A growing number of Syrian children sell flowers, shine shoes, or beg on the streets of the Lebanese capital to help their families pay for rent and food. Many of them report being harassed, beaten and sexually abused. “We have nobody to make us feel safe when we are begging,” says one 7 year old.
Syrian refugee boys gleefully don masks and play games, briefly escaping the stress and violence they face working on the streets of Beirut. Maher (center), an International Rescue Committee “street educator,” is leading them though the day’s activities in a colorful play area set up inside the storage room of a kebab shop near where the boys work.