a way to bring happiness for war-weary children, people might not think of juggling, tumbling or aerial acts.

However, a handful of Afghan kids bring laughter to their fellow peers in KabuL by performing these tricks.

LIFESTYLES takes you there.
 
To celebrate the upcoming New Year's Day, children in Kabul gathered Wednesday at the concert hall of a local high school to enjoy a live circus performed by their fellow.

SOUNDBITE (ARABIC) MUJTABA MADADI, PERFORMER:
"It is so amazing that I can perform tricks today and let children watch actual juggling and live circus here. It is my intense desire to perform such a joyful circus in order to make the children happy and let them enjoy the life and forget their past suffering."

The performance was held by Afghan Mobile Mini Circus for Children or MMCC, a non-governmental organization, to observe the New Year Day which falls on March 20.

The energetic performers with the MMCC, wearing colorful cloths, were doing acrobatics, juggling brilliantly pink wooden plates, riding unicycles, performing as clown, presenting music and Afghan songs on the stage to fascinate the viewers in the hall.
 
The ensemble, composed of dozens of teenagers including girls, had been encouraged by the applause of the audience after each performance on the stage.

This would be unthinkable a decade ago when Taliban outfit was in power. Taliban militants, whose regime was collapsed amid the U.S.-led coalition military campaign in late 2001, had outlawed all entertainment including music and confined women to houses.
 
SOUNDBITE (ARABIC) MUJTABA MADADI, PERFORMER:
"Several years ago, when I watched the circus for the first time, I wish I could also attend such a school and do some performance. Today, I make it happen."
 
According to Fahim Fayaz, a teacher with the group, their first performance was on the International Drug Abuse Day in Kabul in 2002.

SOUNDBITE (ARABIC) FAHIM FAYAZ, CIRCUS TEACHER:
"The MMCC has been working in Afghanistan since early 2002. The main objective of this association is to provide educational and informative entertainment for children. This aim is achieved by identifying, training, and applying the Afghan talents and potentials."
 
In addition to other subjects, music and arts are regularly taught to students at the MMCC including boys and girls.

SOUNDBITE (ARABIC) SHAKIB, PERFORMER:
"Today we perform another circus for children to make them happy and tell them New Year is coming and another semester is approaching. It is not a show but we also want to raise children's awareness of diseases, the covert enemy and landmine."
 
The performance was held days after 16 civilians including nine children were killed in a shooting spree by a U.S. soldier in Panjwai district of southern Kandahar.

The tragic event reminds people that Afghan families and children continue to suffer unfathomable losses due to the ongoing conflicts.

Last year alone, more than 1,200 children were killed or seriously injured due to the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.

UNICEF calls on all parties in the conflict to ensure that children, women and other civilians are protected at all times and in accordance with international humanitarian law.
 
However, Afghanistan has made tremendous achievement in education field over the past 10 years.
 
According to the Afghan Education Ministry, of the 12 million school-age children in the country, about 8.3 million go to school, with 39 percent of them girls.