By Raheela Chaudhry

© UNICEF Pakistan/2012/Chaudhry
Laxmi, 10, cares for her younger brother while their parents are working in Naukot, Pakistan.

NAUKOT, Pakistan, 15 March 2012 – On a lonely roadside in Naukot, Sindh Province, is a small collection of shabby tents. Many of them are makeshift constructions, plastic sheets covered in clothing, barely large enough to accommodate an adult standing upright. But for 10-year-old Laxmi and her family, one of these tents is home.

Last summer, torrential monsoon rains struck this region of Pakistan, destroying the small hut where her family lived. They were left with just a few personal belongings and the rope beds that constitute their only furniture. Since that day, Laxmi, her parents and four siblings have lived in this tent.