The Children of Cambodia (1)

When I went to Cambodia some years ago, I took some pictures of a number of children I met. I felt for them so much that I wrote about each of them. Here are the pictures and what I wrote about them:

I had been observing you
For a full hour
You were idling around this wooden table
Fumbling with the empty can
Examining the rubbish bins
Leaning on the coconuts
Playing with an old knife until an angry looking man came to snatch it away
Doing things without purpose
Without meaning
Without value
Was that all you enjoyed doing
Or were capable of doing?
And when you saw me leave
You came and stretched out a hand
That all too familiar gesture
And the all too familiar look
A look with little hope in it

(To be continued)