Ahead of International Children's Day on June 1, RFE/RL photographers asked children in various countries to share their hopes for the near and distant future. Some wishes were repeated several times: an education, a bicycle, and a united family.
What Do Children Want?
1
Khava Sadulaeva, 5, is from Grozny in the Russian republic of Chechnya. She wants to be an artist and live in a big house with her family.
2
Jasmina, 6, sells chewing gum and chocolate on the streets of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Her father is a migrant worker in Russia. She wishes for him to come home as soon as possible, and dreams of becoming a doctor.
3
Bogdan Solonyna, 9, lives in Kyiv, Ukraine. He wants to be a straight-A student in school. When he grows up, he wants to be the chef at his own restaurant, so he has started learning by helping his mother cook.
4
Nelea Lungu, 11, lives with her grandmother in the Moldovan village of Roscani. Her mother works in Moscow. Nelea wants to be able to go to school in her village, but the school has refused to admit her because of her disability.
5
Bakht Alam, 13, from Ningolai in Pakistan's Swat district, wants to be a mechanic and hopes to be able to buy a bicycle soon.
6
Zahir Shah, 10, is a student in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. He wants to be an engineer and would like to be admitted to a better school in the next year.
7
Zhenya, 10, is from Minsk, Belarus. "I’d like to be a furniture designer and live in London, because I love to paint," she says. "But now I’d like to visit my grandmother in Homel. And next year I want to get good grades."
8
Masha, 5, lives near Moscow. When she grows up, she says, "I want to be beautiful, and I want all the boys to like me. I want to have as much makeup as my mom. I want a little brother. I want to have summer every day. I want to ride a pony."
9
These Romany children live in Prague, Czech Republic. Emil, 15, would like to be a car mechanic and have his own Skoda Octavia. Rudolf, 8, wants to be a military commando. Marcela Gynova, 11, wants to be a doctor and have a pet Chihuahua.
10
Niamatullah, 14, and Ataullah, 12, work in the poppy fields in Nangarhar Province, east of Kabul. They would like to go to school, but there are no places available at the school in their village. They want to become doctors when they grow up.
11
Shakila, 14, reads the Koran at a mosque in Kabul. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Shakila says she's happy that she is getting an education, but is afraid of Taliban attacks.
12
Syuzanna Safaryan, 11, lives in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and dreams of becoming a chess player and a mathematician. In the short term, she'd like to have a bicycle.
13
Rati, 6, lives in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. He wants to serve in the special forces when he grows up and wants to have a scooter.
14
Ali Sakhir Habib, 13, lives in Basra, Iraq. He wants to be an engineer so he can create rivers and build reservoirs to help people.
15
Ilyas, 11, and his brother Timur, 7, live in the Russian republic of Bashkortostan. Ilyas wants to become a doctor or an athlete, and hopes for his volleyball team to win. Timur wants to become a driver, and hopes to see a hippo at the zoo.
16
Gulu Memmedova, 4, lives in the Shamakhi region of Azerbaijan. She likes to take care of babies and wants to become a teacher. In the next year, she wishes for her whole family to be together and for all her siblings to be able to go to school.