Sahl Abdelrahman 2023 Highly Commended
Yasmine, 10 years old, has been working in collecting cotton since she was 6 years old to help her family because her father is unable to work due to some health problems in his feet - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Some children bring dates with them to eat in case the person responsible for them at work deprives them of a break for breakfast - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Children are transported to work in a car- a box - that can carry only 12 people, but despite that, no less than 40 children ride in the car, distributed between the inside of the car and the roof of the car, and the rest hold the door of the car - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Youssef - one of the children working in the agricultural lands - wishes to one day own a large field with a donkey, cows and cattle so that he will not have to work for anyone again - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
The children sit after they finish work, waiting for their employer to hand over their daily wages of 25 Egyptian pounds - equivalent to one US dollar for each child, which is a very small amount compared to the number of working hours and the efforts they make - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Youssef saved from his meager salary after working for more than two months in collecting cotton, and bought a goat to be an investment for him later, and taking care of it and feeding it makes him happy - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Village children work together and play together - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Despite work and difficult conditions, most of the village's children go to school, and many of them aspire for academic excellence, such as Naira, who dreams of becoming a surgeon one day, like Dr. Magdy Yacoub - an internationally known Egyptian heart surgeon - and Abdel Rahman, who dreams of becoming an engineer - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Dalia worked in collecting cotton and wormwood from the age of six, and this year was her last year working in agricultural lands, as it is common in this village that the age of working girls does not exceed 14 years, as when the girl reaches this age she sits at home to prepare for marriage, as it common in the countryside, Girls marry at such a young age - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Children start their day working in agricultural lands before sunrise and continue until twelve noon - Fayoum, Egypt 2022
Fayoum, Egypt
The village of Harid is located in the Fayoum Governorate, which is famous for child labor, like the rest of the Fayoum villages, especially in agricultural crops such as cotton and wormwood. The area is famous for these crops that are grown in large areas, and these crops require a large number of labor, work in these crops is limited to children only because of the low wages that they receive, as if an adult works, he will receive 3 times the wages of one child. Children are also exploited and forced to work for long hours, as their work starts from sunrise until twelve noon, and children are forced to bear these conditions It is difficult because of their need and the need of their families for this work because the difficult living conditions, where some of them contribute to the expenses of the house and some other children work to save some money to buy new clothes and tools for school.
The project sheds light on the dreams of children that fade away in agricultural fields, and according to a 2021 UNICEF statistic, 112 million children around the world work in the agricultural sector.
About the Photographer
Sahl Abdelrahman is a street and documentary photographer who was born in El Fayoum, Egypt in 1999. His passion for photography began early in his life, and he eventually decided to pursue his passion by studying photojournalism and documentary photography at DMJX.
Sahl's work focuses on capturing the daily life of people in Egypt, particularly in Fayoum. He is especially interested in children's issues and aims to use his photography to raise awareness about the problems faced by children in Egypt, including the issue of child labor.