New friends

Last Wednesday night, around dinner time, a little boy about 5 years old and a little girl about 7 or 8 showed up on our doorstep. They asked us if they could take out our trash for us in exchange for a glass of water. We refused the trash offer but took them up on the water and threw in a peanut butter sandwich. As it turns out, these two kids come to our complex three days a week on trash nights and ask if they can take out residents' trash in exchange for a few pesos or a snack, or water. They don't go to school, and asked us if we could teach them. They also asked us if we had anything that they could try to sell, and even if they could come back to the U.S. with us. Later that night, at about 11pm, the little girl came back, with her mother! Her mother asked us if we could take her daughter back to the states with us, saying she could work there. We told her, politely, that it doesn't work that way, and that you need visas and permission to come, and that lots of people want to move to the U.S. And the little girl's mother, eyes full of naiveté, said, "We'll have to ask the President." The whole experience really put things into perspective, especially when the little girl asked how much house cleaners make in the states, and I realized that per hour, they might make a lot more than someone here might make in a week. Count your blessings...
Ana Cecilia and Pablo, as we have learned are their names, sure enough, were back Friday night, working our neighborhood on trash night. Again, we offered them water and peanut butter sandwiches, and they told us a little more about their life. They used to go to school, but they can't afford the 150 peso entrance fee (that's about 14 dollars), so they aren't going this year. My roommate and I told them to ask their mother if they could go to school if we paid their entrance fees right to the school. There is no way a child should go without an education because of 14 dollars. I always knew that some kids had to work instead of attending school, but it had never occurred to me that a child might not go to school because he or she can't afford to attend public school! I hope that there's a happy ending for Pablo and Ana Cecilia.