One day one of the boys and his younger brother come in without shoes, and I am very concerned, so I ask him what happened to their shoes, and he looks at me and indignantly says "What do you think these are!, [pointing to his blackened feet] These are the best tires in the world!" as he begins to run in circles all over the comedor, making car noises, and making his younger brother fall on the floor in laughter.
Another time one of the girls comes in with a huge grin on her face and tells me she has a secret to tell me, and then she tells me she bought this gum for me and hands me a piece of gum.
Well later one of the boys asked me for a piece of gum, but I didn't have any to give, but another one answers "Hey I have a ton of gum for everyone!" to which I say -"Really! How!?" and then he begins to scrape some gum that had been smashed on the floor for ages!
Just this past Thursday it was one of the girls' birthday, so Sor Vilma gave her two pieces of a sweet bread from the bakery that we run, and ohh how happy she wasas she ran to show me! She insisted on giving me and the lady I work with a tiny piece, it was too cute! The next day she came skipping in to the comedor, and I cannot explain the smile she had, that just wouldn't disappear. Then she began to tell the story about how she got to share her "Birthday Cake"(the sweet bread) with her family the night before. Way too cute!
And well these aren't as much cute stories, but I wans to tell you about the life of a few of the kids,
Valeska, she is 12 and she dropped out of school in this year to take care of her younger brother who just turned 3, because he was getting beat up in the daycare, her mom right now is working at a store of some sorts, as a type of clerk, but doesn't get paid well at all. Valeska is smart, and she loved school and always tells me that she dreams of going to "El Maria" [my school], but she loved her brother more, however, we convinced her to go to school next year and complete 6th grade and then we could find a sponser to send her to school here. She has recently began to sell earrings in the street, but is not very good at it [this month I think she has only sold two pairs]. Also, she is the biggest help, because she will explain what the some of the parents or kids that I don't understand are saying.
Belky, is 10 and she has never gone to school, like the rest of her family. She lives out in the campo, around the city, and would just play with her older brother. When her older brother, 12, became too busy with work, she didn't have anything to do all day, until this past week, when she began her work as a nanny for a 3 year old. She brings him to the comedor every day and is so great at taking care of him. However not ever having gone to school, or having talked to many adults, she can't read and even has a hard time with naming colors in spanish. After we had been talking about her family, I changed the subject and I asked her what her favorite color was she stopped and then she said she didn't know. So I pushed the question a few more times, and then she looked like she was going to cry, and pointed to the blue plate, and said its just that she forgot how to say this color.
Well It is getting too late, and I can go on with stories like these way past my bed time, but I need to sleep. But this is the life of these precious kids, who it seems cannot escape the grasps of poverty, and the seemingly inevitable cycle of uneducation like there parents. I love these kids, they are all soo great!
Pray for us, and pray for the bible camp that we are going to have with them Nov. 16 - 18, its only three days, but hopefully it will be the start of something bigger for the kids... I have some ideas, pray for some miracles, so they can happen.
Also it is the end of the school year here and we are starting final exams this week. Pray for all the kids here, because failures in a class for some, mean that that they will not be able to continue going to school, which pretty much damns them to poverty for the rest of their life.
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