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Tag: Children

A long way to run

Published by Shahidul Alam on May 18, 2019

It was 18th May 1976. My sister Najma (Apamoni to me) had just given birth to her second child. It was coming up to my final exams at Liverpool University. The hospital in Fazakerley was about ten miles away. I’d used all my holidays and every weekend, working as a labourer at the building sites of Lockwoods Constructions in Preston, St. Helens and Bootle, to save money for my overseas student fees, and for my keep. There had been little extra time to study during term and there was a lot of catching up to do. The bus ride would have taken too long and been much too expensive. I used to live in cheap digs at the Catholic Chaplaincy of the Liverpool University and pedaled out from Brownlow Hill with my Radio Shack bike radio churning out ‘Living Next Door to Alice’ by Smokie on full blast. Apamoni’s firstborn, Mowli, had been born on the 24th March 1971, the eve of the genocide in Bangladesh. The exams and money woes that accompanied Sofi’s birth were insignificant in comparison.

My nieces were my first models. This was probably taken around 1981, when Sofi would have been five.
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Open House for Butterflies

Published by Shahidul Alam on January 23, 2014

Ruth Krauss?s Final and Loveliest Collaboration with Maurice Sendak

by?Maria Popova
?Krauss books can be bridges between the poor dull insensitive adult and the fresh, imaginative, brand-new child.?
Beloved children?s author?Ruth Krauss?(July 25, 1901?July 10, 1993) penned more than thirty books for little ones over the course of her forty-year career, but remains best-known as half of one of the most celebrated author-illustrator duos of all time, the other half being none other thanMaurice Sendak. Their eight-year partnership, masterminded by the great?Ursula Nordstrom?who also?nursed Sendak into genius, produced such soul-stirring, heart-warming delights as the hopelessly wonderful ode to friendship?I?ll Be You and You Be Me. But Krauss?s eighth and final* collaboration with Sendak,?Open House for Butterflies?(public library), was arguably their loveliest. Originally published in 1960 and thankfully, unlike what happens to?a tragic many out-of-print gems, reprinted in 2001, this tiny treasure is a timeless smile-inducer for children and grown-ups alike.

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The Obama Hypocrisy

Published by Shahidul Alam on December 20, 2012

Do Arabs Cry For Their Children Too?

by TOM MCNAMARA Counter Punch

Rennes, France.
Once more tragedy befalls America. But this time the tragedy is even more bitter due to the fact that such a large number of young children were involved. A gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people, 20 of them children ? all between the ages of 5 and 10 ? at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on the 14thof December. The attack ended with the gunman committing suicide. It was the Nation?s second deadliest school shooting.
Most people can?t imagine the evil and insanity needed to drive a person to commit such a heinous act. The murder of innocent people is reprehensible, but it is even more so when carried out on the most vulnerable elements of our society, children. Most disturbing of all is the well planned, deliberate and determined manner in which the murders appear to have been carried out. Early reports state that the gunman was highly accurate, leaving only one wounded survivor alive at the school.

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Children's Eyes on Earth

Published by Shahidul Alam on October 19, 2012

2012 photography contest

Thousands of young photographers worldwide submitted their images to the?youth photography contest, which aims to raise awareness of environmental issues. Children aged 17 and under were encouraged to illustrate the themes of ‘I love nature’ and ‘I hate pollution’. Here are the winning shots, along with a selection from those shortlisted

Reza Deghati, the organiser of the contest, was the first tutor at Pathshala way back in 1998 who then went on to form the media organisation Aina in Afghanistan. Drik and Aina were partners in the Fredskorpset exchange. Reza was the guest of honour at Drik’s 23rd anniversary.

SOS by Anastasya Vorobko, 8, Russia, first prize winner

Grain by Sazzid Ahmed, 17, Bangladesh, shortlisted

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Palestinian children 'abused' in Israeli jail

Published by Shahidul Alam on August 16, 2012

Recent studies allege a system of abuse targeting children detained by Israel’s military court system.
Dalia Hatuqa?Al Jazeera report

Israeli military courts imprison about 500-700 Palestinian children per year, according to a new study (AFP)

Ramallah, occupied Palestinian territories –?A dirty mattress fills up a space barely two metres long and?one metre wide. A suffocating stench emanating from the toilet hovers over the windowless room, and a light turned on 24/7 means sleep is a distant dream. This is the infamous Cell 36 in Al Jalameh Prison in Israel. It’s one of the cells that many Palestinian children have either heard of or, worse, been inside when placed in solitary confinement.

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