My name is Wesli and I want to be an artist

I think that the most intesting project I have started since I have been here is to give some of the children cameras, ask them to take photos of thieir lives, and then talk about the photos to me.

It is a real way of getting an insight into the children's lives. Most strikingly, its very rare for a child to be living with both of his parents. Some have died, others work abroad. One girl's mother and father had worked in Dubai since she was six months old, and she only saw them once a year.

Then there is the standard question, "What do you want to to do when you leave school?" The most common answer amongst the boys is that they want to join the army. This is probably partly a route to a career for poor children the world over, but in Sri Lanka it is primarily the result of the fact that this has been a country at war for 30 years. The army, particularly in the last few years and the final months of the war, are promoted as heros to most people. Posters like this of smiling soldiers with machine guns are common all over the place, including in people's houses and taxis:

That is what made Wesli stand out. He is a softly spoken boy of 13 who lived with his mother and whose sister had been given to a hostel when she was very young as his mother could not afford to look after her. He saw her twice a year. He told me he wanted to be an artist. You could see from some of his photos that he had a real eye. Here he is with one of his paintings,, which he brought in to show me yesterday.