around the edge. They are tiny houses and like I say westerners would find it impossible to live in such conditions. It’s not that there is a poverty gap, its just everyone in these places lives the same way.

As the sun had disappeared for the night behind the snow capped hills and the temperature was dropping rapidly we headed back to our hostel. We found we had been joined by another group of gringos. They were all Israelis and a couple of them were school teachers, they were great with the kids and we found them making paper aeroplanes for the boys and flowers for the girls. The kids were beside themselves and each child was extremely protective over his or her paper gift. A few scuffles broke out in the queue while they all waited for more paper goodies to be made, but it was a shear and utter joy watching the anticipation on their little grubby faces. They looked like they have won the

lottery and I followed 3 boys down to where they were starting to throw their paper aeroplanes. I got some great photos but I didn’t stay hidden for long. Soon they realised I was taking photos and came charging over to see their faces on the back of my camera.

The poor teachers from Israel didn’t have enough time to make paper things for all of the kids so a few were left disappointed; we tried to explain the benefits of sharing but we guessed that these kids rarely got spoiled so would probably hold onto their gifts for life! Its not that you feel pity on these kids, they are probably happier than some of the kids who live in crappy housing estates around England, its just they live in a harsh and unrelenting land.

By now it was getting colder and was virtually dark so we