The street is never silent. We hear it all the time. Even now I hear a street vendor pushing his cart down our street, peddling potatoes by the kilogram.

When we first arrived in our new country, the constant noise unnerved us. Most of the racket came from vendors shouting through megaphones, yelling unintelligible phrases over and over again. We had no idea what they were saying—and had no idea how anyone else could understand it through the garbled fuzz of cheap loudspeakers.

As our language has grown, so has our ability to identify what’s being sold outside our front door.

Now we can hear the difference between the vegetable seller and the popcorn seller, between fresh-roasted peanuts in the winter and ice cream in the summer. When we hear the voices of our favorite vendors, we simply walk out as they get closer to make our purchase.

This local door-to-door service works for just about everything—household repairs, tailoring, and knife sharpening. Every day, people come through the neighborhood offering to buy or sell random items—even scrap metal and trash.

These vendors help make the large city we live in feel more like a small town in Middle America. Children play in the street, neighbors nose their way into each other’s affairs, and there’s always a caravan of vendors passing by selling treats. The most popular vendor here is the same as it is everywhere else in the world: the ice cream man.

But the reality is that this country is still reeling from war. Most people in America look at this land and see a warzone in chaos, pocked with bombs and landmines.

Still, life goes on, evidenced by the bustling mobile businesses that wind through our neighborhood every day.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Names and places have been changed for security.**

Original article: https://www.frontiersusa.org/blog/door-to-door-delivery