TravelChick

Kids Wandering Around

I wandered up to the market near Ruknedin today. It's quite a nice long, fairly straight souk, tucked away under shade and with several picturesque mosques along the way. School had just gotten out and little kids were running around eating ice cream, wandering around with friends, and doing errands. I saw one little girl probably no older than four trapising along purposefully with a bag full of beans.

That's one thing that I will miss about Syria. Kids here run around with abandon. There's no fear that they will be kidnapped, so you see them by themselves in parks and the souk. There are no worried parents watching them constantly or keeping them at arm's length. It's nice that they're allowed to be kids like that and that parents don't have to live in fear.

The flip side of this, of course, is that you also see kids who are quite young who are working. I see boys who can't be older than eight or nine selling cigarettes and gum. It's hard to see them doing that. Life here can be blissfully lovely, like when you see kids running around by themselves, but it is also really difficult. Today it was fantastic, though, to see so many kids being just kids.

posted by Travel Chick @ 6:59 PM