Photo Journalism Workshop

---

Photos and Stories by Adams Abdul Sammed

Photo Essay: Child’s Play


Note from Nichole: After our first photo journalism workshop Sammed and I hit the streets near our radio station to capture the images and stories of people in the neighbourhood. Sammed lives in the area - so he familiar with all the people featured in the photos.

This photo essay is entitled “Child’s Play” - It introduces you to a world where children need to work to help their familes survive.

This is his first photo essay - but as you can see he had a natural eye for photography. This will hopefully be the first in a series by him.

---

Photos

Suhiyini (Broomseller)
This little girl is named Suhiyini. She is a primary three pupil (grade 3). After school she collects these brooms from a broom retailer and walks the streets trying to sell them. She gets a percentage of what she sells.
The money that little Suhiyini gets is given to her mother to help take care of the family. She needs to work to earn money for learning materials and clothing. But the money she makes is also needed just to feed her family. Her mother is a house wife and her father is a peasant farmer.
She gets tired after hours of roaming and selling brooms – as a result she doesn’t study and this affects her academic performance.

Somed (Butcher Assistant)
This picture shows little Somed labouring at a butchers washing base where butchers wash animal intestines and other meat.
Despite his size, he is almost six years old. His father sent him to work – to help supplement his income as a loading boy or “Kayakaya”. His mother is unemployed.
Little Somed is paid the equivalent of about twenty five cents Canadian per day. He uses this money to take care of his family. He is a school drop out because his parents are dealing with poverty.

Amina (Water Seller)
Little Amina is ten years old. She is in primary four and after school hours she sells ice water. Amina collects the water from a retailer and is given a percentage of the sales. If she sells all her water she will earn about five cents (or enough to buy one satchel of water). The money she makes she gives to her mother to take care of them.
Little Amina has three siblings. Her mother is a house wife and her father is a labourer. He works when there are buildings that need constructing.

Fayima (water seller)
Fayima is eight years old and sells water everyday after school. Both her parents are unemployed. Fayima needs to work so that her family can get a daily meal.

Nima and Azara (Dish Washers)
The girl washing on the right washing dishes is Nima. She is eight years old and does not attend school because her parents are unemployed and cannot afford school fees. She works for a woman who runs a chop bar (food stand) and washes bowls and utensils. She earns about fifty cents daily. Her family depends on her to support them – so she is not able to attend school.
Azara (on the left) also faces similar problems which prevents her from getting an education. Azara started washing bowls with she was seven years old. This is her third chop bar (street food stall) that she has worked at. Azara is now 25 years old and is paid about a dollar a day. Both her parents are unemployed – and she is the only child so it is up to her to earn a living to take care of herself and her parents.