Tent camp in Layyah

First photography assignment with bro Zeeshan (goodbye)

There are at least a dozen tent camps I know in my home town Layyah. This tent camp is 5 minute walk from my home. Living conditions are extremely terrible and beyond imagination. Tents are standing on sand under open sky with humans and animals sharing the same roof. Extremely fragile, these tents are made of patches of ordinary cloth sewed together. I saw a girl sleeping on the ground outside a broken tent. Next to her was a pile of garbage. It was shocking to see that her open mouth was full of thirsty flies which were trying to get some water from it in hot climate. I didn't have the courage to publish crop of her face.

There are around 20 tents in the camp and in each tiny tent live around seven to eight persons. Most of the couches were lying outside tents. Sources of income are various: begging, doing labour jobs, drive donkey / horse carts or through collecting recycleable garbage from the street and selling it to recycling dealers.

As expected, there is no electricity in the camp, though there is a hand pump for all purposes from drinking water to washing clothes and dishes, and taking bath etc.

Only a few of the young boys study in free schools, the rest go out to collect garbage, some either stay idle at home or raise animals. There are no facilities for growing children, therefore in early age they can easily slip from the track, start smoking and take drugs. When they have no money for buying drugs they can start begging or possibly make small crimes like stealing others' properties.

I saw many kids in the camp. Their smile was true and careless, their eyes were shining. They seem to be content with what they had: an open place and the freedom to move. During my brief stay strong sand strom started blowing and then there was hard rain. While some were trying to save tents and collect belongings from outside, kids continued to enjoy the sand in eyes.

Let's throw some more sand, in their eyes.