Making children happy ...

Making children happy, whether it is temporarily or not does not seem to be too difficult and irrespective of which continent they are from their reactions don't seem to be too different either.

 

 

Some children are more exhuberant than others in their exteriorization of joy but even when shyness surfaces one can always see the way they feel inside.

 

 

I must have approached hundreds of children during my trips and by looking at some of the photos I took or someone else did in those encounters, I do remember details that I felt I might not have retained.

 

 

Organizing group birthday parties for African children who had no idea what a birthday was, was a challenging adventure, particularly when it came to selecting what they were to eat, once most of them had never tasted sweet things but it has given me one of the most satisfying feelings ever.

 

Atitlan Lake, Guatemala

Each child I came across during these trips was unique in his or her own way but some of them especially touched me, like the Northern India siblings who were out working in a field and whom I felt I had to approach cautiously. They didn't know what a lollipop was, it was soon made clear but looking at their bright shining eyes as they licked them almost made me cry.

Peruvian children

Uzbekistan

Armenia

Sri Lanka

Southern India

Myanmar

Vietnam

Panama

I loved all my Iranian little friends, particularly the two boys who followed me everywhere up in the mountain, as if I was not supposed to wander about on my own. Our silent conversations were powerful and I still miss them to this day,

together with the proud look of the little Azeri boy I met near Se-o Se Pol who sat close to me and started talking as if I could understand what he was saying and refused to accept that I didn't even when I told him " Farsi balad nistam" (meaning I do not speak Farsi) ...

Isfahan