Childhood On A Bridge Of Neglect 

Asem Mustafa Awan

Islamabad: They are smiling. That is the first thing one notices. Three young girls, all seemingly under the age of ten, hurry across a narrow makeshift bridge suspended over a stream choked with garbage, stagnant water and waste.

Their steps are quick, their balance effortless. Their faces carry none of the caution the scene appears to demand.

To them, it is probably just another day. Perhaps there is a small tuck shop nearby. Perhaps a few coins in a pocket promise sweets, biscuits or a cold drink.

Perhaps they are simply racing one another toward a destination that matters only to children.Whatever the reason, they move with the confidence that belongs exclusively to youth.

Children have a remarkable ability to find joy where adults see only hardship. Yet this photograph tells two stories at once.

The first is about childhood, curiosity, friendship and a carefree spirit that survives despite difficult surroundings.

The second is about the environment in which that childhood unfolds.

Beneath the bridge lies a canal transformed into a dumping ground. Plastic floats alongside stagnant water. Waste gathers where water should flow.

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The crossing itself appears temporary, fragile and improvised. For the girls, it is a pathway. For the viewer, it raises a question.

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What kind of future is being built when children must navigate hazards before they are old enough to understand them?

The image does not show fear. It does not show crisis. It shows something more troubling, a condition that has become normal.

The girls do not hesitate because this landscape is familiar. The polluted water, the unsafe crossing and the neglected surroundings are not extraordinary features of their world.

They are part of it.

That is what makes the photograph linger.

Children should be crossing bridges to schools, parks and playgrounds. They should be discovering books, games and possibilities. Instead, many learn an earlier lesson about adapting to circumstances they did not create.

The resilience is admirable. The necessity of that resilience is not.

Years from now, these girls may not remember this particular afternoon. They may forget the bridge, the canal and the race across it. But the conditions surrounding them today will help shape the opportunities available to them tomorrow.

For now, they keep running. They keep smiling.

Unaware that the bridge beneath their feet says as much about the state of a society as the children crossing it.

Photo Credit APP