Azad's camel - Erika Pal

In a big Arabian city, an orphan boy is forced to work as a camel jockey - a dangerous job he doesn't like. But a new friendship and a magical escape into the desert are about to change his life...



About camel racing

Camel racing is a popular sport in the Gulf states of the Middle East.

Child jockeys are used to ride the camels and come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Mauritania and Eritrea. Some poor families are persuaded to sell sons as young as five years old, who are taken away

to be trained and often badly treated. Accidents happen a lot, and when

a little jockey falls off a racing camel, he can receive serious injuries.



Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates have banned the use of child jockeys and are returning the children to their families so that they can go to school and live a normal life. Most children look forward to going back, but some do not want to return to stepfathers or families who sold them

in the first place, and other homes have to be found for them.



Robots are now being used instead of jockeys in the United Arab Emirates, but in some Middle Eastern countries small children are still being forced to race camels, and the trade in child smuggling continues.



"The pictures are beautiful - really evocative."

Elizabeth Laird, author of Lost Riders