Lebanon’s forgotten child laborers

In an alleyway corner in an impoverished Beirut district, a small group of youngsters gather. Nearby, barefoot infants play in wastewater falling from a drain, and a maze of loose electricity cables haphazardly zigzag overhead. While thousands of their peers across the country are sitting in classrooms, these children-cum-adolescents are typical of many from their neighborhood and have long since left education for a life of work. “The situation at home was difficult and I didn’t think school would help me find a job in the future, so I decided it was better to go and work than to stay in school,” says Haydar, a 15 year old from the area. He dropped out of school when he was 12 and has since been working full-time in a number of different jobs. Abboudi, 12, from the Syrian city of Aleppo helps support his family by selling flowers to revellers in