Julius Dreyer

The next morning I got woken up the hammering sound of a generator running in close distance to my window. It was only about six o’clock, but life was going to its fullest out there already. As I was trying to locate the source of that annoying sound my eyes got distracted by two kids, a boy and a girl, maybe 10 to 12 years of age, playing a game with tiny stones on a rusty metal box right in the middle of this ugly backyard. I smiled seeing them happily playing out there in the middle of this unreal place. And although I couldn’t help but comparing this scene with the fancy youth me and other kids have had, it was nice seeing them being content with what little they.

My day dreaming behind the second floor window was brought to a sudden end, when I saw a man chasing the two kids for throwing those tiny stones at him in a playful manner. Even being about 50 meters away of the whole scene, his anger and aggressiveness was clearly visible in his body language. When realizing the kids were much faster than him, he picked up a big heavy stick and threw it after the girl who was trying to escape through a heavy metal door locking up this place. Luckily he missed, leaving me – still dazzled – trying to understand what just had happened out there. Meanwhile the poor girl was hiding in fear, waiting for his anger to calm and return to what she must be calling her home.
Sadly this whole scene reminded me more of someone treating a dog, than a human being. I can’t understand what drives a grown up man to treat helpless and innocent children in such a disrespectfully manner.

A few minutes later I returned to the window finding both kids sitting in front of this slum-like house doing child labor for him. Feeling sad and helpless I realized that having prestigious toys isn’t the only luxury kids in developed countries are having…

Being confident of capturing some more pleasant scenes out there, I grabbed my camera and went out to discover more of this city. Friendly faces and warm smiles greeted me along each way and I slowly started to feel being at this very special place I’d hoped for.

Walking the busy streets on my own, I sat down on fence next to a very noisy street just watching this crazy world passing by in front of me. Being alone and a stranger to anyone around me actually felt pretty good right now. There was a bus full with people waiting to get somewhere, a cow standing next to it passionately licking its nose, a boy cleaning a shop window with an old newspaper and me unnoticed sitting right in the middle. Suddenly I did not only feel very relaxed in this chaos surrounding me, but somehow connected with anyone around me.

Many people have wondered why I am making this trip on my own. Situations like the above are probably the best answer to this question. While traveling alone might not be as comfortable or funny as spending this time together with my friends, it somehow holds the ability of getting connected with myself and learning a great deal along the way.

Having no one to talk to could be considered a very boring thing, but is in fact something I very much enjoy every now and then. Having the silence and freedom to get lost in tiny details or ponder about the most important thing of all is a luxury we sometimes forget in our busy city lives with constant entertainment.
As most people, I too, easily tend to live my life in those well-known circles created around me. And while this is important and probably only healthy for us, I just have to break out of these routines every now and then. Being out of my comfort zones might be such little things as asking someone for the way, not knowing what this strange food is all about or being the only white guy in between 200 Nepalese on the street. Sometimes it means seeing someone without arms or legs begging for your money or little children being thrown at with sticks. The important thing is that it makes you realize how the world does not end with what our brain would like it to.