Children view the city from the riverbank.Our last issue introduced the world of street children. With activist and photographer Paul Corbit Brown’s haunting imagery and journal entries, readers gained insight into the lives of children who live on the streets in Rwanda. In preparation for an upcoming collaborative feature about Indonesian street children, I met Paul. His southern drawl pulled me in as I listened to him talk about his work. I was struck by his selfless dedication to the people he met in his travels. He acts to change the world with little hesitation and no thought of personal consequences. As I listened, I wondered if making change might not take a huge effort.

Paul explains that all street children face the problem of how others see them. Vilified for conditions they did not create, these “invisible children” are outcast and dismissed for having problems that seem too great to solve. Paul insists that changing the way we view these children will eventually transform their plight. Facing our misconceptions is not easy. We all retreat from the unknown – fearing that other people’s problems may leak into our own.

One of nearly 80,000 street children living in Jakarta.

In the interview segment below, Paul’s story echoes prejudices that street children face. Paul had just landed in Jakarta, Indonesia when he came across a street child who asked to shine his shoes. Left barefoot in Jakarta, Paul worried that his shoes were stolen. His surprising story reveals the vitality that these children offer: Download link 

Look for more about Paul’s experiences with street children in Jakarta in the upcoming issue of NEED. You can also join the discussion about street children on our forum.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Interviews, Journalist Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.