1. Marlon lost his tooth. I asked him what he was going to do with his tooth, and he said he would put it under his pillow for Raton Perez (our version of the tooth fairy...who is a rat). I forgot. Until about a week later, when I asked him what he had done with his tooth. He said he had put it under his pillow, but nothing had happened, and he had lost it.
Marlon is 10. I highly doubt Raton Perez has ever come good with its obligations, yet I found it amazing that a 10 year old would still hope he would arrive. I realised the small things that my kids miss out on. Things that were so normal to my childhood.
So I asked one of the girls to write Marlon a note in name of Raton Perez. It gave an apology, saying that the Rat had been very busy and had not been able to make it to Pereira in time. It asked Marlon not to lose his tooth the next time around, and PS-ed that the Raton had been in communication with Santa and that Christmas presents were being prepared. Included was a US$1 note.
I figured Marlon would get the joke. I figured he would know that a $1 note could only come from me. I figured that a 10 year old would not believe in such things.
I was wrong. In the morning Marlon found the note under his pillow, and I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He read the note intently. He must have read it 3 times. There was no smile, no laugh; just a deep concentration. Then he folded the letter and the dollar bill into his photo album, and never mentioned the event again.
I asked him later what the note was that he had been reading that morning. He answered matter-of-factly that the Raton Perez had left him money, and then asked me if he could spend it in Australia one day.
2. Santiago found a kitten. It was living in the pigsty for a while, where the boys were looking after it, but it often found its way into Santiago´s bed. I didn't like the idea, as I didn't want the room to fill up with fleas, so I offered Santiago the opportunity to care for the kitten in our room. He readily agreed, and after washing it with flea shampoo the kitten became our new house pet. We started from humble beginnings. We made a litter box from a cardboard box (which most quickly became soggy and torn), and the boys would sneak scraps of their meal to feed the kitten. The kitten was an amusing addition to our household.
Santiagos eleventh birthday came around, and the director gave him $1USD. Santi came running to me asking if he could spend his birthday gift on cat food. We went to the shop and picked out food that cost about $2, so I quietly paid the extra half and the boys happily began feeding the kitten more appropriate food. Marlon also asked if he could buy a bag of milk from his savings (earned through doing extra house work), and we had a somewhat balanced diet.
I don't know, maybe these stories doesn't mean too much to you.
But I guess seeing my hardened boys acting like children impacts me. They have experienced things that most of us will never need to experience. I breath fresh air when I see their hardened look turn into a nurturing smile, cuddling and playing with a kitten.
A large percentage of eleven year old boys in Colombia are wielding knives, dealing in drugs, and are involved in violence in the streets. Too often I see boys who have lost their childhoods and have hardened into men; so seeing one of these boys savouring the mystery of the tooth fairy, or enjoying a family pet, is of great satisfaction to me.
