A wise man once said…These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. We all have to think about how we can become a little poorer.

This photo essay provides a brief look into the lives of children throughout the developing world whose families live in absolute poverty.

As a program director for the NYC-based non-profit, A Leg To Stand On (ALTSO), whose mission is to provide free orthopedic care to children with limb disabilities in the developing world, my work takes me around the world to further relationships, monitor and evaluate treatment programs, scout future partners and most importantly, meet beneficiaries of the services ALTSO provides.

In New York City, on any given day, I spend my time writing donor reports, reviewing proposals, writing patient stories, developing our website, building out the framework for our patient reporting system and reviewing patient data to monitor ALTSO’s impact and program effectiveness. My focus can shift from prosthetics in India, to mobility aids in Somaliland, to the lack of resources in Nepal, and back again to NYC to find solutions and rally public and private support.

Working in one of the world’s fastest-paced cities, an average day can move extremely quick, not allowing much time to reflect upon the change you are creating in this world. So at night, when the monitors go dim and the moleskins begin to close, I start to contemplate about the children we are helping. What do their homes look like? Do they have enough food to eat? Are they living in suitable conditions? Are their human rights being violated? Will they have a future?

One thing I can tell you is that the majority of the children I visit are living in extreme poverty. Poverty that is not of American or Western European standard.

I’m talking about absolute poverty — lacking the basic necessities for survival or in other words, going without basic essentials because they are unable to afford utilities like water, heat and electricity or to buy healthy food or new clothing or to use public transportation. What I find truly amazing when visiting these children is that kids will be kids no matter where they are raised. They seldomly know what they do not have and because of it, are resilient to the situations they are living in.

“There is something to be said about the less material wealth a child is privileged to, the happier they genuinely seem to be.”

Below are a few short stories of children I have visited in some of the world’s poorest countries. This essay is dedicated to them.

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