One of the most difficult aspects of traveling solo in South Asia is witnessing the harsh reality that many people live with each day. I came across the children in this photo sleeping on a sidewalk one afternoon in Kathmandu, Nepal. Normally, I would have glanced at them as I passed by and kept walking, but the child with the bloodied and bandaged forehead made me stop and look. It tore my heart to see a young person in such a dire situation.

This boy was obviously seriously injured because the bandage was saturated with fresh blood. It was the blood that caught my attention, along with the fact that he was just a boy. I had never seen anything like it before, and his situation garnered the attention many local people as well. Several paused to look and they also appeared shocked at what they saw. It was almost as if there was a collective resonance of empathy and wanting to help but not knowing what to do.

I took this photograph because I wanted to capture what I don't normally see every day - not to be morbid, but to remind myself that no matter how bad things are in North America, sights like this are still fairly rare. I would hope that no child would be disregarded the way this boy was, no matter the situation. I wanted to help but I felt helpless and impotent. I'm sure many of the locals felt the same way. Instead, we just paused, looked and carried on with our lives.