Innocent kids

This shot reveal so much Alec when you really look.  I see a motor bike, people in the distance, the children are standing in from of what once was a  'proper' garden structure, or was it a fountain, and there is no water? By their appearance they are quite dirty, but even my youngsters got dirty quickly when playing.  But these children seen to be bearing the dirt of many days, as is their clothing.

They have sweet faces although the two older ones seem to have a 'knowing' much older than their years.  Knowing what impoverished  children are 'subject to' even here in Canada (and there actually isn't a 'monetary ladder' when it comes to childhood abuse here.  Some stories make me so sick inside. Children who have lived in towns and cities I have lived in; either stories my husband told me before he retired from the Police Service, and ones that I've read in the paper.   I also worked for our Ontario Health System, reading notes and processing accounts for Doctors. I am going back 20 years, and the number of times that 'accounts' of family incest and counselling for the same crossed my desk was at times more than I could bear.

And I only had a very small amount of Doctors to take care of in the big picture. Multiply that over the Province and the other Provinces.....staggering. As a teenager I babysat a few times for a few different families that I was referred to.  My young eyes were met with intolerable living conditions, filfth, promiscuity, and total distain for any 'moral code'. To this day, there are times when we drive down the streets of this town, and I can see in the windows at night, some with torn curtains, some with none, and I have to 'take my mind elsewhere' as memories flood back of what I have seen and read.

So what does that say about these young children.  I cannot pass judgement on what I do not know. There are probably mothers who love them very much, but how are the mothers treated? Parents who have sincere feelings for each other, but deplorable poverty perhaps has driven them to desperate lengths to feed their families. As you saw at the ancient Temple, the little boy who appeared to be waiting for his parents, enjoying a treat as he sat outside, but then before you left asked if you would buy his postcard.

These young faces speak for a 'world' of children who have probably seen far more than I ever have of squalor, felt that knawing pain of hunger that becomes a 'living thing' within them. But they are still children needing the comradship of friends, learning to play with whatever they can make for themselves, and yet they recognize the camera, and are all too ready to smile at the thought of you taking their photo with your 'magic box'.  With digital, you can show them right away. And I don't doubt, hope that you might give them a bit of money in exchange for them posing for you with their 'happy smiling faces'.  I've rambled on again, but when I see a photo such as this, for me to just say 'lovely photo Alex, great lighting, wonderful smiling faces of these poor youngsters, well done, another fine shot.  I don't know.....although we are all aware of Poverty.....any of us who can afford a digital camera have not likely not eaten a decent meal for days. or been abandoned as an orphan due to war, unrest, drug smuggling, or worse, modern day 'slavery' and prostitution.  Thankyou for sharing and reminding me of my many blessings, and knowing the shame of complaining of things that are of little importance.......sincerely, Gail

Thanks for the warm write-up. In Cambodia this is a common site as there is very little aid coming from the government like many other 2rd world countries. Yes I do carry some candy and gum for the kids. We also give them lunch treats when available. As you can imagine there'll be many other who will join in once there are freebies. By then we will have taken all the images.

Alec, even in tatters and when hungry, they are wearing innocent smiles. Admirable capture of natural expressions.