Tonight again the children. I was sitting on a bench at Kara Tepe writing an email and these two boys come over to sit beside me. They were probably 7 & 9. I said "hi," they said "hi," cheeky grins. I said "how are you?" They said "how are you?" again with the grins. I said, give me one minute I need to finish this email so they sat and waited and one of them started to sing. Low under his breath, a song in Arabic. Such a sweet sound. I was almost finished with the email when they gestured to me that they were heading off. I guess they could only wait so long. "Good luck," I called out after them and they called back, "good luck." I said it again and one of them with a gesture like one I've seen my nephew make when he was about that age, strong, big man but only a boy, "Good luck," he said and waved back at me, as if he had the responsibility of the world on his shoulders.  

February 2016