Children under the Friendship Bridge
Wei Nei Ntoo, Wawa Oo, New Wei Oo and Aou Touoo under the Friendship Bridge between Burma and Thailand
These four small children have made a home under the 'Friendship Bridge' spanning the river Moei between Thailand and Burma. None of them know where their families are; they were found by people living in the river bed area known as 'No Man's Land'. 'Street families' live here, out of reach of either country's authorities, selling cut-price cigarettes and ferrying traders over the river for a fee of B20 (30p) a time.
The children spend their days hiding behind advertising hoardings and begging in the market. In the evenings, their earnings are given to the adults, who feed them a supper of rice and fish paste. A small life though this is, it is better than many others which might yet befall these four - drug and human trafficking is rife across the border, many Burmese children are smuggled to Bangkok and forced to work in the sex industry, or fall prey to paedophile rings in Mae Sot.