[cs_content][cs_section bg_color=”rgb(136, 135, 136)” parallax=”false” style=”margin: 0px;padding: 45px 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/1″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_line style=”border-top-width: 1px;”][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-center”]Pocket Change[/x_custom_headline][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center”]By: Kenisha Leonhardt and Jami Sall
September 7, 2017[/cs_text][cs_text class=”cs-ta-center”]As many families living in Izmir, Turkey, enjoy their summer evenings by the seaside, they encounter many activities demanding their attention and wallets. For example, they can eat roasted corn, buy toys for their children to play with on the nearby hillside, or even shoot balloons on the sea. Yes … shoot balloons.
In the seaside city of Izmir, Turkey, Samet (left) and Ahmet go to the coast every evening to make a little pocket change. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
Eighteen-year-old Ahmet is the youngest of eight children. His oldest brother is Samet's father, making Samet, who is only two years his younger, his nephew. (Photo by Jami Sall)
Due to the extreme heat, during the summer evenings many families escape to the seaside to enjoy the cool evening breeze. As the sun sets, the boys arrive with their supplies ready to clean the balloon line from the night before and prepare it for freshly inflated balloons. (Photo by Jami Sall)
Sixteen-year-old Samet, who has a vivid interest in UFOs, inflates some balloons. (Photo by Jami Sall)
Samet then hands the balloons off to his uncle Ahmet (right) to tie to the line. (Photo by Jami Sall)
After an hour of cleaning the line, and blowing up and tying the balloons to it, the boys cast the line into the sea. Every night, Samet and his uncle inflate approximately 100 balloons, which cost roughly a total of three dollars. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
After the balloons are all in place, Samet readies a pellet gun for action. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
Pellets sit on a stool ready for action. (Photo by Jami Sall)
The boys’ BB (pellet) gun sits by the seaside equipped for action, ready for passersby to try their luck at popping one of the hundred or so balloons. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
Ahmet teaches an interested young woman how to use the pellet gun to make a perfect shot. (Photo by Jami Sall)
As families enjoy their evening by the seaside, they encounter many activities demanding their attention and wallets. They can eat roasted corn, buy toys for their children to play with on the nearby hillside, or even shoot balloons on the sea. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
Every night, Ahmet and Samet work until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, earning about 20 dollars of pocket change. (Photo by Kenisha Leonhardt)
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