On the Road, Cambodia, 1996

"As he is about to leave the orphanage Chang tells his roommates that he has to avenge his father. Chang is twelve. A little soldier from an armed squadron, he stops people, checks them out and questions them. Sometimes he kills without any qualms. 'I was ten, I was following my dad, a soldier, near the front that separated the zone controlled by Pol Pot’s Red Khmers, between the Thai border and the city of Poipet. I led the same life as his troop. One day I was walking behind him, my head bowed down. I heard a very loud noise. The ground was lifted up into thousands of particles. When the smoke cleared I saw my father. I sat down next to him, close to his torn up body, his earth-stained body. I stayed there for a very long time, motionless, and promised to avenge him. I have been a soldier since.' Chang was taken in by an orphanage for street children. I had given him a harmonica as a present to replace the rifle he had left. Within hours melodies resonated like complaints from the instrument. After he removed his uniform, the little soldier became a child again. He played and made drawings happily. Two days later Chang had shriveled up. He found shelter in silence. Agitated or prostrate, he was no longer at peace. The dark circles under his eyes betrayed his sleepless nights. Nothing and nobody could stop the devastating madness of his internal imprisonment. The next day Chang ran away."