Enver, 15, travels about 50 miles from his home to shine shoes in downtown Istanbul. He works four and a half hours a day during the week and nine hours each on Saturday and Sunday. He makes $5 a day on average. (Photos by Yalman Onaran)

On a cold Saturday afternoon in March, Muhsin sits munching on crackers and sipping from a small box of fruit juice. He is resting by a tree on the side of a bustling street in downtown Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey.

"This is lunch," he says. "It's a late lunch because I just now sold enough Selpaks to buy these [crackers and juice]. I've been here since seven and barely sold enough to buy these."

Muhsin is 11 years old. He sells Selpaks, a Turkish version of small travel packages of Kleenex tissues. His customers are the drivers who wait impatiently at a traffic light at an especially busy intersection in downtown Istanbul.

Muhsin is one of 1.6 million Turkish kids hawking goods and services in Turkey's urban centers. One in 10 children in Turkey must work to help support their families. Some, like Muhsin, are lucky enough to go to school during the day and work after school or weekends. But about a third of them have had to quit school as early as third grade to work full-time.

Ali, 14, left school two years ago when he began working as an apprentice in an auto body shop. He is the second oldest of four siblings. His father's $200 monthly income from tailoring isn't enough to feed all seven mouths, especially when half goes to rent.

"I wish I could continue school," Ali said, putting down the torch he was using to weld a car's fender. "I would have studied to become a pilot. Fly jets, that's what I would do."

At almost every auto mechanic shop in Turkey, you can find one or two kids working as apprentices. The legal age is 14 to start, but many are much younger. The government doesn't crack down on shops that hire young kids.

	Ismail, 12, and Muhsin, 11, are cousins. They both go to sixth grade and sell Selpaks—the Turkish version of Kleenex—after school. Ibrahim, 14, quit school when he was in fifth grade. The three kids hustle drivers at a busy intersection where cars have to stop for a long red light. They each make about $2 a day. (Photos by Yalman Onaran)

The city of Istanbul, population 12 million, recently enacted a regulation threatening to jail people who bought goods from underage kids on the street or used their services. But the government's effort to discourage kids from working has not been successful. People feel bad for the kids and buy their Selpaks or have their shoes shined despite the new law.

"I have to work," said Mehmet, a 13-year-old who's been shining shoes every day after school for the last three years. "The government should give our family money so we don't have to work. Then they can tell people not to have kids shine their shoes."

Mehmet says he likes to play soccer, but he cannot find the time. His only playtime is in school during his physical education class. He does not watch TV because by the time he gets home he is exhausted and still has homework to do.

Mehmet, Ali, and Muhsin each had to give up soccer games to work. The burdens they carry now are much heavier than the soccer balls they have had to toss aside.