Chuck Norris Impersonators & Other Cool Kids

Boys everywhere know American action films, even in villages where there's a single VCR that runs via a generator-charged car battery. I was once asked by kids in Cameroon whether Rambo could beat Chuck Norris in a fight. I said I wasn't sure. Then one of them said, "Could YOU beat Chuck Norris in a fight?" I said, "What do you think?" They talked it over. Then said, "Yeah, we think you could beat him!"

A Malian boy flies a beetle on the end of a string. He holds another in his hand.

“I want to be great” – Children in Ejura, Ghana. The irony in the t-shirt is that Ghanians speak English and not French. The boy in the blue shirt has a truck and trailer he built from Milo drink tins.

Sometimes sweets are required: A girl in Ujiji - This adorable girl was moving too fast down the shores of Lake Tanganyika for me to photograph her with my $23 camera. So I bribed her to stay still with half of a honey oat bar I’d bought in Ujiji, the place where Stanley uttered his famous words: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”