Art Print with accompanying poem. Approx 60 x 40 cm
 
We do not want to become adult
 
We love smiles.
We like to smile too.
But most of the people we see in the market are different from us.
They do not smile. Often they shout at us instead of smiling.
We do not like people shouting at us. We want to go to school,
because we never see people shouting at the children who are going to school.
 
Our mother does not want us to go to school, at all.
She wants us to beg for money. Often, we are tired of begging.
We can not play all the time.
Our clothes are not clean like those of other children.
We eat our food on the road.
We sleep on the large concrete table in the market.
And we have to get up before two in the morning,
because most of the shop owners come and prepare their places at that time.
If we are slow to get up, they call the police to arrest us.
Most beggars are scared of the police.
They are scared of other gangs, too.
 
One time, our mother’s friends were taken away somewhere.
When they came back, she saw some bruises on her friends’ bodies.
They said some men from a gang shocked them with electricity.
These men did this only to the adults, not to the children.
Perhaps this story, that mother told us, is just a rumour.
But we talk about it often.
Sometimes, we dream about it too, even though we don’t understand the reality.
We are afraid of this.
 
We do not want to become adults
Because if we do, people may hurt us too.
 
Words by Maung Maung Tinn, artist
 
Price includes postage and packing.