Sitting on the sidewalk in Istanbul, Turkey, his head is barely above knee height of the adults around him. But he plays on -- for hours, knowing that each coin or note can help his family survive another day.
The family escaped the horrors of war in Aleppo, Syria, and he says they now live in a park. He does not say which park or if they have a tent for shelter at night.
The boy says he has been in Turkey for about a year.
He plays falteringly and his young face looks innocent, but he knows the cruelty of war. He says his dad died in Aleppo, which has seen some of the fiercest fighting in Syria and is a rebel stronghold that President Bashar al-Assad's army has attacked.
The boy, who says he is 6, complains that his head hurts and talks of the guns back in Aleppo.
As he plays on, he is relying on the kindness of strangers and watching for police patrols, as begging on the streets is illegal.
When police do see him -- this time as he walks back to his makeshift home -- an officer confiscates his flute.
But he cannot be kept down. A new flute is $5 -- half is daily profit -- but if he is to play on, if he is to help feed his family, if they are to have some hope, it's a small expense.
And tomorrow, he will play again.
A little Syrian girl sells tissues on the streets of Turkey to help her family.
She was absolutely shaken when she sees a man in uniform (police) approaching her.
So much that she grabs on to a passer by for dear life.
Despite the officer's attempt to calm her down, she repeatedly begs to be let go and promises to not do it again, She makes the emphatic promise gesture used by some Arabs by kissing her own hand and placing her finger on her forehead, which is the practice of asking for forgiveness.
Taken from www.zeethiop.com.
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