Impromptu Refugee Art…

Today, when I was running off to a late lunch, I saw a young boy standing alone up the street. Like most of the children begging on that street, I assumed he was a Syrian refugee–and was expecting him to start begging for money as I passed by. But instead, as I approached him, he gently put his right hand over his heart, and bowed in my direction. If this sweet and unexpected gesture was meant to charm me, it worked.

Waiting for him to ask for money, I slowed my steps–but he just kept standing at attention with his hand over his heart. To me, he looked tired of begging–like he would rather be playing instead. So postponing my already late lunch (I was starving after a full day of teaching), I decided to stop and ask him his name and age–and where he’s from. When he said Syria, I wasn’t surprised.

Remembering that I had my ipad in my backpack, I got it out–and asked him if he wanted to go around and take photos with it. As he reached out his hands to receive the sleek black tablet, his eyes grew wide with excitement.

Instead of lining up a shot and hitting the click button, he was trigger happy–and kept pressing the button as many times as he could. Click, click, click. Maybe he was making up for all of the time he didn’t have a camera–or maybe he just liked the strange sound of the click. Soon, some of the other kids begging on the same street came over to see the photos he was making–and to join in the fun. Click, click, click.

When he handed me back the ipad, I didn’t think I would be as interested in the photographs as I had been in the fun. But as I flipped through the photos, I was shocked to see what great images he had captured. Since he sees the world at waist level, his photographs were taken from a perspective I never really see or consider. And the word on the wall in the photo below (“stalking”) is a perfect compliment to the view from his vantage point. Our impromptu photo shoot today on the streets of Beirut reminded that helping others doesn’t have to be about showing up to a volunteer job every week or making a yearly donation–sometimes, it feels more meaningful–and fun–to create small and spontaneous moments of joy between two hearts from very different worlds…