When they saw the camera, the children on their way home from school started making a commotion

Children full of vigor — Energetic children

While walking down a narrow alley just off one of Ho Chi Minh City’s main streets, I came upon a small crowd of uniformed children. They seemed to be on their way home from school. I saw no randoseru backpacks; instead, most carried their textbooks in their arms or slung small rucksacks over one shoulder. Their steps were unusually light, almost all of them half-running—though whether they were hurrying toward an afternoon snack or fleeing the punishment known as homework was hard to tell. The Vietnamese afternoon sun showed no mercy, and their bareheaded strides could only be described as a kind of tropical, heat-resistant constitution.

The moment they spotted the SLR hanging from my neck, their pace quickened further. They weren’t just energetic—they were excited. A camera, to a child, is a sort of mirror, and somehow the self reflected in it feels like proof of a world record. They darted in front of me, struck poses, and shouted something in Vietnamese. I couldn’t understand the words, but from their volume and tone I guessed the message was half “Hurry up and take it!” and half “Make sure I’m in it too!”

In Ho Chi Minh City, there’s little in the way of organized group commuting; children generally go home with friends at their own pace. Many primary schools run on a two-shift system, and it’s common for pupils to go home for lunch before returning. This means that such lively processions can appear twice a day. Through the lens, I saw smiles, a dusty alley, and their shadows outlined in white by the afternoon light. That instant, I knew, would survive far more stubbornly in my record than in their memory.

Ho Chi Minh City on Google Map

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