Pajamas

Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Date: March 30, 2010

As I passed the Royal Palace on my way to a little cafe I know has Wifi, I see a tiny boy edging out into traffic crying as hard as possible. There is a tuk-tuk driver leaning back in his carriage, smoking a cigarette, not seeming to care. One more crawl and this little boy is history. As a tourist, it's hard to understand my place in this scenario. As a human, it's easy- basic instincts come into play. I scoop the little guy up- he is wearing pajamas that must be his only pair of clothes, and he is crying so hard he can barely catch his breath. He isn't old enough to walk, but apparently, his parents think he is old enough to be left alone on the street corner. About 3 feet behind me is his home, "that is where he sleeps," the tuk-tuk driver tells me... I speak to him for a few minutes and ask if this is normal- if the mom always just leaves the little guy, and he doesn't seem to know, but he points across the street, indicating the mom is somewhere over there. He eventually stops crying as I hold him, but I just don't know what to do. I've seen it all before, but this time I needed to stop and at least attempt to do something. The truth of it is that despite whatever action I take, it will happen again, and probably over and over, and one day he may even crawl into the road and get hit, but I had to pick him up today. After a while of rocking him, I put him down on his "bed" and went into a store to buy some ice cream in hopes that it would help. When I returned, a woman was holding him, and I asked if she was the mom and handed over the ice cream. She took it and didn't answer me, not understanding what I said, and I walked away. And that was it. I'm in the cafe now, and as I leave, I could walk by him again, crying on the street, but I think this time I'll be a tourist, and walk the other way, hoping that is still somewhat safe in the arms of his mother.

I know that to some degree, you need to become numb when you see these sort of things, but everytime I see it, my heart breaks a little more. Poor little guy.