One beautiful thing about traveling to me is always making friends with the local kids. Children no matter where you go are essentially the same, they love to play and they are curious about new people and life. Seeing the way that they connect to the world around them makes me feel more connected to a place. Watching the games they play, how they interact with each other and newcomers often gives me a greater understanding of where I am. This is Ashani. Her favourite colour is pink and she wants to be a lawyer when she grows up.
I met her on the street one way where she stopped me and asked for my name and then promptly made a play date for me to come to her house, Her doe eyes so big, there was no thought of refusing her plea of ‘You, my house coming. Tomorrow 6 pm,’
I ended up at her house, I saw her school books and her family, drank tea and taught the kids how to use my camera. They delighted in taking photos of each other and couldn’t stop laughing when I showed them they could film themselves too.
An hour after they left Ashani appeared at my door in the dark, her mother pushing her forward. ‘I need helping, you have money?’
There was such a sadness in me when I learned that this was such a common occurrence, the parents training the children up to essentially beg for them. This helped me really understand more of the culture I was in. At first my time with her almost felt tainted but then I realise, what ever other desperate motives people put behind things, spending time with her and her cousins was fun. Both for me and for them. A child can’t fake excitement and enjoyment and most of all not friendship.
