When a Kid's Bedroom Isn't a Room

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2012/11/kids-bedrooms-james-mollison

When a Kid's Bedroom Isn't a Room
—By James Mollison
| Fri Nov. 23, 2012 3:08 AM GMT

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Erlen is 14 years old and is pregnant for the third time. She lives in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her home is a small shack. She usually sleeps on the floor, but now that she is in the later stages of her pregnancy, her mother has swapped places and allowed her to sleep in the bed. Erlen was 12 when she first became pregnant, but her baby was stillborn. A year later, she lost a second baby soon after its birth. If her new baby survives, Erlen is unlikely to return to school as she will need to stay at home to look after it. She will be a single parent. Erlen would like to be a vet when she is older, and to live somewhere else.

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Dong is nine years old. He lives in the province of Yunnan in southwest China with his parents, sister, and grandfather. He shares a room with his sister and parents. They are a poor family who own just enough land to grow their own rice and sugar cane. Dong's school is 20 minutes' walk away. He especially enjoys writing and singing. Most evenings, he spends one hour completing his homework and one hour watching television. When he is older, Dong would like to be a policeman, because he'll be able to "catch thieves and run around."

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Samantha is nine years old. She lives with her parents, and her guinea pig and fish, in a detached house on Long Island, New York. Samantha has achieved a black belt in karate. She has been world champion three times. She first became interested at the age of three, when she saw a television ad featuring karate. Her bedroom is full of trophies she has won in competitions. She spends four hours a day practicing karate at the studio and also has an hour and a half of school homework each night. Samantha would like to become a karate movie star.

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Douha lives with her parents and 11 siblings in a Palestinian refugee camp in Hebron, in the West Bank. She is 10 years old and shares a room with all five of her sisters. Douha works hard at school because she wants to be a pediatrician when she grows up. Douha was born in a refugee camp, and there has always been violence around her. Her brother Mohammed killed himself and 23 civilians in a suicide-bomb attack against the Israelis in 1996. Immediately after the bombing, the family home—including all their possessions—was destroyed by the Israeli military. Douha has a poster of Muhammad on her bedroom wall.