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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Where Children Sleep


A child's bedroom can reveal many things about his life and circumstances and James Mollison's book entitled "Where Children Sleep" captures the diversity and disparity of children around the world through portraits and pictures of their bedrooms. Mollison's book is intended to interest and engage children in the details and lives of other children and the social issues affecting them.
Here's a peek into the bedrooms of different children across the globe.

Four year-old Kaya lives with her parents in a small apartment in Tokyo, Japan. Her bedroom is lined from floor to ceiling with clothes and dolls - every little girl's dream.

Eight year-old Rothy lives in the outskirts of Phnom Penh. His home sits on a huge rubbish dump. At 6 o'clock every morning, Rothy and hundreds of other children are given a shower and breakfast at a local charity centre before they start work, scavenging through the rubbish for cans and plastic bottles which are sold to a recycling company.

Indira lives with her parents, brother and sister near Kathmandu, Nepal in a one-room house. Seven year-old Indira works in a granite quarry six hours a day and has worked there since she was three.

Dong, nine, lives in Yunnan province in south-west China with his parents, sister and grandfather. He shares a room with his sister and parents. The family owns just enough land to grow their own rice and sugarcane. Dong’s school is 20 minutes’ walk away. He enjoys writing and singing. Most evenings, he spends one hour doing his homework and one hour watching television. When he is older, Dong would like to be a policeman.

This is home for this four year old boy and his family in Rome, Italy.

8-year old Harrison has everything his Harvard educated parents can provide, including a big screen TV, en suite bathroom and playroom. He attends a private school where hitting and teasing other kids and negative energy is banned.

Prena, 14, sleeps in a cell-like space, toiling 13 hours a day as a domestic servant in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Fifteen year-old Risa lives with 13 other women in a teahouse in Kyoto, Japan. She and five others sleep in a room that is also used as a dining room and tea room. Risa is a 'maiko' – a young girl who has passed the test to train as a geisha.

Ten year-old champion sumo wrestler Ryuta lives in Tokyo, Japan with his parents and younger sister.

Jamie, nine, lives in a top-floor apartment on Fifth Avenue, New York. In his spare time, apart from playing the cello and kickball, Jamie likes to study his finances on the Citibank website. He aspires to be a lawyer like his father.

15 comments:

  1. wow... isn't that amazing??? i think i may be speechless... i wonder what can be said of my 3?! (they share a room!)

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  2. I do not even know what to say, makes me so sad to see children having to live with nothing and work as an adult to survive. Then there is the other extreme where kids have too much and are handed everything.. do they really appreciate it? Hope you had a fabulous Christmas hun :)

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  3. That is amazing! I feel for some of those kids. Even for the rich Harrison that looks like Richy Rich.

    Indira looks like a hard worker. She has struggle in her eyes!

    I wonder how they would analyze my kid's rooms with their personalities?

    Their rooms are here: http://theapels.blogspot.com/2011/08/tour-of-kids-rooms.html

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  4. Wow, this is so eye-opening. I definitely need to look into getting this book.

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  5. Wonderful post, it is so sad to see the extreme living conditions of these children. I have a similar book called, Material World, that shows the houses of various families around the world, that I share with my Sunday school class. I will have to look into this book as well, thanks for sharing this!!

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  6. I am speechless also, makes me feel like I have to much stuff now.

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  7. Wow, that's really interesting, in a sad way. I feel bad for some of those kids. It's such a shame.
    Visiting from the hop
    http://beingmama.com/
    http://ohsoprettylife.blogspot.com/

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  8. Especially at this time of year, all the food and presents, it's hard to realize 90% of the world is struggling for the basics of survival. Thank you, Veronica, for reminding me to be grateful for all I have and to share with others in need.
    Rosemary

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  9. Wow, some of these made me feel really sad about their living situations. Kinda makes you stop and think how material things aren't so important and to remind our kids to count their blessings.

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  10. Wow, seeing the children who have so little is so hard! What a neat book!

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  11. Amazing but what I wish is that some of the kids in America weren't displayed as living lavishly. That's a rarity and not a common thing. True, Americans overindulge but there are families that also struggle as well.

    Happy New Year, my friend!

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  12. It is sad how some children have to live, I wish the more wealthy parents would put there selfs in there place,and donate money more then once a year..

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  13. Wow I've never heard of this, very interesting to see...very sad as well...

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  14. Very, very interesting and learning experience. I absolutely have to show it to my own kids so their perception of reality will certainly develop quite a bit! thanks for this post!

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