An Innocent Scene Among the Struggles

In March 1989, Robert Harbison was in Nicaragua, on his way back from covering elections in El Salvador.

As he walked around the village of Masaya he was drawn to these children. The starkness of the scene struck him as a perfect illustration of the poverty and political tension that so colored Nicaragua.

Harbison doesn't know what the two were doing before he snapped this shot. Perhaps the little girl took the boy's flower and left him only the stem.

What Harbison does remember is the surprise these children felt when a foreigner approached them with all of his strange-looking equipment.

*This is the second of a new, more compact 'Lens and Light' series showcasing the work of Monitor staff photographers.