"Little Adult"

 This is Rolando, in my opinion he would probably be the leader of the group of kids that mostly hang out at the clinic. He is the tough and street savvy character you would see in a movie with a group of kids. I am not really sure how to describe it. Many times I forget that he is actually a kid. Lately our conversations have been dominated by his new job, where he fills bags with dirt or coal I’m not really sure which. He has a quota of 200 bags and he gets 25 soles for it, takes him about 2 days and a half, for about 10 bucks. Things like this make me forget he is a kid, when he tells me about how is back hurts from the long day working, or when he falls asleep in the hammock that is in the dinning room. This is the life for most of the kids here that don’t have the ability of going to school, working and helping out the family of 4+ kids.

Even though I see him as a “little adult” moments like these, fishing with Luis Angel make me smile. Running around yelling about the tiny fish they just caught, laughing and showing of their fish to Taylor and me. I hope that Rolando has more of these moments in the next couple years. I have noticed that these kids grow up very quickly because of their situations, having to become the man of the house for their younger siblings. My kids better appreciate growing up in the states. 

This is my last blog while I’m in Peru, I want to take all the free time I have left to spend time with the kids I have come to love.